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The wide eyes of the sphinx.
This sculpture was found near the Sacred Gate area in the Kerameikos where the Sacred Road which led from Athens to the sanctuary of Demeter at Eleusis started. This archaic marble sculpture was buried under the walls when the Sacred Gate was erected in the Themistoclean age.
Archaic Greek sculpture
560 - 550 BC
Athens, Keramikos, Museum
The avenue of ram-headed sphinxes, at the Temple of Khonsu, the moon god, was set up by Pharaoh Ramses XI, the last of the Ramessids. The temple itself is much earlier, and was built by Ramses III.
Do you know the riddle?
There are several stories relating to Oedipus and the Sphinx. If you want to know more just do a Google.
Here is one - From people.hsc.edu/drjclassics/texts/Oedipus/sphinx.shtm
"The sphinx, too, is such a liminal creature. She has the haunches of a lion, the wings of a great bird, and horribly, the face and breast of a woman. She is treacherous and merciless: those who cannot answer her riddle suffer a fate typical in such mythological stories: they are gobbled up whole and raw, eaten by this ravenous monster. What greater threat is there to a humanity desperate to leave its mark upon history than to be completely consumed and obliterated? Odysseus fights his man-eater (several, actually) and Heracles has his Cacus - mythic heroes often defeat anthropophagy to ensure human and cultural survival (this is typical of mythic heroes in general: many Japanese heroic tales depict heroes defeating man-eating monsters, and even the dragon that St. George kills is so threatening because it is a man-eater). IH students will naturally think of Soumaoro here, too, from the West African epic Sundiata.
This is what Oedipus saves the people of Thebes from when he kills the sphinx, certainly a threat in the mythic sense. Oedipus crows about his ability to save Thebes. He proves Protagoras' maxim that "man is the measure of all things." Indeed, "Man" is the answer to the Sphinx's riddle! But not just any man - Oedipus solves the riddle, Oedipus ends the sphinx's reign of terror over the people of Thebes, Oedipus brings a new era of harmony to the city of Thebes by besting this mythic and metaphorical threat to human culture and society.
But ironically (and necessarily), this man who overcomes the great threat to human culture posed by the sphinx is the same man responsible for causing an even more serious pollution and rending of the social fabric: this same man commits the cardinal sins of patricide/regicide and incest - the one is disallowed by ancient and modern law because of its threat to society (see Aeschylus' Oresteia), the other is a mythic taboo first - mythic heroes are supposed to eradicate such threats, not cause them (I am reminded of Claude Levi-Strauss' conclusion that cannibalism and incest are two sides of the same coin, being the most exaggerated forms of sex and eating).
So the fact that in OT Oedipus begins with a rep for killing a man-eater and ends with the discovery that he has committed incest (mythically equivalent crimes) is the key, I think. Both the response and the responder to the riddle of the Sphinx is Man and Man turns out to be both the preserver and the polluter of the society. Perhaps this is Sophocles' message to his fifth century audience after all - that man has the power to both preserve and destroy. In order to make the right decision, he must go about his business with both eyes open."
Ahhhhh. Those Greeks !!!!! To anyone looking for a modern day equivalent I refer you to the TV program "The Bold and the Beautiful".
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The Great Sphinx of Giza (English: The Terrifying One), commonly referred to as the Sphinx, is a statue of a reclining or couchant sphinx (a mythical creature with a lion's body and a human head) that stands on the Giza Plateau on the west bank of the Nile in Giza, Egypt.
It is the largest monolith statue in the world, standing 73.5 metres (241 ft) long, 6 metres (20 ft) wide, and 20.22 m (66.34 ft) high. It is the oldest known monumental sculpture, and is commonly believed to have been built by ancient Egyptians of the Old Kingdom during the reign of the pharaoh Khafra (c. 2558–2532 BC).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Sphinx_of_Giza
© Eddie Chui
Along with the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Sphinx is one of the greatest enigmas and the most studied ancient monument of mankind’s history.
The Sphinx is a monumental symbol of ancient Egyptian kingship, probably related to solar worship. The monument was given the name 'sphinx' due to its likeness to a Greek legend of a creature with the head of a woman, the body of a lion, and the wings of a bird. The age of the sphinx is not known, with guesses varying between six-thousand and even thirteen-thousand years old.
