A story about the Sphinx 10 15 sentences. Interesting facts about the Sphinx that are not in history books. Description of important care points

Some people are disgusted by this breed of cat, and some try to have only Sphynx cats. Today we will talk about facts that you probably didn’t know.

With his main feature, lack of fur, it is much easier to observe changes in the weight of sphinxes. This makes it much easier for owners of cats undergoing certain treatment to track the dynamics of changes in weight: whether the pet has lost weight, or vice versa, gained weight.

The skin of a sphinx is difficult to compare with someone else's

It doesn't feel like human skin or any other pet's skin. These amazing cats have a very warm and soft skin, which is slightly rough and dry.

Often a person changes his opinion about these pets if he initially saw the sphinx only in a photo. According to the majority, when we meet, these unique cats are not as “disgusting” and terrible as we think in the pictures. Sphynxes are distinguished by their excellent body structure and well-developed muscles.

As soon as you touch the sphinx, you will feel that its skin is hot. Indeed, compared to our usual temperature of 36.6, the body temperature of the Sphinx may seem high: up to 40 degrees.

Sphynx cats have a lot of “extra” skin. Sometimes it can even hang when the cat stretches out. However, sphinxes do not require special care, unless you take into account more frequent bathing: about 1 time per week.

Speaking of swimming

Compared to other breeds, Sphynx cats tolerate water treatments much easier and calmer. What applies and cool rooms, despite the fact that it would seem that a “bald” animal should freeze in the cold. But, naturally, cats will prefer warm places, for example, under a blanket.

Children's Russian fairy tale for children 4-5 years old “Wintermovie”.

A bull, a ram, a pig, a cat and a rooster decided to live in the forest.

It's nice in the forest in the summer, that's right! The bull and ram have plenty of grass, the cat catches mice, the rooster picks berries, pecks at worms, the pig digs roots and acorns under the trees. Only bad things could happen to friends if it rained.

So the summer passed, late autumn came, and it began to get colder in the forest. The bull was the first to remember to build a winter hut. I met a ram in the forest:

Come on, friend, build a winter hut! I will carry logs from the forest and cut poles, and you will tear up wood chips.

Okay,” the ram answers, “I agree.”

We met a bull and a ram and a pig: - Let's go, Khavronyushka, build a winter hut with us. We will carry logs, hew poles, tear up wood chips, and you will knead clay, make bricks, and build a stove.

The pig also agreed.

A bull, a ram and a pig saw a cat:

Hello, Kotofeich! Let's go build a winter hut together! We will carry logs, hew poles, tear up wood chips, knead clay, make bricks, lay a stove, and you will weave moss and caulk the walls.

The cat agreed too.

A bull, a ram, a pig and a cat met a rooster in the forest:

Hello, Petya! Come with us to build a winter hut! We will carry logs, hew poles, tear up wood chips, knead clay, make bricks, lay a stove, carry moss, caulk the walls, and you will cover the roof.

The rooster agreed too.

The friends chose a drier place in the forest, brought in logs, hewed poles, tore up wood chips, made bricks, brought in moss - and began to cut down the hut.

The hut was cut down, the stove was built, the walls were caulked, and the roof was covered. We prepared supplies and firewood for the winter.

Fierce winter has come, the frost has crackled. Some people are cold in the forest, but friends are warm in the winter hut. A bull and a ram are sleeping on the floor, a pig has climbed underground, a cat is singing songs on the stove, and a rooster is perched on a perch near the ceiling.

Friends live and grieve.

And seven hungry wolves wandered through the forest and saw a new winter hut. One, the bravest wolf, says:

Let me go, brothers, and see who lives in this winter hut. If I don't come back soon, come to the rescue.

A wolf entered the winter hut and fell straight on the ram.

The ram has nowhere to go. The ram hid in a corner and bleated in a terrible voice.

Ba-uh!.. Ba-uh!.. Ba-uh!..

