Herodotus called the ram-headed sphinxes Criosphinxes and called the hawk-headed ones Hieracosphinxes.
The historians and geographers of Greece wrote extensively about Egyptian culture. Before the time that Alexander the Great occupied Egypt, the Greek name, sphinx, was already applied to these statues. In the Bronze Age, the Hellenes had trade and cultural contacts with Egypt. Attic red-figure pyxis, 2nd half of the 5th century BC. The Great Sphinx has become an emblem of Egypt, frequently appearing on its stamps, coins, and official documents. The task of these sphinxes was to hold back the forces of evil. At Karnak, each Criosphinx is fronted by a full-length statue of the pharaoh.
Nine hundred sphinxes with ram heads (Criosphinxes), believed to represent Amon, were built in Thebes, where his cult was strongest. The theme was expanded to form great avenues of guardian sphinxes lining the approaches to tombs and temples as well as serving as details atop the posts of flights of stairs to very grand complexes.
Besides the Great Sphinx, other famous Egyptian sphinxes include one bearing the head of the pharaoh Hatshepsut, with her likeness carved in granite, which is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the alabaster Sphinx of Memphis, currently located within the open-air museum at that site. Many pharaohs had their heads carved atop the guardian statues for their tombs to show their close relationship with the powerful solar deity Sekhmet, a lioness. At the Great Sphinx site, a 1400 BC inscription on a stele belonging to the 18th dynasty pharaoh Thutmose IV lists the names of three aspects of the local sun deity of that period, Khepera– Rê– Atum. What names their builders gave to these statues is not known. However, a fringe minority of late 20th century geologists have claimed evidence of water erosion in and around the Sphinx enclosure which would prove that the Sphinx predates Khafre, at around 10,000 to 5000 BC, a claim that is sometimes referred to as the Sphinx water erosion hypothesis but which has little support among Egyptologists and contradicts other evidence. While the date of its construction is not known for certain, the general consensus among Egyptologists is that the head of the Great Sphinx bears the likeness of the pharaoh Khafre, dating it to between 26 BC. The sphinx is located southeast of the pyramids. The largest and most famous sphinx is the Great Sphinx of Giza, situated on the Giza Plateau adjacent to the Great Pyramids of Giza on the west bank of the Nile River and facing east ( 29★8′31″N 31☀8′15″E / 29.97528°N 31.13750☎ / 29.97528 31.13750). However, the historian Susan Wise Bauer suggests that the word "sphinx" was instead a Greek corruption of the Egyptian name "shesepankh", which meant "living image", and referred rather to the statue of the sphinx, which was carved out of "living rock" (rock that was present at the construction site, not harvested and brought from another location), than to the beast itself. This name may be derived from the fact that lions kill their prey by strangulation, biting the throat of prey and holding them down until they die. The word sphinx comes from the Greek Σφίγξ, associated by folk etymology with the verb σφίγγω ( sphíngō), meaning "to squeeze", "to tighten up". Sphinx depictions are generally associated with architectural structures such as royal tombs or religious temples. Later, the sphinx image, initially very similar to the original Ancient Egyptian concept, was exported into many other cultures, albeit they are often interpreted quite differently due to translations of descriptions of the originals, and through the evolution of the concept in relation to other cultural traditions. In European decorative art, the sphinx enjoyed a major revival during the Renaissance. Both were thought of as guardians and often flank the entrances to temples. In addition, the Egyptian sphinx was viewed as benevolent but having a ferocious strength similar to the malevolent Greek version. Unlike the Greek sphinx, which was a woman, the Egyptian sphinx is typically shown as a man (an androsphinx ( Ancient Greek: ανδρόσφιγξ)). This deadly version of a sphinx appears in the myth and drama of Oedipus. She is mythicized as treacherous and merciless, and will kill and eat those who cannot answer her riddle. In Greek tradition, the sphinx has the head of a woman, the haunches of a lion, and the wings of a bird. The Great Sphinx of Giza, with the Great Pyramid in the backgroundĪ sphinx ( / ˈ s f ɪ ŋ k s/ SFINGKS, Ancient Greek: σφίγξ, Boeotian: φίξ, plural sphinxes or sphinges) is a mythical creature with the head of a human and the body of a lion with the wings of a falcon.
0 kommentar(er)
