Legend Of The Sphinx
Imagine this: you are wandering in the desert when you come across these giant statues. They have the head of a human, the body of a lion, and they tower over everything for miles. You have just come across a sphinx.
Is the Great Sphinx twice as old as Egyptologists and archaeologists think, based on recent geological evidence?Viewpoint: Yes, recent evidence suggests that the Great Sphinx is much older than most scientists believe.Viewpoint: No, the Great Sphinx was built about 4,500 years ago during the reign of the pharaoh Khafre, as has long been believed by most archaeologists and Egyptologists. A Greek Legend It befell in times past that the gods, being angry with the inhabitants of Thebes, sent into their land a very troublesome beast which men called the Sphinx. Now this beast had the face and breast of a fair woman, but the feet and claws of a lion; and it was wont to ask a riddle of such as encountered it, and such as answered not.
The sphinx — in ancient egypt — was a spiritual guardian that was found near tombs and temples. Generally a male’s head, though sometimes a woman’s, the sphinx was often described as having the body of a lion and wings, wearing a pharaoh’s headdress. Besides the great sphinx of Giza, there is also a place called Sphinx Alley in Upper Egypt in which a two-mile avenue connecting the temples of Luxor and Karnak is lined with sphinx statues.
One of the most famous of the sphinxes comes to us from the Greek play Oedipus Rex, in which a sphinx terrorizes Thebes, demanding the answer to a riddle. The riddle, taught to her by the Muses, went: “What is it that has one voice and yet becomes four-footed and two-footed and three-footed?” Whenever the riddle was answered incorrectly, the sphinx would devour the man until Oedipus had given her the proper answer. Once learning it, the sphinx killed herself, thus sprouting the legend that the sphinx was an all-knowing creature of wisdom.
Legend Of The Sphinx In Egypt
The sphinx was a creature to protect, not a monster. However, the idea that one of them would devour you had you not answered her riddle correctly is a terrifying thought. What if you didn’t know the answer? Well, then I guess the sphinx would make you their dinner.
Legend Of The Sphinx Making A Sound
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