The TRUTH Behind The Sphinx SCARED Archaeologists
The Sphinx is an icon of ancient Egypt and one of the monuments we immediately think of when
Egypt is brought up. Located in the Giza Pyramid Complex, the Sphinx is one of the
oldest buildings in the world, but there are so many things we still don’t know about it.
The Great Sphinx of Giza is about 66 feet in height and 240 feet in length.
When the Sphinx was built, it was the largest building of any kind on earth and to this day, it
is one of the largest statues in the world. Unlike the great pyramids, the Sphinx isn’t made up of
different building blocks, but is rather carved from the bedrock. However, in more recent years,
some limestone blocks have been added as a part of the restoration efforts of the Sphinx.
Many historians believe that the Sphinx was constructed sometime around the reign of Khafre,
or during the reign of his father, Khufu, who is widely considered the mastermind behind
the pyramids. While there is little doubt that Khufu commissioned the Great Pyramid Complex,
the history of the Sphinx is much more complicated. No one has actually been able to
put a date on when the Sphinx may have been built, it’s all merely speculation. Some historians
actually believe that the Sphinx may have been older than the pyramids by a few thousand years.
The reason why this is so significant is that the Sphinx might have been older than
the Old Kingdom of Egypt itself, which means that there may have been some sort
of civilization that actually predates the ancient Egyptian civilization that we know of.
Many historians are now saying that Khafre didn’t build the Sphinx, but simply unearthed it. Just
to be clear, there isn’t any calendar or any historical document that gives us any detail
about the Sphinx’s construction, but there is some damage that might give us some clues.
As you all might already know, Giza is located in the middle of a desert. Even back in 2500 BC,
which is around the time many people assume the Sphinx was built, Giza was still a desert,
and it received very little annual rainfall. However, Giza wasn’t always a desert, in fact, if
we go back another 5000 years, Giza might’ve had a climate more similar to a tropical rainforest
you’d see near the equator. There are signs of erosion deep within the structure of the Sphinx,
such a level of erosion would be next to impossible with the climate of Giza today,
and it would be impossible with the climate of Giza 4500 years ago as well,
but if we go back around 9000 years ago, erosion like that would’ve almost been inevitable.
Many people have dismissed it as regular sand erosion and not water erosion, but even that
seems unlikely. In fact, Egyptologist Anthony West decided he would put an end to the sand
vs. water erosion debate. He took a picture of the erosion present on the Sphinx, without the
Sphinx itself in clear view, and showed it to the top geologist at the University of Oxford
and asked him whether the damage seen in the picture was water erosion or simple sand erosion.
The scholar said it was definitely water erosion, however, once he revealed to him that the picture
was of the Great Sphinx, the scholar took back his statement and said it may have been sand erosion.
You can make up your own mind on what the erosion might’ve been the result of. Sand erosion is
caused by wind, and it usually results in a jagged, uneven, and sharp appearance on the rock.
Water erosion, on the other hand, usually results in giving the rocks a smoother appearance, and the
Sphinx definitely looks more like it has suffered from water erosion rather than sand erosion.
But wait, doesn’t the Nile River flood every now and then? What if the erosion was caused by that?
Well, while it’s true that the Nile River does flood from time to time, if that was the cause
of the Sphinx’s erosion, most of the effects would be seen at the base of the structure.
But if you look closely, the most heavily eroded part of the Sphinx is actually at the top,
not the bottom. Another thing to consider is that the Sphinx hasn’t had any erosion in the past
few hundred years. This means whatever initially caused the erosion is definitely not a regularly
occurring natural phenomenon today. This once again points to the Sphinx being much older than
we thought by thousands of years. Still, there isn’t really a historical consensus on when
the Sphinx was built, and we can all pretty much believe what we want to believe about its origins.
Another mystery surrounding the Sphinx is a rather recent one (at least when compared to its age),
and that’s the question of how it lost its nose. Much like the question
surrounding the Sphinx’s age, this one also doesn’t have a scholarly consensus.
Originally, the Sphinx had a full humanoid nose and a beard similar to the fake beard you
would see displayed on many Egyptian pharaohs. Parts of the Sphinx’s beard have been found,
but not a single trace of the nose has been found to this day. Some of the oldest drawings
of the Sphinx also show the nose as missing, so we don’t even know when its nose was lost.
One theory which is quite popular is that Napoleon’s army shot a cannon right at the
Sphinx’s face, but this one is quite unlikely considering how important the
historical artifacts of Egypt were to Napoleon during his Egyptian campaign,
and heavily damaging something like the Sphinx would not be taken lightly. Another theory is
that it may have accidentally been damaged during its initial excavation, which doesn’t seem too
outlandish of a claim, but there are no official records of something like that happening either.
One of the leading theories of the missing nose these days is that after a local Sufi Muslim ruler
saw the Sphinx as an idol and after he saw some locals make an offering to the sphinx,
he wanted to destroy the whole structure but was only able to deface its nose.
All of these are simply theories, and there’s no confirmation that any of these actually happened.
There’s also a very real possibility that since the nose and beard were structures that stuck
out of the Sphinx, they might not have had the support that was needed to keep them up,
and simply couldn’t withstand the test of time.
You can probably see now why there are so many conspiracy theories surrounding the Great Sphinx.
It’s one of the most magnificent structures in history, and perhaps too magnificent for its own
good. Many people believe that the technology to build something so grand didn’t even exist
back when it was built, whether it was 4500 years ago or 9000 years ago. This has led to some people
believing that the ancient Egyptians may have received some “outside” help to construct the
Sphinx, as in outside the planet. While humans couldn’t make something like this thousands of
years ago, aliens probably could have. There are theories that the Sphinx might have actually been
some sort of alien symbol, and that it was the spot of some sort of past alien landing.
We’re obviously not saying that’s the case, but hey, even NASA hasn’t completely denied
the existence of aliens, and we’re not gonna completely deny them either.
There is one thing about the Sphinx that scholars do agree on though,
and that’s the fact that it looked much different from how it looks today.
Aside from the erosion, nose, which is destroyed, and the ceremonial beard, which kind of just fell
off, there were also a lot of other features of the Sphinx that are completely missing today. The
main difference is that the Sphinx was covered in paint. The Sphinx had all sorts of bright colors
covering it, its body and face were completely red, while the beard was painted blue and the
headdress or “crown” was yellow or gold. Over time, the paint slowly withered away, leaving the
Sphinx with its bare limestone rather than how it was originally meant to look. There are currently
no plans on restoring any of the original paint on the Sphinx, mainly because there is already so
much other damage to the structure that focusing on the paint right now would be impossible.
It really is incredible how a structure that was
so historically significant can have such conflicting theories about its originals,
and next to no scholarly consensus on pretty much anything surrounding it.
If you have any theory surrounding the Sphinx, we’d love to hear it in the comments below!
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