The rooster saw the wolf, flew off his perch, and flapped his wings:

Ku-ka-re-ku-u!..

The cat jumped off the stove, snorted and meowed:

Me-oo-oo!.. Me-oo-oo!.. Me-oo-oo!..

A bull came running, horns of a wolf in the side:

Oooh!.. Oooh!.. Ooooh!..

And the pig heard that there was a battle going on upstairs, crawled out of hiding and shouted:

Oink!.. Oink!.. Oink!.. Who to eat here?

The wolf had a hard time; he barely escaped the trouble alive. He runs and shouts to his comrades:

Oh, brothers, go away! Oh, brothers, run!

The wolves heard it and ran away.

They ran for an hour, ran for two, sat down to rest, and their red tongues hung out.

And the old wolf caught his breath and said to them:

I entered, my brothers, into the winter hut, and I saw:

A scary and shaggy man stared at me. There was clapping at the top and snorting at the bottom! A horned, bearded man jumped out of the corner - horns hit me in the side!

And from below they shout: “Who should we eat here?” I didn’t see the light - and there... Oh, let’s run, brothers!..

The wolves rose, their tails like a pipe - only snow in a column.

Each civilization has its own symbols, which are considered integral parts of the people, their culture and history. Sphinx Ancient Egypt- immortal proof of the power, strength and greatness of the country, a silent reminder of the divine origin of its rulers, who have sunk into the centuries, but left an image on earth eternal life. The national symbol of Egypt is considered one of the greatest architectural monuments of the past, which still inspires involuntary fear with its impressiveness, an aura of secrets, mystical legends and centuries-old history.

Monument in numbers

The Egyptian Sphinx is known to each and every inhabitant on earth. The monument is carved from a monolithic rock, has the body of a lion and the head of a man (according to some sources - a pharaoh). The length of the statue is 73 m, height - 20 m. The symbol of the power of royal power is located on the Giza plateau on the western coast of the Nile River and is surrounded by a wide and fairly deep ditch. The Sphinx's thoughtful gaze is directed to the east, towards the point in the heavens where the Sun rises. The monument was covered by sand many times and was restored more than once. The statue was completely cleared of sand only in 1925, striking the imagination of the inhabitants of the planet with its scale and size.

History of the statue: facts versus legends

In Egypt, the Sphinx is considered the most mysterious and mystical monument. Its history has aroused great interest for many years and Special attention historians, writers, directors and researchers. Everyone who has had the chance to touch eternity, which the statue represents, offers their own version of its origin. Local residents call the stone landmark the “father of horror” due to the fact that the Sphinx is the keeper of many mysterious legends and a favorite place for tourists - lovers of mysteries and fantasy. According to researchers, the history of the Sphinx goes back more than 13 centuries. Presumably, it was built in order to record an astronomical phenomenon - the reunion of three planets.

Origin myth

There is still no reliable information about what this statue symbolizes, why it was built and when. The lack of history is replaced by legends that are passed down orally and told to tourists. The fact that the Sphinx is the oldest and largest monument in Egypt gives rise to mysterious and absurd stories about it. There is an assumption that the statue guards the tombstones of the greatest pharaohs - the pyramids of Cheops, Mikerin and Khafre. Another legend says that the stone statue symbolizes the personality of Pharaoh Khafre, the third - that it is a statue of the god Horus (god of the sky, half-man, half-falcon), watching the ascent of his father, the Sun God Ra.

Legends

In ancient times Greek mythology The Sphinx is mentioned as an ugly monster. According to the Greeks, the legends of Ancient Egypt about this monster sound like this: a creature with the body of a lion and the head of a man was born by Echidna and Typhon (a half-snake woman and a giant with a hundred dragon heads). It had the face and breasts of a woman, the body of a lion and the wings of a bird. The monster lived not far from Thebes, lay in wait for people and asked them a strange question: “Which living creature moves on four legs in the morning, on two in the afternoon, and on three in the evening?” None of the wanderers trembling with fear could give the Sphinx an intelligible answer. After which the monster sentenced them to death. However, the day came when the wise Oedipus was able to solve his riddle. “This is a person in childhood, maturity and old age,” he answered. After this, the crushed monster rushed from the top of the mountain and crashed against the rocks.

