One of the world’s most famous monuments, the Great Sphinx at Giza is shrouded in age-old mystery. Despite being well-known, the Sphinx is surrounded by countless secret tales dating back thousands of years. This article will take a look at some of the enduring mysteries surrounding the Great Sphinx.

What did it look like in its prime?

If you ever make it to Giza in Egypt to view the Great Sphinx for yourself, you’ll come across a much-weathered but undeniably impressive stone statue. But what exactly would you see if you boarded a time machine and traveled back some 4,500 years? That’s when the Sphinx is believed to have first been unveiled. And according to researchers, it looked very different back then.

Sphinx in color

For a start, it was painted in bright hues. Archaeologists believe the face was red, while yellow and blue pigments have been found on the body. The nose and a goatee beard, long gone, would be present and correct as well. The dramatic cobra motif that once graced the statue’s headdress would also be in place. So it would present a very different prospect than it is today, that’s for sure.

Is there a secret library hidden beneath it?

Described by Encyclopedia Britannica as an “American self-proclaimed faith healer and psychic,” Edgar Cayce passed away in 1945 at age 68. His connection with the Great Sphinx comes from a trance that he once fell into. Cayce claimed that during this reverie he witnessed survivors from the fabled but destroyed city of Atlantis stashing important manuscripts beneath the Sphinx.

Still searching for the Hall of Records

Distinguished contemporary Egyptologist Mark Lehner later told PBS that Cayce’s claims had led him to pursue his studies of ancient Egypt. And when Lehner started fieldwork in Egypt in the early 1970s, he spent time searching for what Cayce described as the Hall of Records. Sadly, though, Lehner didn’t find it – and nobody else has, either. But never say never!

Who destroyed its nose?

Famously, the head of the Sphinx today is minus its nose. But who or what knocked it off? A story that’s circulated for many years blames the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. At the head of a 35,000-strong force, he invaded Egypt in 1798. Practicing their artillery skills, his soldiers then allegedly blasted off the Sphinx’s nose. But we know this story’s a complete fabrication.

Nobody’s nose

We’re sure of that because another Frenchman, Frederic Luis Norden, had sketched the Sphinx in 1737, more than 60 years before Napoleon and his army set foot in Egypt. Norden’s image depicts the Sphinx nose-less. So who was the culprit? It might’ve been a devout Muslim during the 1300s who was offended by this graven image. Or perhaps Ottomans shot it off during their occupation of Egypt, which ran from 1517 until Napoleon’s invasion. The truth is, nobody knows.

Whose face does it depict?

When we gaze in wonder at the human face of the Great Sphinx, who exactly is peering at us from some 4,500 years ago? Speaking to the Smithsonian magazine in 2010, Brown University Egyptologist James Allen gave his view on the statue’s identity. He said it was “certainly something divine, presumably the image of a king, but beyond that is anyone’s guess.”

Man or beast

Many experts believe that the monument portrays the face of Pharaoh Khafre who reigned over Egypt from around 2575 to 2465 B.C. But others believe the statue is a likeness of another pharaoh, Khufu, Khafre’s father. A further theory has it that the original face wasn’t a man’s at all but that of a lion, later remodeled into human form. So as Professor Allen said, it seems to be “anyone’s guess.”

How was it built?

Astonishingly, the 66-feet tall, 240-feet long Sphinx was created from a solitary piece of stone. The material is limestone and it was dug from a nearby quarry. Writing for the Smithsonian magazine in 2010, Evan Hadingham described an intriguing archaeological project. PBS was behind the scheme, which aimed to replicate ancient Egyptian construction techniques.

100-man job

Professor Rick Brown of the Massachusetts College of Art led some of his students in an attempt to experience what carving the Sphinx must have been like. They created the type of copper chisels that would have been available 4,500 years ago. The group found that these tools quickly blunted and so needed frequent sharpening. It was hard work, and Brown estimated that creating the Sphinx would’ve required a team of 100 working for several years.

Why is the head out of scale with the body?

Looking at the Sphinx, it’s clear that the size of its human head seems too large for the body of the sculpture. Why was this? Those ancient Egyptians were certainly capable of producing beautifully balanced works. So did they deliberately create the Sphinx with a head apparently out of scale with the body?

Time and repairs

It turns out that there are possible explanations for this seeming aberration. One theory is that the original head was that of an animal, perhaps a bird or a ram, or as we heard earlier a lion. When this was reconfigured into human form, some size would inevitably have been lost. Then again, repairs during the long life of the sculpture may also have whittled away some of the original figures.

How old is it?

We’ve seen that most experts date the Sphinx to some 4,500 years ago during the reign of Pharaoh Khafre. But researchers aren’t unanimous in their estimates. As far back as the 19th century, some pointed out that there are no records of a connection between Khafre and the Sphinx in the many carved inscriptions found in Giza’s temples and pyramids.

