The Great Sphinx

The Great Sphinx is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It’s a very huge manmade structure located in Egypt. There are many fictional stories about it and about the secrets behind building it. It was built before thousands years ago by ancient Egyptians. 

Sphinx is an idol that takes two forms, a women’s face and lion’s body. The Sphinx was built of carving a large piece of rock with a flat base of accumulated stones of limestone. It is located in Giza in Egypt. Scientist believes that who built the Sphinx are the ancient Egyptians during the reign of the pharaoh Khafre. It considers one of the seven wonders of the world because it is one of the largest sculptures that are known. Where its length 73.5 meter and its width 6 meter and its 5000 years old. We consider it as a wonder because in 2500 BC there was not any machines that help the builders to make the blocks reach higher, so how did they do it?!

To build it they had copper chisels to cut stones, they have sharp edges are not affected even after repeated use, it's as steel coils and edges are very sharp. The nature of the stone, limestone fine fit for carving, and the danger that you should pay attention so as not to be separated piece soft rock solid layer, then the type of peel will appear between the soft layer and the solid layer. So the difference between soft rock and harsh rock always needs attention.

When the craftsmen started to carve the bottom of Sphinx they realized there is incision extended from the right through the palms and the back of the Sphinx. This incision impact the size of the idol so the craftsmen started to carve the idol linearly to avoid the losing of it size.

There are some inscriptions placed on Sphinx they think that it was done by two ancient’s kings. Those inscriptions mean that the Sphinx is kind of “God” and specially “the god of sun”. There are many reasons about why it built but none of them are definite. Some of the reasons is they built the Sphinx to make all the evils stay away from the Cemetery Pyramids. Others said that the great Sphinx was build by bani Asaad tribe that migrated with bani Hilal tribe to consolidate their ownership of Egypt.

“The Sphinx is only part of a set of structures built to serve the cult of the dead king and the sun god, Re, consisting of a pyramid, Pyramid Temple, causeway, Sphinx, Sphinx Temple, and Valley Temple.”( The Great Sphinx | Who Built it and When? | Mark Lehner |. 2002). The great Sphinx still exists until now. The Egyptian government always makes maintenance to the sphinx to maintain its shape for tourists.

Sphinx is very important not only for Egypt but also for the entire world. It is the sign of greatest wonder. People from all over the world visit Egypt every year just to see and take picture of this great structure. The benefit from this structure goes back to Egypt because the tourists need places to stay, shops to do shopping, restaurants to eat and transportation to move. All that increase Egypt’s economy.

There are secrets behind or under the great Sphinx. Many scientists said that there are tunnels in the body of the Sphinx and around it. Some of them said that those tunnels were created from the Explorers to discover what inside the Sphinx and may found some treasures.

One research that is available in the library of Egyptian Museum said that the basement in the Sphinx was made in 1840 by someone who was looking for treasures. When he reached a depth of 27 feet he stopped for unknown reasons. But the former Egyptian expert in archeology, Nasri Alexander, sees that the ancients might have dug the tunnel for collecting rainwater and then discharged to the outside so as not seep inside the statue and cause its collapse.

In conclusion, it is very important to keep on discovering this great structure and the mystery behind building it because ancient Egyptians had a great Era.

 ( Words: 685 )

Omar Alhosani / H00227715 

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References

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Great Sphinx of Giza - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (2013, July 4). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved April 23, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Sphinx_of_Giza

The Great Sphinx | Who Built it and When? | Mark Lehner |. (2002, February 4). Ancient Egypt Research Associates. Retrieved April 23, 2013, from http://www.aeraweb.org/projects/sphinx/

The Sphinx. (n.d.). Educational Maze Puzzle Art. Retrieved April 23, 2013, from http://amazeingart.com/seven-wonders/sphinx.html

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