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STEPHANIE YILMAZ
THE SPHINX OF GIZA
Adam.F
You learn things about the sphinx, like what it's used for...
The Giza Sphinx is a monumental statue featuring the human face of a pharaoh and the elongated body of a lion, which stands in front of the pyramids at Giza.
The Giza Sphinx is an immense monument , 73 m long, 20 m high and 14 m wide.
From the tip of its legs to the tip of its tail, it measures 57 m. Its ears measure 1.37 m and its nose 1.70 m.Its ears measure 1.37 m and its nose 1.70 m.
It is carved into a forty-metre-high natural promontory in the limestone of the Mokattam formation. Its head, facing the rising sun, is fairly well preserved, having been carved from a hard limestone bench located in front of the large quarry that provided the blocks for the pyramids.
The body of the Sphinx, carved from much more fragile layers of nummulitic* limestone (microfossils), is that of a recumbent lion, greatly stretched. Carved into a natural promontory on the limestone plateau, it weighed close to 20,000 tonnes.
The Sphinx of Giza is one of the most famous monuments of ancient Egypt.
Its head, in particular, is the focus of many questions.
The body and head are carved from rock, but the outstretched legs are made from masonry.
Originally, the sphinx would have been covered in painted plaster, traces of which remain. The face and body in red, the nemes* (headdress) in blue and yellow.
The foundations of a temple, known as the Temple of the Sphinx, have been found nearby.
The Giza Sphinx is a stone statue of a king, no doubt with later additions, such as the pink granite stele placed between its legs by Thutmosis IV(4).
It tells how this king had the sphinx removed to satisfy a god who had appeared to him in a dream, promising him the throne of the kingdom of Egypt in exchange.
The Sphinx was very, very, very, very revered!