Great Sphinx example essay topic

The Great Sphinx of Giza is a monument recognized all over the world. It is a symbol that represented the essence of Egypt for thousands of years. It is the biggest sphinx statue ever found. There are more than one sphinx, for example there is the Sphinx of Greece and The Sphinx of Martian (all that is, is the shape of the sphinx's head on the planet Mars.) But the Great Sphinx in Giza, Egypt is the most famous of all. The Sphinx has the body of a lion and the head of a pharaoh. The lion was a powerful symbol in ancient Egypt as it represented strength and courage.

No one knows exactly what the purpose of the sphinx is, but there are some theory's. One is that it guarded soldiers into battle, some think this is true because of what the lion meant to the Egyptians and because it had their pharaoh's face on it who at that time was Kha fra. The pharaohs were also gods in Egypt. Some say it serves as a guardian of the pyramids behind it. Some scientists are using radar to try to find any burial chambers inside theGreat Sphinx and they think there maybe a few. The Great Sphinx started as a natural outcropping of rock.

The ancient Egyptians carved the statue into the stone around 2500 B.C. To make it taller than the height of the rock they chipped out a depression around the base of the statue. The sphinx was then constructed of sandstone. Nobody knows exactly how they moved the huge slabs of rock to construct the monument. All that we know is that they used hundreds of men to do the job. The Great Sphinx stands 66 feet high, 240 feet long. The head measures 19 feet from forehead to chin, and each paw extends 56 feet forward.

The face is over 6 yards wide. When time had passed and the Sphinx was given less attention, desert sands covered the Great Sphinx up to it's neck. A legend say's that around 1400 B.C., an Egyptian prince, on a hunt, came to rest in the shadow that the Sphinx casted. While napping he heard the Sphinx tell him to clear th sand away from him, and he will become ruler of Egypt. He cleared the sand away and soon became Pharaoh Thutmose IV. Scientific evidence tells us much about The Great Sphinx when in it's prime.

The nose of the Sphinx was apparently blasted off by canon fire when Napoleon invaded. The traditional beard that was worn by all pharaoh's of Egypt fell off from weathering and is now in a British museum, along with the nose. When the Sphinx was first constructed i twas painted took look even more outstanding, the face was painted a red color, the eyes were painted black, and the headdress white. Science also is telling us that the GreatSphinx may not have been built around 2500 B.C., like scientists think, because they have found vertical erosion marks which are only made by water.

Now scientist are saying it is possible that it could have been made around 10,500 B.C. The pyramids next to theSphinx don t have this type of erosion on them leading scientist to believe that the GreatSphinx is much older than they had originally thought. Since the Sphinx is so old it is deteriorating. In the 1980's, a restoration of theSphinx was in progress. Over a span of 6 years, more than 2,000 limestone blocks were added to the body of the sphinx and chemicals were injected. This treatment did not work. It just flaked away along with parts of the original rock.

Later, mortars and many workers who were not trained in restoration worked for six months to repair it. Now, attempts at restoration are under the control of the Supreme Council of Antiquities' archaeologists. Some people believe that the Sphinx has some astronomy worked in with it. TheSphinx is a great equinoctial marker, because it lies directly on the east / west axis of the Giza necropolis, and it's eyes are staring right ahead to the equinox of spring. There is a rumor of a second Sphinx existing underneath the sand. Some people do strongly agree that there is a second sphinx there.

They believe this because Egyptian tombs were all guarded by double sphinxes. If the Sphinx really is a guardian of a tomb maybe it is true that there is a second sphinx. Also if you measure the are of the Sphinx, you will see that there is plenty of space parallel to the Sphinx to construct another one of equal size. Today, the Sphinx is a major tourist attraction in Cairo, Egypt.

We may not be sure exactly why it was made by the Egyptian people, but that doesn t seem to lessen our wonder over this great monument. People still come from all around to see it, and all agree it is just amazing how it can just take your breath away somehow. I hope that TheGreat Sphinx will be preserved for thousands of more years so the next generations will have the opportunity to see it in person. I too hope to see it face-to-face one day.