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EGYPT 87

The Great Sphinx of Giza is a statue of a reclining lion with a human head that stands on the Giza Plateau on the west bank of the Nile, near modern-day Cairo, in Egypt. It is the largest monolith statue in the world, standing 73.5 m (241 ft) long, 6 m (20 ft) wide, and 20 m (65 ft) high. It is the oldest known monumental sculpture, and is commonly believed to have been built by ancient Egyptians in the third millennium BCE.[1] The Great Sphinx faces due east and houses a small temple between its paws.

Most Egyptologists believe that the Great Sphinx was created by the Pharaoh Khafra (Hellenized: Chephren) and that the Sphinx therefore dates to his reign (2520-2494 BCE). Other Egyptologists have put forward as models for the Sphinx different members of the royal family, including Khafra's father, Khufu, and his 'brother', Djedefre, and some geologists have suggested theories dating the Sphinx to various periods before Dynasty IV.

 

 

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Uploaded on February 16, 2017
Taken on December 18, 2008