Apparently, workmen, probably using ropes and wooden sledges, hauled away the quarried blocks to construct the temple as the Sphinx was being carved out of the stone. That Khafre arranged for construction of his pyramid, the temples and the Sphinx seems increasingly likely.
But who carried out the backbreaking work of creating the Sphinx? In , an American tourist was riding in the desert half a mile south of the Sphinx when she was thrown from her horse after it stumbled on a low mud-brick wall. Hawass investigated and discovered an Old Kingdom cemetery. Some people were buried there, with tombs belonging to overseers—identified by inscriptions recording their names and titles—surrounded by the humbler tombs of ordinary laborers.
Near the cemetery, nine years later, Lehner discovered his Lost City. He and Hawass had been aware since the mids that there were buildings at that site. At its heart were four clusters of eight long mud-brick barracks. Each structure had the elements of an ordinary house—a pillared porch, sleeping platforms and a kitchen—that was enlarged to accommodate around 50 people sleeping side by side.
The barracks, Lehner says, could have accommodated between 1, to 2, workers—or more, if the sleeping quarters were on two levels. Lehner thinks ordinary Egyptians may have rotated in and out of the work crew under some sort of national service or feudal obligation to their superiors. Forty-five centuries ago, the Egyptians lacked iron or bronze tools. They mainly used stone hammers, along with copper chisels for detailed finished work.
Lehner and Brown estimate one laborer might carve a cubic foot of stone in a week. At that rate, they say, it would take people three years to complete the Sphinx.
Exactly what Khafre wanted the Sphinx to do for him or his kingdom is a matter of debate, but Lehner has theories about that, too, based partly on his work at the Sphinx Temple. Remnants of the temple walls are visible today in front of the Sphinx. They surround a courtyard enclosed by 24 pillars. The temple plan is laid out on an east-west axis, clearly marked by a pair of small niches or sanctuaries, each about the size of a closet.
The Swiss archaeologist Herbert Ricke, who studied the temple in the late s, concluded the axis symbolized the movements of the sun; an east-west line points to where the sun rises and sets twice a year at the equinoxes, halfway between midsummer and midwinter.
Lehner spotted something perhaps even more remarkable. If you stand in the eastern niche during sunset at the March or September equinoxes, you see a dramatic astronomical event: the sun appears to sink into the shoulder of the Sphinx and, beyond that, into the south side of the Pyramid of Khafre on the horizon.
The Sphinx itself, it seems, symbolized the pharaoh presenting offerings to the sun god in the court of the temple. Equally intriguing, Lehner discovered that when one stands near the Sphinx during the summer solstice, the sun appears to set midway between the silhouettes of the pyramids of Khafre and Khufu.
Collectively, Lehner describes the complex as a cosmic engine, intended to harness the power of the sun and other gods to resurrect the soul of the pharaoh. This transformation not only guaranteed eternal life for the dead ruler but also sustained the universal natural order, including the passing of the seasons, the annual flooding of the Nile and the daily lives of the people.
In this sacred cycle of death and revival, the Sphinx may have stood for many things: as an image of Khafre the dead king, as the sun god incarnated in the living ruler and as guardian of the underworld and the Giza tombs. There are signs the Sphinx was unfinished. The north edge of the ditch surrounding the Sphinx contains segments of bedrock that are only partially quarried. The result is the burial of the Sphinx. In addition, geologists agree that ancient Egypt faced a great flood and it has done a great of damage to the exterior of the Sphinx.
One among the most recent excavation done to restore the Sphinx was done in the s. By that time, the front paws of the Sphinx were nearly covered by sand. Unfortunately, there is no real one-time solution to this problem as the movement of the sand is based on a variety of factors.
During the restoration process that spanned between the and , the lack of knowledge in handling limestone structure of that scale made some of the parts of the Sphinx to be in a worse condition than it was before. The reason for the damage was the use of gypsum mortar and cement to fill the holes that were made by erosion. This modification built up new stresses in the limestone structure of the Sphinx.
The archeologists then had to repair the damages made by the restoration process. They reversed the whole process by carefully removing the cement from the cracks and sealing it with something that is non-invasive. The restoration team led by Dr. Zahi Hawass found success in developing a new mixture that uses quicklime and sand. By , the Great Sphinx of Giza was carefully restored to the maximum possible level using this mixture.
In his own words, Dr. Zahi Hawass remarks , "I think the main message that people should know is that the Sphinx is safe and that we are like good physicians trying to look after it all the time. I really believe that it keeps all the secrets of our past, and if you ruin that, you will never have a future. And this is why I think that maybe God brought me to be the guardian of the Sphinx to save it for everyone.
The Sphinx is not really for Egypt only. It is for everyone. And this is why, even when people see the Sphinx from far away, they can feel that magic. When you see the various pictures of the great Sphinx or even when you see it in real life, one question that you always want to ask is where is the nose?
Well, there is quite a story attached to it. It was believed that the Sphinx lost its nose when Napoleon Bonaparte led a siege in Egypt. However, the 18th-century sketches show the Sphinx already was missing the nose. The ruler destroyed the nose out of anger when he saw a sect of people practicing idolatry.
In that era, inscriptions were a great part of the Egyptian culture and art. The Sphinx had a beard that was also made of limestone. The beard fell off due to erosion, and the way it broke off from the statute states that it was not a part of the original structure. Archeologists believe that the beard was added later in the rule of Thutmose IV. You might not believe this, but we are no way close to surveying every bit of the Egyptian desert.
Another reason why this possibility may be true can be attributed to the fact that the Egyptian inscriptions always show Sphinx in pairs. Many archeologists believe that there was a second Sphinx that was built somewhere around the Great Pyramid of Giza or even opposite to the first Sphinx but may have been destroyed.
To this day, we are not completely sure of what lies beneath the Great Sphinx of Giza. T he Sphinx differs from other deities in that it has an animal body and a human head, whereas most other deities have human bodies and animal heads.
One explanation for this anomaly is that the Sphinx is the earthly representation of the constellation Leo, which has a lion's body. Images of the sphinx are found in various sizes and shapes, as the collection at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and the temples throughout Egypt attest. In a trance state, Cayce spoke of vaults at the base of the Sphinx and a Hall of Records. He suggested that a secret passage exists under the Sphinx.
This is supposed to lead to a tomb where the annals of the lost continent of Atlantis are hidden for safe keeping. D espite the intrigue surrounding this psychic reading, modern archaeologists have not yet found any evidence of a secret passage under the Sphinx. This story, however, continues to stir the imagination and contribute to the mystique of ancient Egypt.
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