The Sphinx of Giza
The history and discovery of the Great Sphinx in Egypt is very fascinating. For most of her life she was buried in the sand and only revealed her mysteries to the world in modern times when she was cleaned up. One of her discoveries was a stele between her forelegs.
The Sphinx statue was buried for much of its life in the sand. It was King Thutmose IV (1425 - 1417 BC) who placed a stele between her forelegs, on which, Thutmose describes an event, while he was still a prince, when he went hunting and fell asleep in the shadow of the sphinx. During the dream, the sphinx spoke to Thutmose and told him to sweep the sand away. The sphinx told him that if he did, he would be rewarded with the kingship of Egypt.
Thutmose carried out this request and the sphinx kept his promise. Of course, over time, the great statue, the only unique instance of a colossal sculpture carved in the round directly from the natural rock, found itself buried again in the sand. In the more modern era, when Napoleon arrived in Egypt in 1798, the Sphinx was once again buried with sand up to the neck, at this point, we believe the nose had been missing for at least 400 years. Between 1816 and 1817, the Genoese merchant, Caviglia tried to free the sand, but only managed to dig a trench along the chest of the statue and along the length of the front legs. Auguste Mariette, founder of the Egyptian Antiquities Service, also attempted to excavate the Sphinx, but gave up in frustration due to the huge amount of sand. She continued to explore the Khafre Valley Temple, but returned to the Great Sphinx to excavate in 1858.
This time he manages to clear the sand up to the rocky floor of the moat around the Sphinx, discovering in the process several sections of the protective walls around the moat, as well as strange masonry boxes along the body of the monument that could have served as small shrines. However, apparently not all the sand has been removed yet. In 1885, Gaston Maspero, then director of the antiquities service, again attempted to free the Sphinx, but after exhibiting earlier works by Caviglia and Mariette, he was forced to abandon the project due to logistical problems. Between 1925 and 1936, the French engineer Emile Baraize excavated the Sphinx on behalf of the Antiquities Service, and apparently for the first time since antiquity, the great beast was again exposed to the elements.
Indeed, the sand was its salvation, as, being built of soft sandstone, it would have disappeared long ago had it not been buried for much of its existence. It is the largest monolithic statue in the world, 73.5 meters (241 ft) long, 19.3 meters (63 ft) wide and 20.22 m (66.34 ft) high. It is the oldest known monumental sculpture and is believed to have been built by the ancient Egyptians of the Old Kingdom during the reign of Pharaoh Khafra.