Evidence of water damage

And a recent radical theory has pushed back the possible date of the Sphinx’s creation by thousands of years to around 7000 B.C. Writer John Anthony West spotted marks on the Sphinx that he believed must have been caused by water rather than sand and wind. But from the time of Khafre onwards, there wasn’t sufficient rainfall to cause this. A couple of thousand years earlier, though, there had been. So there’s still some uncertainty about the precise age of the Sphinx.

Is there a connection between the Sphinx and the Great Pyramids?

The three Great Pyramids of Giza are near neighbors of the Sphinx. But what, if any, is the connection between those magnificent monuments and the sculpture that lies beside them? Well, experts still dispute whether the pyramids or the Sphinx came first. One of the pyramids, dedicated to Khafre, is made from the same stone as the statue, suggesting it may have been built around the same time.

Hotly debated theory

If the Sphinx and Khafre’s pyramid are from the same era, that would suggest that one was built to complement the other. And there’s also a modern theory that the Giza complex, including the three pyramids and the Sphinx, was built as an earthly representation of the stars. But for this to be correct, the monuments would have to be some 12,500 years old. Most experts reject this theory, citing the fact that no physical evidence from that era has ever been discovered.

Is it a true sphinx?

Whether or not you believe that the Great Sphinx is a faithful representation of the mythical beast rather depends on your definition of what this fantasy animal should look like. It seems that the Egyptians first came up with the idea of the Sphinx, a strange marriage between animal and human anatomies. But later the concept traveled to the ancient land of Mesopotamia in the Middle East and on to ancient Greece.

It’s believed to be an original

The Greeks stuck a pair of wings onto their sphinxes, upgrading the flightless beast of the ancient Egyptians. Then, about 3,500 years ago came a radical innovation: female sphinxes. But there’s little doubt that the Sphinx was an Egyptian creation. The Great Sphinx is believed to be the first of its kind – which surely means that it was and remains a genuine sphinx.

Is there a “keyhole” under its ear?

A 20-year-old Russian man brought the tale of the keyhole under the Great Sphinx’s ear to the world. In a 2017 report in the British tabloid the Daily Express, Boriska Kipriyanovich described how he’d lived with aliens from Mars for a time and flown in spaceships. One of these supposed journeys had taken him to Giza – and that was when he made his remarkable keyhole discovery.

A little superstition

“The human life will change when the Sphinx is opened,” Kipriyanovich told the newspaper. “It has an opening mechanism somewhere behind the ear; I do not remember exactly.” Is there any truth to Kipriyanovich’s extraordinary story? Put it this way: if you have a large pinch of salt handy, now’s probably a good time to use it.

Was it an unfinished project?

Is the Great Sphinx we see today part of an unfinished complex? Well, there’s evidence that this may be the case. Two eminent Egyptologists, Zahi Hawass and Mark Lehner made a discovery in 1978 that led them to formulate the theory of an incomplete project. In the quarry where the limestone for the statue was extracted, the pair found three slabs of masonry of exactly the type used to build the Sphinx temple. These were contemporary with the statue itself.

Unknown interruption

Alongside the abandoned slabs were the remains of a liquid container and some stone implements. This led Lehner and Hawass to conclude that work on the Sphinx and its temple had been stopped abruptly. The incomplete nature of the temple adds force to their theory. As does the fact that the Old Kingdom that produced the Sphinx declined and finally collapsed some 300 years later. The statue and temple were then lost to the desert sands for some 700 years.

What’s the Great Sphinx’s correct name?

The word sphinx wasn’t one known to the ancient Egyptians 4,500 years ago. The term’s of much more recent origin, dating back probably just 2,500 years and introduced by the Greeks. The truth is that nobody knows what the Sphinx was called by the Egyptians who created it. And strangely, it isn’t mentioned in any of the many inscriptions that exist from that time.

Shesep-ankh

Later, when ancient Greeks visited the site, the Egyptians referred to the Sphinx with the term “shesep-ankh.” That translates as “living image” and it’s a generalized word referring to any artwork portraying royalty. So we have to chalk this up as another mystery. We simply don’t know what the ancient Egyptians called their magnificent Sphinx.

Who built it?

We talk about pharaohs building the great monuments of ancient Egypt. Certainly, they commissioned the great works, but of course, it was laborers and craftsmen who put in the real graft. So what do we know about the people who constructed the Great Sphinx? The first thing to point out is that the idea that slave labor built the Sphinx and other great Egyptian monuments is almost certainly wrong.

Celebrated crafters

In 1999 Egyptologists Mark Lehner and Zahi Hawass discovered an ancient settlement at Giza. They believe it housed the workers who built the pyramids and the Sphinx. Bones unearthed there indicated that these laborers dined on beef, which was hardly the food of slaves. So they may have had a feudal duty to serve the pharaohs, at least for a certain period, but it seems that they were well looked after.

Why was it built?

It’s a fair question. What motivated the builders of the Sphinx to create this grand piece of statuary? Egyptologist Mark Lehner looks to the remains of the Sphinx Temple for an answer to that intriguing question. Building on earlier archaeological work by the Swiss researcher Herbert Ricke, Lehner has theorized about the alignment of the Sphinx and its temple to the sun’s path across the Egyptian sky.