According to the second version of the legend, in Egypt the Sphinx was once a God. One day, the heavenly ruler fell into an insidious trap of the sands, called the “cage of oblivion,” and fell asleep in an eternal sleep.

Real facts

Despite the mysterious overtones of the legends, real story no less mystical and mysterious. According to the initial opinion of scientists, the Sphinx was built at the same time as the pyramids. However, in the ancient papyri, from which information about the construction of the pyramids was gleaned, there is not a single mention of a stone statue. The names of the architects and builders who created the grandiose tombs for the pharaohs are known, but the name of the person who gave the world the Sphinx of Egypt still remains unknown.

True, several centuries after the creation of the pyramids, the first facts about the statue appeared. The Egyptians call her “shepes ankh” - “living image”. No more information and scientific explanation Scientists could not give these words to the world.

But at the same time, the cult image of the mysterious Sphinx - a winged maiden-monster - is mentioned in Greek mythology, numerous fairy tales and legends. The hero of these tales, depending on the author, periodically changes his appearance, appearing in some versions as a half-man, half-lion, and in others as a winged lioness.

The story of the Sphinx

Another puzzle for scientists was the chronicle of Herodotus, who in 445 BC. described in great detail the process of building the pyramids. He told the world interesting stories about how the structures were erected, during what time and how many slaves were involved in their construction. The narrative of the “father of history” even touched upon such nuances as the feeding of slaves. But, oddly enough, Herodotus never mentioned the stone Sphinx in his work. The fact of the construction of the monument was also not discovered in any of the subsequent records.

He helped shed light on the work of the Roman writer Pliny the Elder, “Natural History,” to scientists. In his notes, he talks about the next cleansing of sand from the monument. Based on this, it becomes clear why Herodotus did not leave a description of the Sphinx to the world - the monument at that time was buried under a layer of sand. So how many times has he found himself trapped in the sand?

First "restoration"

Judging by the inscription left on the stone stele between the monster’s paws, Pharaoh Thutmose I spent a year liberating the monument. Ancient writings say that, while a prince, Thutmose fell asleep sound sleep at the foot of the Sphinx and saw a dream in which the god Harmakis appeared to him. He predicted the prince's ascension to the throne of Egypt and ordered the release of the statue from the sand trap. After some time, Thutmose successfully became pharaoh and remembered his promise to the deity. He ordered not only to dig up the giant, but also to restore it. Thus, the first revival of the Egyptian legend occurred in the 15th century. BC. It was then that the world learned about the grandiose structure and unique cult monument of Egypt.

It is known for certain that after the revival of the Sphinx by Pharaoh Thutmose, it was once again dug up during the reign of the Ptolemaic dynasty, under the Roman emperors who captured Ancient Egypt, and the Arab rulers. In our time, it was again liberated from the sands in 1925. To this day, the statue has to be cleaned after sandstorms, as it is an important tourist site.

Why is the monument missing a nose?

Despite the antiquity of the sculpture, it has practically been preserved in its original form, embodying the Sphinx. Egypt (photo of the monument is presented above) managed to preserve its architectural masterpiece, but failed to protect it from the barbarity of people. The statue has no this moment nose Scientists suggest that one of the pharaohs, for a reason unknown to science, ordered the nose of the statue to be knocked off. According to other sources, the monument was damaged by Napoleon's army by firing a cannon at its face. The British chopped off the monster’s beard and transported it to their museum.

However, the later discovered notes of the historian Al-Makrizi dated 1378 say that the stone statue no longer had a nose. According to him, one of the Arabs, wanting to atone for religious sins (the Koran prohibited the depiction of human faces), broke off the giant’s nose. In response to such an atrocity and desecration of the Sphinx, the sands began to take revenge on the people, advancing on the lands of Giza.

