The Great Sphinx of Giza

Statue of the Great Sphinx

This Great Sphinx in the Giza plateau is one of the highlights of many attractions in Cairo. It is located in front of the Giza Pyramids more than 4,500 years ago approximately. The Sphinx is considered a limestone statue situated near the Great Pyramid in Giza, Egypt. Important information about Sphinx is that it's measuring 240 feet (73 meters) long and 66 feet (20 meters) high which makes it huge enough to be seen from miles away. It is also one of the most recognizable relics of the ancient Egyptians. Although the origins and history of this colossal structure are still being debated in all Egypt tours or you can find The Great Sphinx of Giza location here.

Giza Plateau

The Great Sphinx of Giza facts and information are listed here as it is one of the highlights of many things to do in Cairo. It has been carved in the front of the Pyramids like a bodyguard pyramid. Scholars debate about How old is the Sphinx? most of them say made more than 4,500 years ago. The Sphinx is considered a limestone statue situated near the Great Pyramid in Giza most important thing about the sphinx makes people dazzled and surprised that it has a human head and a lion's body. So it is beautiful and important in the whole world for its size and composition. Sphinx become an important attraction in Egypt that must be added to all Egypt travel packages.

If there is no contemporary evidence that indicates with certainty who it represents, the Dream Stela, erected by Pharaoh Thutmose IV in the New Kingdom, associates the Sphinx with King Chephren. The sphinx is a mythological creature introduced by ancient Egyptian culture that has taken on different meanings throughout human history.

King Thutmose IV

Different cultures have adopted the concept of the sphinx to enrich their mythology, provide symbolic roles within their temples, and also describe aspects of an individual's personality. You can know more legends about Sphinx during your Cairo day tours with us.

This Great Sphinx is always visited during most classic and luxury Egypt tours as it is the oldest monumental figure in Egypt known. It is usually considered to have been created by ancient Egyptians of the Old Kingdom while the reign of the Pharaoh Khafre (2558 2532 BC) of the fourth dynasty owner of the middle great pyramid in the Giza Plateau.

Fact about the Sphinx

In ancient Egypt, the sphinx (a creature with the body of an animal and the head of a human) was a spiritual guardian depicted as a male with a pharaoh headdress as in the Great Sphinx and figures of the creatures were included in tombs, and temple complexes such as the valley of the sphinxes connecting Karnak and Luxor Temple. You will discover during your Egypt day tours that Sphinx has a tunnel under its ear that connect him with the Great Pyramid Khufu.

The female pharaoh Hatshepsut also has Sphinxes, such as the granite sphinx statue at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the large alabaster sphinx located at the Ramessid temple in Memphis, Egypt.

The one-meter-wide nose on the face is missing. A review of the Sphinx's face reveals that long rods or tools were hammered into the nose, one down from the bridge and one beneath the nostril then used to pry the nose off towards the south. Mark Lehner who performed an archaeological study concluded that it was broken with instruments at an unknown time between the 3rd and 10th centuries.

The word sphinx begins in (Greek mythology) around 2,000 years after the statue was installed, which makes it a riddle about what Egyptians called the (Great Sphinx ) through its prime.

Another legend you will know during your Egypt classic tours is a pink granite slab between the Great Sphinx's paws that tells a story about Prince Thutmose son of Amenhotep II. When he fell asleep near the Sphinx and had a dream that the Sphinx would make him become a Pharaoh if he helps him clear away the sand off it.

An adventurer named Captain Giovanni Battista Caviglia attempted in the early 1800s to dig out the statue with a team of 160 men as the Sphinx was buried in sand up to its shoulders. It wasn't till the late 1930s that (Egyptian archaeologist Selim Hassan ) was able to finally free the creature from its sandy tomb.

The Sphinx was said to be the focus of solar worship in the Early Dynastic Period before the Giza Plateau became a necropolis in the Old Kingdom, like the Sphinx. The Causeway also the Chephren's mortuary temple and the Sphinx template all are part of a complex that predates Dynasty IV.

Other historical tours in Egypt

During a range of Egypt tours, you will get the chance to see this gigantic sculpture with the body of a lion crouching in the desert for 45 centuries watching many nations and a diversity of cultures from the ancient Egyptians to the Greeks and Romans, and from the French and the British to the world war soldiers who were finally camping below his chin and they were able to find his body buried under the Giza desert sand, Take your picture kissing the Sphinx or try to put your sunglasses on his face with Cairo excursions and Egypt classic tours.

Egypt welcomes you with its mighty Egypt Nile cruises along the Nile valley as you will be exploring the Luxor east and west bank tour and marvelous monuments with Cairo Top Tours. Which is ready to offer our guests, the best Egypt and Egypt itineraries to discover most of the important things to do in Cairo. Most visitors will make a beeline straight to the most famous sightseeing the Great Pyramid of Khufu, Adventurers, backpackers, and travel bloggers could join one of our Egypt budget tours.

Besides the historical tours in Egypt, you have to enjoy its gold desert. Enjoy the Egypt desert safari tours, like Siwa tours, or preferably the White Desert tours. Although he will determine with you, your itinerary in different places in Cairo in particular and in Egypt in general.

If you want to learn about the city of Giza and see what it looks like, you can find a lot of information and pictures on a website called Giza City | Greater Cairo | Ancient History Encyclopedia. It will teach you more about Giza and its history.