There’s something in the shadows

Speaking to Smithsonian magazine in 2010, Lehner noted a strange phenomenon visible from a certain spot in the temple at both the spring and fall equinoxes. “The shadow of the Sphinx and the shadow of the pyramid, both symbols of the king, become merged silhouettes,” he explained. “The Sphinx itself, it seems, symbolized the pharaoh presenting offerings to the sun god in the court of the temple.” So, according to Lehner, the Sphinx was part of the elaborate worship of the sun deity while also honoring Pharaoh Khafre.

Where does its secret tunnel lead?

In 1995 maintenance work on a parking area not far from the Sphinx unearthed a tunnel complex. A couple of these mysterious underground pathways lead to a spot close to the Great Sphinx itself. Robert Bauval, who’s expounded various theories about the Sphinx that are rejected by respected Egyptologists, believes the tunnels were dug at the same time as the Sphinx was built.

Forbidden territory

While we may approach Bauval’s ideas with caution, experts uncovered further indications of underground chambers below the Sphinx in the early 1990s. A group led by John Anthony West employed a seismograph to reveal unexplained spaces not far beneath the surface along the Sphinx’s flanks and under its feet. But Egyptian authorities have forbidden further investigation, so the tunnels and the possible underground chambers remain unexplained.

Did climate change influence the construction of the Sphinx?

It’s a hot-button issue today, but did climate change play a part in the story of the Great Sphinx 4,500 years ago? Mark Lehner believes that a period of shifts in climate might have had an important influence on the construction of the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx. And his theory’s underpinned by the work of two German experts, Rudolph Kuper and Stefan Kröpelin.

An era of abundance

Lehner told Smithsonian magazine that these great Old Kingdom monuments may have been built at a time of prosperity due to increased and regular rainfall. The German climatologists’ research shows that monsoon rains moved north over Africa to Egypt some 8,500 years ago. This created an environment that could sustain the ambitious building projects of the Old Kingdom pharaohs. Later, desert conditions returned, and the Old Kingdom was torn apart by conflicts.

What happened to the Sphinx’s beard?

At one time, the Great Sphinx’s human face sported a plaited goatee beard. Today it’d be the envy of any hipster worth his salt. The British Museum in London holds fragments of this ancient facial hair. According to the museum website, the beard was probably a later addition to the statue. But look at the Sphinx today and you’ll see that a beard is absent.

The ghost beard

Italian archaeologist Giovanni Battista Caviglia was the first to discover pieces of the beard in 1817. They were buried between the statue’s paws at a time when it was up to its neck in sand. So how did it become separated from the Sphinx’s human face? That remains unclear. The best the British Museum can come up with is that it “fell off in antiquity,” though they do hazard that it may have happened in the 15th century A.D.

Did the Sphinx always have a lion’s body?

As we know, the Sphinx is a strange amalgam of humans and animals. The face belongs to a man, probably the Old Kingdom pharaoh Khafre, while the body’s that of a lion. But the authors Robert and Olivia Temple believe that the form we see today is far from what the original statue looked like. They say that it was initially a representation of the ancient Egyptian god Anubis.

Rejecting the claims

The Temples also date the statue further back in time than most experts. They assert that it was created hundreds of years earlier than the generally accepted date of around 4,500 years ago. They further state that the face isn’t that of Khafre but a later pharaoh, Amenemhat II. Few Egyptologists agree with the theories of the Temples, though. As the World History website puts it, “Among the reasons mainstream scholars reject these claims is that they are largely speculative.”

Were there once two sphinxes?

We think of the Sphinx as a statue that exists alone in the desert sands, albeit beside the Great Pyramids of Giza. But was the enigmatic work once part of a set of twins? French historian Antoine Gigal believes that there were indeed once two sphinxes. The second one, she says, would have been located on the other side of the River Nile from the one that exists today.

Tunnels to nowhere

Gigal also believes that tunnels may have connected the two sphinxes. Though traces of tunnels have been discovered near the Great Sphinx, according to the World History Encyclopedia website, these lead nowhere. It’s an idea that intrigues, but the theory that there were two sphinxes have found little traction among established Egyptologists.

Is there a hole in the Sphinx’s head?

Well, is there a hole in the Sphinx’s head? The answer’s a straightforward “no.” But there is a cavity in the Great Sphinx’s back, about four feet from the head. It’s called Perring’s Hole after the English engineer who excavated it in the 1840s, John Shae Perring. He was working with the British Army officer and Egyptologist Howard Vyse.

A failed attempt

Vyse seems to have believed that there might have been hidden chambers inside the Sphinx and so ordered Perring to bore into the statue. A hole was drilled some 27 feet into the Sphinx but the drill mechanism became stuck. Gunpowder failed to free it and Vyse abandoned his ill-advised attempt. Egyptologist Zahi Hawass cleared the hole in 1978, discovering fragments of the Sphinx’s headdress in the process.