Sphinxes Throughout History

Sphinxes

Sphinxes are mythological creatures that have the head or top of a person and the body of a lioness or lion. They have been found throughout all of history starting with Egypt. The Egyptians would place them around temples and important structures like pyramids to protect the buildings from unwanted guests. They became a symbol of protection and knowledge.

 

 

The biggest example and the most well known is the Great Sphinx in Giza. It was build form the bedrock of the desert to protect the pyramids. A story that is written on the monument tells of a young prince that fell asleep under the sphinx covered in sand and had a dream. The dream said that if he dug up the sphinx he would become king of upper and lower Egypt. No one knows what happened because the story was lost but Egypt did unify eventually. Then the Greeks came and borrowed a few ideas from them.

The Greeks took the idea of sphinxes and added wings and a tail of a snake. Greeks placed them outside of cities so those who came in would be tested. How were they tested? With riddles. If the riddle was answered wrong the person would be eaten. The most common sphinx riddle is “Which creature has one voice and yet becomes four-footed and two-footed and three-footed?”. Most people were fooled and devoured because they couldn’t get the answer. Those who did know the answer said man because we crawl as babies, walk as adults on two legs and use canes as seniors. The sphinxes would then eat  itself.

    

For the next hundreds of years sphinxes would decline in popularity but would always symbolize protection. They are used in many modern structures such as big banks as a symbol of protection and being a safe place.

 

And who can forget the scene in the movie, “The Neverending Story” where Atreyu has to get past the two Sphinxes.

 

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save