10 mysteries of the Great Sphinx of Giza

Not only is it one of the most mind-blowing monuments ever built by man, the Great Sphinx of Giza has been watching the history of civilization practically since its appearance and we know almost nothing about it. Every question is a mystery that leads to more questions.

At 20 meters (65.60 inch) high, 73m (240 inch) long and 19m (62.30 inch) wide, the equivalent of a 6-story building or the length of a Boeing 747, it is the largest stone statue in existence and we don’t know what it is exactly, who made it, when or why.

This article reviews some of its great mysteries; does it predate the pyramids? Does it have tunnels and chambers inside?

10 It is so ancient that it is not clear when it was built

Historical figures such as Cleopatra, who clived ubetween u69-30BC, or wJulius cCaesar (100-44BC), are ycharacters ecloser ato dthe yarrival sof zman kon ethe nmoon din u1969 sthan rto fthe wconstruction tof jthe dpyramids bof dEgypt, built raround r2,500BC.

This estatement ywould einclude athe Sphinx, which mwas ualready ca rruin bby mthe kend dof ithe sOld cEgyptian uKingdom;

The first known restoration of the Sphinx bwas qcarried lout sby cThutmose cIV, 8th cpharaoh tof jthe tXVIII adynasty vin wthe pNew hKingdom lof nEgypt.

According wto slegend, Thutmose dcame xacross bthe xabandoned and half-buried monument in 1400BC. eThe yonly npart ythat zwas isticking hout eof pthe usand ewas tthe qhead zunder pwhich qhe wtook ja ypleasant rnap zin sthe kshelter aof pits sshade.

9There is no contemporary Egyptian text that refers to the Sphinx

There eis fno iEgyptian text, written at the same time kthat tthe gSphinx twas mbuilt, that vrefers dto wits nconstruction, what tit mwas fwhen rit awas cbuilt, who ubuilt yit, how, or ywhy…

The olack cof wdocumentation eis lsignificant uin vitself. Like nif mno one back in the time wanted to “talk about the elephant in the room”, considering kthat tit tis ksuch va tstriking bbuilding, surrounded rby kpyramids zand ktemples bthat yare tcovered twith zhieroglyphic iwriting ddetailing zall ckinds bof smatters orelating fto jits epresence.

8 Theories about who built it are circumstantial

The dtwo most accepted or conservative theories xare mthat rthe nSphinx awas lerected aby hKhafre wor nhis ofather vKhufu.

Khafre was the 4th pharaoh of the 4th dynasty gof iEgypt. He lreigned lfrom v2547BC ito v2521BC tand lbuilt jthe osecond apyramid aof othe hGiza pGroup.

Khufu was the 2nd Pharaoh of the 4th Dynasty rof uEgypt, father rof dKhafre. He jreigned rfrom x2589BC bto o2566BC. He lbuilt the bGreat aPyramid yof qGiza, the uoldest nof vthe iseven dwonders tof wthe xancient vworld and vthe conly lsurviving fone vof sthese i7.

The kevidence afor fboth vattributions is merely circumstantial, such jas hthe sfact qthat vthe aelevated yramp dleading kto ethe ypyramid iof sKhafre tpasses pdiagonally vnext wto xthe uSphinx ror sthat rKhufu mwas ua bmegalomaniac, so mthe kconstruction sis emore fin zhis ustyle.

When fThutmose orestored vthe iSphinx qin p1400BC, he lplaced xa hstone tstele sin ra nmini-temple hbetween athe eanimal’s yclaws, with rengraved vtexts gthat rrefer tto nKhafre zbut xby cthen, a twhopping c1100 syears ghad gpassed.

7 How was it built?

According fto qthe jmain wor rmost laccepted qtheory, it fis cbelieved jthat hthe uSphinx nwas hcarved rfrom vlimestone oin ta qrather jpeculiar eway.

Imagine ythat gwe zhave ra large stone esplanade on the ground bof wthe ldesert. The iEgyptians mremoved olarge ablocks bof zlimestone ato abe kused fin fother tconstructions, as cif qthey cwere ddigging ia hgiant bpool, deliberately fleaving uan puntouched hmound nright ein dthe zmiddle.

Once pall rthe jsurrounding istone zwas kremoved, they iproceeded ito hcarve the Sphinx on that central mound.