As a result, scientists came to the conclusion that in Egypt the Sphinx lost its nose as a result strong winds and floods. Although this assumption has not yet found real confirmation.

The Stunning Secrets of the Sphinx

In 1988, as a result of exposure to acrid factory smoke, a significant part of the stone block (350 kg) broke off from the monument. UNESCO, concerned appearance and the condition of the tourist and cultural site, renovations were resumed, thereby opening the way for new research. As a result of a careful study of the stone blocks of the pyramid of Cheops and the Sphinx by Japanese archaeologists, a hypothesis was put forward that the monument was built much earlier than the great tomb of the pharaoh. The finding was a stunning discovery for historians, who had assumed that the pyramid, Sphinx and other funerary structures were contemporary. The second, no less surprising discovery was a long narrow tunnel discovered under the left paw of the predator, connected to the Cheops pyramid.

After Japanese archaeologists, hydrologists took up the most ancient monument. They found traces of erosion on his body from a large water flow that moved from north to south. After a series of studies, hydrologists came to the conclusion that the stone lion was a silent witness to the Nile flood - a biblical catastrophe that occurred about 8-12 thousand years ago. American researcher John Anthony West explained the signs of water erosion on the lion's body and their absence on the head as evidence that the Sphinx existed during the Ice Age and dates back to any period before 15 thousand BC. e. According to French archaeologists, the history of Ancient Egypt can boast of the oldest monument that existed even at the time of the destruction of Atlantis.

Thus, the stone statue tells us about the existence of the greatest civilization, which managed to erect such a majestic structure, which became an immortal image of the Past.

Ancient Egyptians' worship of the Sphinx

The pharaohs of Egypt regularly made pilgrimages to the foot of the giant, which symbolized the great past of their country. They made sacrifices on the altar, which was located between his paws, burned incense, receiving from the giant a silent blessing for the kingdom and throne. The Sphinx was for them not only the embodiment of the Sun God, but also a sacred image that granted them hereditary and legitimate power from their ancestors. He personified powerful Egypt, the history of the country was reflected in his majestic appearance, embodying each image of the new pharaoh and turning modernity into a component of eternity. Ancient writings glorified the Sphinx as a great creator god. His image reunited the past, present and future.

Astronomical explanation of the stone sculpture

According to the official version, the Sphinx would have been built in 2500 BC. e. by order of Pharaoh Khafre during the reign of the Fourth Ruling Dynasty of Pharaohs. The huge lion is located among other majestic structures on the stone plateau of Giza - three pyramids.

Astronomical studies have shown that the location of the statue was chosen not by blind inspiration, but in accordance with the point of intersection of the path of the celestial bodies. It served as an equatorial point indicating the exact location on the horizon of the sunrise site on the day of the vernal equinox. According to astronomers, the Sphinx was built 10.5 thousand years ago.

It is noteworthy that the pyramids of Giza are located on the ground in exactly the same order as the three stars in the sky that year. According to legend, the Sphinx and the pyramids recorded the position of the stars, then astronomical time, which was called the first. Since the celestial personification of the ruler at that time was Orion, man-made structures were built to depict the stars of his belt in order to perpetuate and record the time of his power.

The Great Sphinx as a tourist attraction

Currently, a giant lion with a human head attracts millions of tourists eager to see with their own eyes the legendary stone sculpture, shrouded in the darkness of centuries-old history and many mystical legends. The interest of all mankind in it is due to the fact that the secret of the creation of the statue remained unsolved, buried under the sands. It's hard to imagine how many secrets the Sphinx holds. Egypt (photos of the monument and pyramids can be seen on any travel portal) can be proud of its great history, outstanding people, grandiose monuments, the truth about which their creators took with them to the kingdom of Anubis - the god of death.

