The Great Sphinx of Giza, Egypt

The Great Sphinx of Giza is located on the west bank of the Nile River in Giza, near modern-day Cairo, Egypt. It is the oldest known monumental sculpture and is still considered the largest monolithic structure in the world. It stands near its sister ancient wonders of the world The Great Pyramids of Giza. It is generally believed that the Sphinx was constructed around 2500 BC around the same time as the second great pyramid and was built as a monument along with the pyramid as part of the funeral service for Pharaoh Khafra, but archeologists cannot come to a consensus as there is evidence to suggest that it was built much earlier.

Gaston Maspero, a French Egyptologist, concluded after his survey of the sphinx that there is empirical evidence to suggest that the sphinx was all ready buried in the sand at the time of Pharaoh Khafra. This is based on a hieroglyphic that Maspero says tells the story of the excavation of the sphinx, not the building of it. This controversy has led to many fringe theories on the creation of the sphinx. There are already theories that suggest that the Ancient Egyptians did not have the technology to build the Great Pyramids and here is an object now thought to predate the pyramids. How was this massive monument created?

The Great Sphinx of Giza, 2015

The Sphinx against the Pyramid of Khafre, 2005.

The Sphinx against the Pyramid of Khafre, 2005.

The Sphinx profile in 2010

The Sphinx during night

The Sphinx and the Pyramid

View from the back

Paws

Auguste Mariette (seated, far left) and Emperor Pedro II of Brazil (seated, far right)
with others in front of the Sphinx, 1871

The Great Sphinx partially excavated, ca. 1878.

The Spinx circa 1880s, by Beniamino Facchinelli.

The Great Sphinx partly under the sand, ca. 1870s

GREAT SPHINX 1882 British soldiers posing at the Great Sphinx at Giza

Cornelis de Bruijn, Reizen van Cornelis de Bruyn door de vermaardste Deelen van Klein Asia (1698)

Photo Source: Collected from Internet