The commonly-held belief is that is was created during the 2700s BC, and many believe to have been created at the will of King Khafra, whose pyramid the sphinx happens to be situated in front of, though more recently it has been suggested that the construction was set by Khafra's half brother, Djedefre, in the image and honor of their father, Khufu.
Unfortunately this Sphinx is not the real one. Picture was taken in Las Vegas - Luxor Hotel. The blue light is real... no editing.
the Great Sphinx of Giza is the largest structure created from a single piece of stone. It is also a figure synonymous with ancient Egyptian culture and remains shrouded in mystery.
With dimensions of 65 feet (20m) high, 260 feet (57m) long, and 20 feet (6m) wide
The Great Sphinx has the body of a lion and the face of a man (king?). The age of the sphinx is not known, with guesses varying between six-thousand and even thirteen-thousand years old. The commonly-held belief is that is was created during the 2700s BC,
There are two sphinxes on the Thames Embankment, one either side of Cleopatra’s Needle. While the obelisk, erected in 1878, dates from around 1450BC, the sphinxes were created and added in 1882. They were designed by George Vulliamy and modelled by C. H. Mabey. According to the TourUK site, the bronze sphinxes were accidentally replaced facing the wrong way (that is, facing the obelisk) after being cleaned in the early years of the 20th century. You can see the Golden Jubilee Bridges in the background, trying (maybe) to look a little like the pyramids.
The Sphinx (3,571m) peak, begins from the Jungfraujoch on the Valais side and at the Great Aletsch Glacier. There is an elevator to its summit, where a small viewing platform and a scientific observatory, the Sphinx Observatory, are located.
"The Great Sphinx of Giza is a limestone statue of a reclining sphinx, a mythical creature with the head of a human, and the body of a lion. Facing directly from west to east, it stands on the Giza Plateau on the west bank of the Nile in Giza, Egypt. The face of the Sphinx appears to represent the pharaoh Khafre.
The original shape of the Sphinx was cut from the bedrock, and has since been restored with layers of limestone blocks. It measures 240 feet long from paw to tail, 266 feet high from the base to the top of the head and 162 feet wide at its rear haunches. Its nose was broken off for unknown reasons between the 3rd and 10th centuries AD.
The Sphinx is the oldest known monumental sculpture in Egypt and one of the most recognizable statues in the world. The archaeological evidence suggests that it was created by ancient Egyptians of the Old Kingdom during the reign of Khafre (2558–2532 BC)."
Part of the Avenue of Sphinxes at Luxor Temple, in Egypt. Originally the Sphinx avenue was about 2.5 kilometres in length, and ran between the Luxor Temple and the Khonso Temple at Karnak.
It was erected in the mid 4th century BC, during the reign of Pharaoh Nectanebo, and replaced a similar but earlier avenue, which was erected during the reign of Pharaoh Ramses II, who ruled Egypt in the 13th century BC.
A piece included in the paper art exhibit, Paper Creatures. Blogged: www.allthingspaper.net/2016/10/paper-art-exhibit-paper-cr...
Pas inspirée du tout par le FlickrFriday de la semaine passée (Flash), j'ai quand même pris une photo dans les temps, mais je n'ai pas eu le temps de la poster. Un petit tour sur le net me fait penser que ce gros papillon est un sphinx du liseron (fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrius_convolvuli) : on voit sa très longue trompe plonger dans la fleur d'althéa.
Collégiale Saint Pierre à Chauvigny : Dragons à têtes humaines : deux sphinx qui s'affrontent, à corps de lion et ailes d'oiseau, long cou encapuchonné d'une curieuse cagoule du type cotte de mailles. Le corps du lion peut être le symbole de la force, le symbole de ces énergies destructrices qui sont en l'homme et que l'homme sage doit savoir dominer. Les ailes permettent d'accéder à un état spirituel supérieur, à plus de sagesse voire au ciel.
Around the First Intermediate Period c. 2181 BC–c. 2055 BC, the Giza Necropolis was abandoned and drifting sand buried the Sphinx up to its shoulders. It would remain buried until Thutmose IV removed the sand c. 1400 BC.