The huge stone Sphinx is great and impressive, the history of which remains unsolved and full of secrets. The statue’s calm gaze is still directed into the distance and its appearance is still imperturbable. For how many centuries has he been a silent witness to human suffering, the vanity of rulers, the sorrows and troubles that befell the Egyptian land? How many secrets does the Great Sphinx keep? Unfortunately, no answers have been found to all these questions over the years.

Egypt is a country that is still shrouded in a lot of mysteries that attract tourists from all over the planet. Perhaps one of the most important secrets of this state is the great Sphinx, the statue of which is located in the Giza Valley. This is one of the most grandiose sculptures ever created by human hands. Its dimensions are truly impressive - the length is 72 meters, the height is approximately 20 meters, the face of the Sphinx itself is 5 meters long, and the nose that fell off, according to calculations, was the size of an average human height. Not a single photo can convey the full grandeur of this stunning ancient monument.

Today, the Great Sphinx in Giza no longer inspires sacred horror in a person - after excavations it was discovered that the statue was just “sitting” in a hole. However, for many centuries, her head, sticking out of the desert sand, inspired superstitious fear among desert Bedouins and local residents.

general information

The Egyptian Sphinx is located on the west coast of the Nile River, and its head faces the sunrise. For many thousands of years, the gaze of this silent witness to the history of the land of the Pharaohs has been directed to that point on the horizon where, on the days of the autumn and spring equinoxes, the sun begins its leisurely course.

The Sphinx itself is made of monolithic limestone, which is a fragment of the base of the Giza plateau. The statue represents a huge mysterious creature with the body of a lion and the head of a man. Many have probably seen this grandiose building in photographs in books and textbooks on the history of the Ancient World.

Cultural and historical significance of the structure

According to historians, in almost all ancient civilizations the lion was the personification of the sun and solar deity. In the drawings of the ancient Egyptians, the pharaoh was often depicted as a lion, attacking the enemies of the state and exterminating them. It was on the basis of these beliefs that the version was built that the great Sphinx is a kind of mystical guard protecting the peace of the rulers buried in the tombs of the Giza Valley.

It is still not known what the inhabitants of Ancient Egypt called the Sphinx. It is believed that the word "sphinx" itself has Greek origin and literally translates as “strangler.” In some Arabic texts, in particular in the famous collection “A Thousand and One Nights,” the Sphinx is called nothing less than “Father of Terror.” There is another opinion, according to which the ancient Egyptians called the statue “the image of being.” This once again confirms that the Sphinx was for them the earthly incarnation of one of the deities.

Story

Probably the most important mystery that the Egyptian Sphinx conceals is who, when and why erected such a grandiose monument. In the ancient papyri found by historians, one can find a lot of information about the construction and creators of the Great Pyramids and numerous temple complexes, but there is no mention of the Sphinx, its creator and the cost of its construction (and the ancient Egyptians were always very careful about the costs of this or that business). not in any source. The historian Pliny the Elder mentioned it for the first time in his writings, but this was already at the beginning of our era. He notes that the Sphinx, located in Egypt, has been reconstructed and cleaned of sand several times. It is precisely the fact that not a single source has yet been found that explains the origin of this monument, which has given rise to countless versions, opinions and guesses as to who built it and why.

The Great Sphinx fits perfectly into the complex of structures located on the Giza plateau. The creation of this complex dates back to the reign of the IV dynasty of kings. Actually, it itself includes the Great Pyramids and the statue of the Sphinx.

It is still impossible to say exactly how old this monument is. According to the official version, the Great Sphinx in Giza was erected during the reign of Pharaoh Khafre - approximately 2500 BC. In support of this hypothesis, historians point to the similarity of the limestone blocks used in the construction of the pyramid of Khafre and the Sphinx, as well as the image of the ruler himself, which was discovered not far from the building.

