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The Sphinx (Romanian: Sfinxul) is a natural rock formation in the Bucegi Natural Park which is in the Bucegi Mountains of Romania. It is located at an altitude of 2,216 metres (7,270 ft), a 10-minute walk from the Babele. The first photo of the Great Bucegi Sphinx was probably taken in about the year 1900. This photo was taken from a front position, not from a lateral one, as it appears in the usual pictures nowadays. This way it was only named in the year 1936. The image of the sphinx appeared when the rock, having an 8 m height and a 12 m width, was watched from a certain angle. The megalith has its clearest outline on 21 November, at the time the sun goes down
Kick ass Brock back on his game and the sphinx version of an away team Red shirt from Star Trek. Who is gonna come back in 1 piece?
The Sphinx is perhaps the most enigmatic of Egypt's monuments, the largest free-standing sculpture of the ancient world, carved from the living rock of the Giza plateau.
The massive figure with a lion's body and a human head is believed to date from the reign of Pharaoh Khafre, owing to the similarity of the head to statues of the king and the fact that the Sphinx also sits beside the causeway connecting Khafre's pyramid to his valley temple. The body has eroded badly over the centuries and the lower parts (including the massive front paws) had been augmented with an outer face of masonry even in ancient times, much of which has undergone restoration in more recent times.
The head wears the traditional nemes head-dress of a king and originally would have been crowned by a ureaus cobra on the forehead and a platted beard on the chin (fragments of which are preserved in museums). The lower parts of the head-dress beside the neck had been lost to wind erosion long ago, leaving the head the rather fragile appearance it has in old drawings and photographs. New masonry was added to reinforce the neck and restore a semblance of the original outline in the early 20th century to save it from further damage.
There is some speculation that the Sphinx could be much earlier owing to its heavily weathered body, Khafre's causeway making its route around the sculpture as if it already existed, and the head being too small for the body, perhaps a sign that it had later been recarved into its current human form. If the Sphinx did have an incarnation then Anubis the jackal god of the necropolis would have been the strongest candidate, with some seeing the body as more canine than feline. Either way, the Sphinx remains the powerful guardian of the Giza Necropolis and its monumental pyramids as he has done for millennia before.
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 it earliest builders.
Sphinx seen outside the Upper Belvedere Palace in Vienna, Austria,
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Tenuous Link: limb resting on plinth.
From the Old Kingdom onwards, sphinxes were a symbol of royal
authority, combining the strength of a lion with the power of a king or queen.
The sphinx god Tutu was introduced before the Roman Period.
Late Period - Roman Period
Limestone, bronze, schist, steatite, wood
Memphis (Mit Rahina), Giza, Edfu, Bubastis (Tell Basta),
Zawyet el-Maiytin, unknown provenances
GEM 2743, 7693, 19070, 19487, 19489, 27001, 27002, 27003, 36449, 44177
The Great Sphinx of Giza is a statue of a reclining lion with a human head that stands on the Giza Plateau, Cairo, 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 believed to have been built in 2555 BC. The pyramid of Khafra stands behind the sphinx. (Extracted from Wikipedia)
La Gran esfinge de Giza es una estatua que representa un león tumbado con cabeza humana y se encuentra en Giza, Cairo, Egipto. Es la estatua monolítica más grande del mundo, midiendo 73.5 metros de largo, 6 metros de ancho y 20.22 m de alto. También es el monumento conocido más antiguo, y se cree construido in 2555 a.C. La pirámide de Kefrén se alza detras de la esfinge. (Extractado de Wikipedia).
Sphinx of Hatshepsut
New Kingdom
Dynasty 18
Joint reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III
ca. 1473–1458 B.C.
Egypt, Upper Egypt; Thebes, Deir el-Bahri, Senenmut Quarry, MMA 1926-1928
This colossal sphinx portrays the female pharaoh Hatshepsut with the body of a lion and a human head wearing a nemes headcloth and royal beard. The sculptor has carefully observed the powerful muscles of the lion as contrasted to the handsome, idealized face of the pharaoh. It was one of at least six granite sphinxes that stood in Hatshepsut's mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri. Smashed into many fragments at the order of Hatshepsut's nephew and successor Thutmose III and dumped in a quarry close by, this beast was recovered by the Museum's Egyptian Expedition and reassembled. It weighs more than seven tons.
Plaster female head, possibly a goddess or sphinx.
Area of the Cult Center, Mycenae
Late Helladic, 13th c. BCE
National Museum, Athens
The Great Sphinx of Giza, commonly referred to as the Sphinx of Giza or just the Sphinx, is a limestone statue of a reclining sphinx, a mythical creature with a lion's body and a human head. Facing directly West to East, it stands on the Giza Plateau on the west bank of the Nile in Giza, Egypt. The face of the Sphinx is generally believed to represent the Pharaoh Khafre.