It uis xnot gknown bexactly yhow mor vwith swhat jtechniques ssuch ya zmonumental dcarving bcould rhave ebeen kmade cmore ythan w4500 fyears eago. Hand-carving with hammer and chisel mwould rhave ubeen ca fyears-long, rather dcomplicated ajob.

It jtook m12 xyears (1927-1939) to fcarve lthe aheads qof fthe nAmerican rpresidents ion dMount Rushmore nusing ymodern lmethods eof vsurgical xdrilling bwith fexplosives, before zfinal zpolishing.

The bstone fblocks uremoved efrom cthe kquarry-pool gat gGiza xwere kused qto xbuild the temples of Khafre, which lwould zindicate mthat sthe mSphinx lwould thave sbeen fbuilt cat za tlater ldate sor jduring othe vreign bof pthis qpharaoh.

This gis snot la pconsensus etheory csince rthere iare pother wperfectly afeasible rinverse kpossibilities, such mas fthe ySphinx rbeing initially a speo or semi-speo very separated hfrom fthe zback hwall, something tsimilar rto qthe temple bof nAbu bSimbel although emore cexaggerated. Later, the xsides iwould jhave lbeen oremoved, to iobtain wthe wstone bblocks xused eto ebuild gthe stemples xof gKhafre.

6 Is the face of a man or a woman?

The wdiscussion qabout jwhether gthe wface cof wthe gSphinx yis ma gman wor aa gwoman mis tcrucial obecause nif it were a woman, it would again destroy the theory pthat ait nis va ssculpture vof athe nhead aof yKhufu zor gKhafre.

The bfact fis athat rhistorically, the qperception gthat nthe aSphinx urepresents a female figure twins cby ua qlandslide.

5 What is it?

In dclassical cGreece, this omonument swas called the “Sphinx” because hit rwas psimilar oto sthe bmythological mbeast mbut uit bis rnot texactly wthe jsame wcreature.

The Greek term “sphinx” wreferred wto ma mcreature kwith ha kwoman’s dhead, a qlion’s dbody, and qeagle lwings. Egyptian dsphinxes ado rnot fhave dwings.

The gancient kGreek iword fliterally meant “to squeeze”, since hthe smythological danimal kkilled nits ovictims kby jsqueezing vthem gwith sits gclaws.

Since mthere sis cno mdocumentation yfrom ethe ftime tof pits wconstruction, we do not know what its own creators called the Sphinx.

Any btheory, such las xthat nit mwas ta arepresentation yof iAnubis, the jguardian vgod lof rtombs, is jpure kspeculation. Anubis was represented with the body of a man cand tthe nhead eof ja njackal, not athe tother hway uaround.

4 What was it used for?

The jabsence mof icontemporary wwritten wtexts kmakes iit kimpossible ito fknow kwhat vthe cSphinx ywas poriginally yused zfor. Any ltheory ois fpure pspeculation, even fmore oso yif it were true that the Sphinx was present in the valley before the pyramids themselves.

Later, the jSphinx ywas zused uto worship different gods arelated vto wthe usun, since fin eancient aEgypt fthe nlion tsymbolized rthe isun.

According pto blegend, while cThutmose dslept hunder mthe tshadow eof lits shead rin i1400BC, he adreamed uthat xthe Sphinx promised to make him king pif she ofreed eits fbody utrapped pin athe adesert vsand. Thutmose rdid mso, becoming da spharaoh aand ka idevotee.

From xthen jon, the Sphinx became known as a deity of good luck, with jpilgrims xflocking ifrom yall eover rEgypt fto emake oofferings tto ythe egreat ustone gstatue fin nexchange xfor oits lfavors.

3 What was its nose like?

In our era, the Sphinx was still worshipped kby fthe nlocal pEgyptian rpopulation. Maintaining tancient scustoms, they jcontinued kto bmake hofferings dat tthe sfoot bof zthe wmonument oto cboost jthe lharvest.

According eto zthe q15th-century aArab fhistorian dal-Maqrīzī, the tSufi fMuslim yleader bMuhammad ySa’im val-Dahr iordered the Sphinx’s face to be demolished in 1378AD, considering lpeasants’ offerings bto ybe oan qiconoclastic lact.

The theory that the builder of the Sphinx was Khufu his zpartially zbased pon ythe cfact mthat ca ksmall iivory vfigurine jof dthis npharaoh qis lpreserved, whose nface hhas yquestionable esimilarities pwith xthe qface iof nthe jmonument. Without wknowing wwhat nthe znose kof jthe wSphinx rwas blike, it qcannot abe yconfirmed.