There is one more alternative version origin of the Sphinx, according to which its construction dates back to even more ancient times. A team of Egyptologists from Germany, who analyzed the erosion of the limestone, concluded that the monument was built around 7000 BC. There are also astronomical theories about the creation of the Sphinx, according to which its construction is associated with the constellation Orion and corresponds to 10,500 BC.

Restorations and the current state of the monument

The Great Sphinx, although it has survived to this day, is now badly damaged - neither time nor people have spared it. The face was especially damaged - in numerous photographs you can see that it is almost completely erased, and its features cannot be distinguished. The uraeus - a symbol of royal power, which is a cobra that wraps around its head - is irretrievably lost. The plat - the ceremonial headdress that descends from the head to the shoulders of the statue - is also partially destroyed. The beard, which is now not fully represented, has also suffered. But where and under what circumstances the Sphinx’s nose disappeared, scientists are still arguing.

Damage to the face of the Great Sphinx, located in Egypt, is very reminiscent of chisel marks. According to Egyptologists, in the 14th century it was mutilated by a pious sheikh who carried out the covenants of the Prophet Muhammad, which prohibited depicting a human face in works of art. And the Mamelukes used the head of the structure as a cannon target.

Today, in photos, videos and live, you can see how much the Great Sphinx has suffered from time and the cruelty of people. A small piece weighing 350 kg even broke off from it - this gives another reason to be amazed at the truly gigantic size of this structure.

Although only 700 years ago the face of the mysterious statue was described by a certain Arab traveler. His travel notes said that this face was truly beautiful, and his lips bore the majestic seal of the pharaohs.

Over the years of its existence, the Great Sphinx has more than once plunged up to its shoulders into the sands of the Sahara Desert. The first attempts to excavate the monument were made in ancient times by the pharaohs Thutmose IV and Ramses II. Under Thutmose, the Great Sphinx was not only completely dug out of the sand, but also a huge granite arrow was installed in its paws. An inscription was carved on it, saying that the ruler was giving his body under the protection of the Sphinx so that it would rest under the sands of the Giza Valley and at some point be resurrected in the guise of a new pharaoh.

During the time of Ramses II, the Great Sphinx of Giza was not only dug out of the sand, but also underwent a thorough restoration. In particular, the massive back part of the statue was replaced with blocks, although previously the entire monument was monolithic. At the beginning of the 19th century, archaeologists completely cleared the chest of the statue of sand, but it was completely freed from sand only in 1925. It was then that the true dimensions of this grandiose structure became known.

The Great Sphinx as a tourism object

The Great Sphinx, like the Great Pyramids, is located on the Giza plateau, 20 km from the capital of Egypt. This is a single complex of historical monuments of Ancient Egypt, which has survived to this day since the reign of the pharaohs from the IV dynasty. It consists of three large pyramids - Cheops, Khafre and Mikerin, and small pyramids of queens are also included here. Here tourists can visit various temple buildings. The Sphinx statue is located in the eastern part of this ancient complex.

Sphinx is a Greek word of Egyptian origin. The Greeks called this a mythical monster with a woman's head, a lion's body and bird wings. It was the offspring of the hundred-headed giant Python and his half-snake wife Echidna; Other famous mythical monsters also originated from them: Cerberus, Hydra and Chimera. This monster lived on a rock near Thebes and asked people a riddle; whoever could not solve it was killed by the Sphinx. This is how the Sphinx destroyed people until Oedipus solved its riddle; then the Sphinx threw himself into the sea, since fate determined that he would not survive the correct answer. (By the way, the riddle was quite simple: “Who walks in the morning on four legs, at noon on two, and in the evening on three?” - “Man!” answered Oedipus. “In infancy he crawls on all fours, in adulthood he walks on two legs, and in old age he leans on a stick.")

In the Egyptian understanding, the Sphinx was neither a monster nor a woman, like the Greeks, and did not ask riddles; it was a statue of a ruler or god, whose power was symbolized by the lion's body. Such a statue was called shesep-ankh, i.e. “living image” (of the ruler). From the distortion of these words the Greek “sphinx” arose.

