A GODLY BEAST

STANDING
GUARD
Egyptian civilization was already ancicnt
when the first Greek travellers came to
Egypt and discovered, standing at the edge
of the desert, the strange limestone beast
w h i c h they called the Sphinx. This may
have been a Greek corruption ot the E g y p -
tians' designation of the m o n u m e n t . But
nothing like this Sphinx had ever been
seen in Greece. T h e gigantic figure crouch-
ing in the sand near the m o d e r n village ot
Gizeh has a lion's body measuring 240
feet long and 66 feet high, and a h u m a n
face m o r e than 13 feet wide.
Ever since this hybrid creature was giv-
en its foreign name, the Great Sphinx
at Gizeh has represented to strangers all
that is strange and inscrutable about the
civilization of ancient Egypt. Yet, despite
the statue's remote origins, a good deal
about it has been learned or deduced. E g y p -
tians considered the Sphinx an e m b o d i m e n t
of Harmakhis, a manifestation of their sun
god. T h e h u m a n features are believed to
be a portrait of Khafre, the King of Egypt
w h e n the statue was carved.
N o t h i n g about the Great Sphinx is m o r e
certain—or harder to c o m p r e h e n d — t h a n its
tremendous age. According to an ancient
text, a y o u n g prince riding in the desert
paused to nap in the shade of the Sphinx.
As he slept, the Sphinx spoke to him,
promising h i m Egypt's throne it he w o u l d
r e m o v e the sand that had piled up a r o u n d
the statue. T h e prince, T h u t m o s e IV, did
clear the sand and indeed became King of
Egypt 34 centuries ago—and at that time -
the Sphinx was already 1,100 years old.

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