The Giant Sphinx
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The Sphinx, like the pyramids, is a huge man made structure
built by the ancient Egyptians. It is a sculpture of a half lion, half
human being and it still very much a mystery as to how the early Egyptians,
moved and hoisted such heavy solid stone blocks.
When the Great Pyramid was built there was a lot of stone left
over at Giza, where it was quarried, so the people who built the
second pyramid for King Chepren, built a huge scuplture of a
half lion half human out of this left over rock.
It is thought that the face of the sphinx is in fact of Chepren himself.
The Sphinx was originally constructed up to ‘protect’ the pyramids,
though many people thought that it had the power of a god.
The Giant Sphinx was originally covered in plaster and painted
bright colours which would have been a truly amazing site !!
Sadly, the Sphinx has been worn down through time and it’s nose
was shot off with a cannon ball.
Recently scientists have believed that maybe the Sphinx
is a lot older than previously thought. It was thought
to be 5000 years old, but they say there is enough evidence
to prove that it is more than 10 000 years old! They know this
because they have traced some of the wearing down
of the Sphinx to water erosion! As we know there is no water
at all around the Sphinx so it could be many thousands of years old,
when the water level was higher, or the Nile was wider.