Although the Egyptian Sphinx did not ask riddles, the huge statue itself under the pyramids at Giza is a riddle incarnate. Many tried to explain his mysterious and somewhat contemptuous smile. Scientists asked questions: who does the statue depict, when was it created, how was it carved?

After a hundred years of study, which included drilling machines and gunpowder, Egyptologists discovered the real name of the Sphinx. The surrounding Arabs called the statue Abu'l Hod - "Father of Terror", philologists found out that this is the folk etymology of the ancient "Khorun". Behind this name were hidden several even more ancient ones, and at the end of the chain stood the ancient Egyptian Haremakhet (in Greek Harmakhis), which meant "Chorus in the sky." The choir was the name of the deified ruler, and the sky was the place where, after death, this ruler merges with the Sun god. The full name meant: "The living image of Khafre." So, the Sphinx depicted pharaoh Khafre(Khefre) with the body of the king of the desert, a lion, and with symbols of royal power, i.e. Khafre - a god and a lion guarding his pyramid.

Riddles of the Sphinx. Video

There is not and has never been a statue in the world larger than the Great Sphinx. It is hewn from a single block left in a quarry where stone was mined for the construction of the pyramid of Khufu and then Khafre. It combines a remarkable creation of technology with wonderful artistic invention; Khafre's appearance, known to us from other sculptural portraits, despite the stylized nature of the image, is conveyed correctly, with individual features (wide cheekbones and large, lagging ears). As can be judged by the inscription at the feet of the statue, it was created during Khafre’s lifetime; therefore, this Sphinx is not only the largest, but also the oldest monumental statue in the world. From its front paw to its tail is 57.3 meters, the height of the statue is 20 meters, the width of the face is 4.1 meters, the height is 5 meters, from the top to the earlobe is 1.37 meters, the length of the nose is 1.71 meters. The Great Sphinx is over 4,500 years old.

Now it is badly damaged. The face was disfigured, as if it had been hit with a chisel or shot with cannonballs. The royal uraeus, a symbol of power in the form of a cobra raised on the forehead, disappeared forever; the royal nemes (celebratory scarf descending from the back of the head to the shoulders) is partially broken off; from the “divine” beard, a symbol of royal dignity, only fragments remained, found at the feet of the statue. Several times the Sphinx was covered with desert sand, so that only one head stuck out, and not always its entire head. As far as we know, the pharaoh was the first to order it to be excavated at the end of the 15th century BC. e. According to legend, the Sphinx appeared to him in a dream, asked for this and promised the double crown of Egypt as a reward, which, as evidenced by the inscription on the wall between his paws, he subsequently fulfilled. Then he was freed from captivity by the Sais rulers in the 7th century BC. e., after them - the Roman emperor Septimius Severus at the beginning of the 3rd century AD. e. In modern times, the Sphinx was first dug up by Caviglia in 1818, doing this at the expense of the then ruler of Egypt Muhammad Ali, who paid him 450 pounds sterling - a very large sum for those times. In 1886, his work had to be repeated by the famous Egyptologist Maspero. The Sphinx was then excavated by the Egyptian Antiquities Service in 1925–1926; The work was supervised by the French architect E. Barez, who partially restored the statue and erected a fence to protect it from new drifts. The Sphinx generously rewarded him for this: between his front paws were the remains of a temple, which until then none of the researchers of the pyramid field in Giza had even suspected.

However, time and the desert did not cause as much damage to the Sphinx as human stupidity. The wounds on the face of the Sphinx, reminiscent of marks from blows with a chisel, were actually inflicted with a chisel: in the 14th century, a certain devout Muslim sheikh mutilated it in this way in order to fulfill the covenant of the Prophet Muhammad, prohibiting the depiction of a human face. Wounds that look like marks from cannonballs are also just that. It was the Egyptian soldiers - the Mamelukes - who used the head of the Sphinx as a target for their cannons.