Everyone knows about the Sphinx at Gizeh near the Great Pyramids. This is proved by the common use of the word "sphinxlike," applied to that which holds, but will not disclose, mystery. But not everyone knows the reason for the form of the Sphinx, half human and half beast.
Sphinx is the Greek name for a compound creature with a lion's body and a human head. The Greek sphinx had male wings and a female bust. The sphinx of Egypt was wingless, and was called "Androsphinx" by Herodotus. In Egypt the sphinx was usually designed as lying down. The heads of the Egyptian sphinxes are royal portraits, apparently intended to represent the power of the reigning Pharaoh.
The most famous sphinx is the great Sphinx of Gizeh. No one knows who formed this gigantic figure of mystery nor when it was made. It was cut from a ridge of natural rock, with patches of masonry here and there to carry out the effect. The body is one hundred and forty feet long, and it faces eastward, looking out over the valley of the Nile. It has been said that the Sphinx was probably intended to be the guardian of the entrance to the Nile Valley.
The name of the Sphinx in Egyptian was "Hu." The inscriptions in the shrine between its paws say that it represented the sun god Hormakhu.
In the long past days of Egypt's grandeur the Sphinx was a central feature of the grandest cemetery the world has ever seen. This was the cemetery of Memphis, the metropolis of Egypt. The city of Memphis was the chief city of King Menes, who founded the earliest known dynasty. Now the only things that mark the site of the vanished metropolis are two colossal but fallen statues of Egypt's vainest king, Rameses II, the Great.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 42, SERIAL No. 42
COPYRIGHT, 1913. BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
TEMPLE OF LUXOR, EGYPT