CC-By NC ND. Félix Bonfils Collection D.D. Teoli Jr. A.C.
The word sphinx comes from the Greek Σφίγξ, apparently from the verb σφίγγω (sphíngō), meaning "to strangle". In Greek mythology, a sphinx is represented as a monster with a head and breasts of a woman, the body of a lion, the wings of an eagle, and a serpent headed tail.
There was a single sphinx in Greek mythology, a unique demon of destruction and bad luck, daughter of Echidna (the "mother of all monsters"). The Sphinx is said to have guarded the entrance to the Greek city of Thebes, and to have asked a riddle of travelers to allow them passage:
"Which creature in the morning goes on four legs, at mid-day on two, and in the evening upon three, and the more legs it has, the weaker it be?"
She strangled and devoured anyone unable to answer.
It was Oedipus who solved the riddle by answering:
"Man - who crawls on all fours as a baby, then walks on two feet as an adult, and then walks with a cane in old age."
Bested at last, the Sphinx then threw herself from her high rock and died.
- Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphinx#Greek_traditions_about_sphinxes
Best viewed Large, On Black.
In Ancient Egyptian mythology, a sphinx is a zoomorphic figure, usually depicted as a recumbent lioness or lion with a human head, but occasionally as a lion with the head of a falcon, hawk, or ram. The figure had its origin in the Old Kingdom and is associated with the solar deity Sekhmet. The use of heads of other animals atop the lioness body followed the titular deities of the city or region where they were built or which were prominent in the Egyptian pantheon at the time.
Yesterday afternoon while I was taking photos, Juneau was sitting just like the Sphinx. I tried to get a photo but he kept shifting just as I was ready to snap the picture. I like this photo anyway. He's such a good photographic subject.
What better place to spend our final few hours in Egypt than the Giza plateau, this time exploring the site by foot and visiting mastaba tombs (there are many here but only a couple can be visited) and Menkaure's pyramid, the only one of the three large pyramids we'd not entered before (the two largest we'd been inside on our first visit in 1995, this time queues for the Great Pyramid of Khufu were discouraging, and Khafre's was closed).
The Giza Pyramids need no introduction, the largest and most famous monuments of antiquity and the sole surviving of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World.
Situated on a desert plateau to the south west of Cairo (and indeed on the very edge of the city's modern urban sprawl) the pyramids of Giza form the heart of an extensive ancient necropolis with the monumental tombs of three of Egypt's earliest Old Kingdom pharaohs marked by the vast structures. Each of the pyramids is a colossal mass of near solid masonry, without adornment and with only a few passages within each leading to burial chambers long since emptied and robbed in antiquity.
The earliest is the Great Pyramid of Khufu (sometimes referred to by the Greek title 'Cheops', or by his full pharaonic name 'Khnum-Khufu'). It is also the largest; the structure is simply enormous and remained the World's tallest building until well into the Middle Ages.
The following pyramid was built by Khafre (also called 'Khephren') and is similarly vast (often appearing in photos of the whole group as larger due to its more central position) but is significantly smaller than Khufu's monument. The smallest of the three (at around less than half the size) was built by his successor Menkaure. Both his and Khufu's monuments have much smaller satellite pyramids at their base (some in more ruinous condition) to house the tombs of their queens.
Originally all the pyramids had a smooth outer covering of white stone but this was quarried away by later generations (much of which was used for some of Cairo's greatest Islamic monuments) leaving the rough inner blocks exposed. A small section remains at the apex of Khafre's pyramid (suggestive of a snow-capped mountain) to give a sense of the original finish and overall mass.
Today the site remains the most popular in Egypt and an astonishing testament to the skill and determination of its earliest builders.
Le Sphinx est la statue thérianthrope qui se dresse devant les grandes pyramides du plateau de Gizeh, en Basse-Égypte. Sculpture monumentale monolithique la plus grande du monde1 avec 73,5 mètres de longueur, 14 mètres de largeur et 20,22 mètres de hauteur, elle représente un sphinx couchant. Réalisée vers 2500 av. J.-C., elle est attribuée2 à Khéphren, l'un des pharaons de la IVe dynastie de l'Ancien Empire, voire à son père, Khéops.