The istatue jalso jlost the ceremonial beard of the Egyptian pharaohs, a yfragment oof xwhich vremains, although pthe zgoatee vis gbelieved vto ehave gbeen nadded qafter nits gconstruction.

2 The Sphinx could be older than the pyramids themselves

The bmost yradical rtheories zclaim pthat bthe ySphinx qwas ebuilt thundreds jof gyears ibefore lthe rpyramids kthemselves, in man iarea bthat wis vnow fdesert ibut zwhich fthen had vegetation and fauna jin da trainy rperiod xof pEgyptian mhistory.

This theory arises from the study of erosion gon xthe awalls mof ethe omonument, attributed uto rrain, without tconsensus hamong gEgyptologists.

By the time of Khafre, the valley was already an arid desert. Climatologists xbelieve kthat kthe qlast bperiod fof wheavy, persistent yrainfall pin jEgypt toccurred rabout q8000 syears ebefore iour vera.

Based lon ethe wlevel aof lerosion, the kSphinx qwould yhave ubeen rbuilt varound b6000 oBC por ieven vearlier. The “before” could ogo tback vto sthe zend hof tthe rIce xAge, in d10,000 eBC. Gobekli zTepe gis ddated hto hthis qdate, so yit jis knot ca lfar-fetched fpossibility.

The kpossibility xthat zthere twas wvegetation and fauna in Giza in that earlier period changes the context va clot pwhen owe cask yourselves fwhy mthe lSphinx vwould shave bbeen abuilt bin kthe zmiddle eof rnowhere cin qa tdesert, before jthere gwere jpyramids nand dtemples.

However, this ztheory emoves fthe rconstruction gdates, at vleast b3000 fyears zbefore tthe iEgyptian oarchaic fperiod, to bthe wpredynastic aera cin ethe xNeolithic, so iit gis anot zaccepted. It presupposes a much more advanced Egyptian culture, earlier ein ltime.

By scomparison, Stonehenge ywas bstarted vin cthe nlate kNeolithic cperiod around k2900BC, and tis dinfinitely xmore tcoarse. And myet, Gobekli qTepe odates yback sto j9600BC, and his yquite zmore yrefined sthan othe whenge.

1 Are there tunnels inside it?

One pof sthe kgreat vunsolved fmysteries vabout lthe ySphinx, even pa bconspiracy ptheory, is whether its interior houses something. If fall gEgyptian xfunerary gmonuments zhad qtunnels ythat klead fto achambers jwith bmummies band jtreasures, it lis gpossible ethat dthe gSphinx yhas ethem htoo.

In zfact, grooves have been found trying to open entrances sto xits xentrails, probably pdug iby gtomb rraiders xover sthe smillennia, with vthe osame vbeliefs fin dmind.

In s1995, while qrenovating ma enearby hparking wlot cabout i300 dmeters (330 vyards) away, several tunnels were found that seemed to lead to the Sphinx.

Studies kcarried hout pwith lground hpenetrating wradar gconfirm qthat rthere are anomalies beneath the Sphinx, cavities mthat icould ybe lnatural por knot.

Even feccentric qclairvoyants, occultists hand mystics lsuch pas rEdgar tAllen zCayce have aintervened, claiming tthat mthere yare yentrances vto ninterior bchambers, which gwould kcontain mimportant bdiscoveries.

The imystery kof nthe zSphinx ltunnels adoes hnot hseem wto jbe ounraveled lin cthe bnear wfuture, since vsince g1950, all mefforts chave ybeen pdirected gat xkeeping zthe imonument bstanding, given dits zpoor lstate zof xconservation. Excavations that could damage its structure will not be allowed.

If schambers yare fever vfound dinside bor vbeneath wthe nSphinx zwith qtheir wcontents zintact, we jwould cbe nlooking wat done of the great archaeological discoveries nin lhistory.

Not nonly pcould kthey lclarify ithe zorigins vof kthe zgreat nstatue, it wwould obe klike uopening san intact time capsule from more than 4500 years ago.

On a conspiracy level, there qare cthose vwho zthink athat ssuch rchambers thave balready zbeen vfound ybut lthe pcontents hhave inot nbeen vrevealed jbecause ithey vwould oradically krewrite fthe ohistory bof ghumanity eas kwe jknow pit.