This illustration shows the Great Sphinx in its New Kingdom form following the restoration of Thutmose IV circa 1400BCE. The sculpture features the double crown, broad collar and nemes head cloth of the pharaoh along with the wings and plumage of Horus.

Questions of identity

The origin of the Sphinx has long been a matter of speculation. There is evidence that the form developed in the early dynastic period as the royal cult of the pharaoh as the son of the sun god Ra developed.  The lion was traditionally associated with the sun as the guardian of the horizon where the sun rises and sets. The pharaoh was the living incarnation of Horus who was associated both with the lion and the falcon, protective animals of the king. Their forms were incorporated into the form of the king’s head on a lion’s body, often shown with falcon wings.

The Great Sphinx sits on the Giza plateau beside the Great Pyramid of Khufu and before the pyramid of his son Khafre (fig. A). It is conventionally dated to the Fourth Dynasty being incorporated into the design of Khafre’s mortuary complex. Blocks of stone quarried from the Sphinx enclosure were used in the construction of the Sphinx temple and therefore shares the same date (Lehner, Hawass). Another theory proposes an even earlier dynastic origin, arguing that it was later remodelled from an original form, most plausibly of a lion (Dobrev, Reader). There is ongoing debate over the face of the Sphinx as the face is not a close match for any other pharaonic sculpture. A small ivory carving of Khufu, builder of the Great Pyramid, does have similar features and it has been suggested that the Sphinx was modelled on him as a tribute by one of his sons (fig. B). Statues of Khafre and his brother Djedefre also bear some resemblance to the Sphinx; however, their sculptures show a narrow jaw in contrast to the square-headed, wide-jawed Sphinx (fig. C).

Apart from the identity of the face, the Sphinx has other features that remain unexplained. Most obviously, is the disproportionately small head in relation to the body in comparison to other sphinxes. The builders appear to have allowed for this disparity by making the body taper upwards creating an exaggerated perspective that accentuates the height of the monument and minimises the impression of the smallness of the head, at least when viewed from the front.

There are other anomalies: the body itself is unusually elongated with especially long forelegs, the top of the head is flat as is the back and the face slopes upwards toward the crown. It is surely inconceivable that the architect of this representation of the supreme god of the royal cult could have got the proportions so obviously wrong. The proportions of the sculpture were a reflection of the divine order and therefore of utmost importance. The form of the sphinx was already established in the Fourth Dynasty, as in the Abu Rawash sphinx, so the explanation for these characteristics must lie beyond artistic development of a new form.

In addition, the elongation of the body remains unexplained. It is argued that the builders encountered a geological fault during the building process that led to them making the body larger and/or the head smaller than planned. There is a major fissure towards the rear of the Sphinx, cutting the sculpture in two, that might have forced the builders to decide on extending the body to incorporate the feature. However, on projecting profiles of six typically-proportioned sphinxes onto the Great Sphinx profile I found that they all fitted comfortably into the area between the fissure and the front of the body. So there would have been no need to lengthen the proportions on this account. In conclusion it seems its creators actually wanted a long narrow body.

Later modifications

The Sphinx may have been subject to several restorations up to and including the Roman period. The first known, and most famous, was the restoration by Thutmose IV around 1,400BCE during the New Kingdom and recorded on the Dream Stele that still sits between its forelegs. After becoming pharaoh, he erected the stele between the paws describing a dream in which the young prince was promised the kingdom by the Sphinx in return for its restoration after complaining of its being encroached on by the sand. The Sphinx identified itself: ‘I am your father Horemakhet,’ (Horus of the Horizon). It seems likely that the beard was renewed at this time and other modifications made. The Dream Stele also depicts the Sphinx wearing a broad collar, which may also be a late addition (fig. D).

The head of the Sphinx is unusually flat where the top of the nemes headdress would normally rise to a peak. This flat area forms a round platform in the centre of which is a large hole. The most credible explanation for these features is that the Sphinx once supported a crown or possibly feathered plumes, as depicted on representations on New Kingdom stele, that was fixed into the hole (Hassan, Lehner) (figs. E, F). The thick neck and squarish head of the Sphinx combined with its unusually sloping face may have been designed partly to support the weight of such a structure.

In contrast to the austere visage that stares down on us today, the Sphinx was once painted in bright colours and, from the New Kingdom at least, seems to have been pimped-up like a fairground attraction. (Lehner) Traces of blue and yellow pigment have been found on the headdress and red paint on the face while a beard fragment, preserved in the British Museum, was painted dark red. A patch of red on the southern flank of the sculpture is consistent with New Age dedications depicting the sphinx with Horus wings (Lehner). Some of these stelae also depict a pharaonic statue beneath the beard while two bases of what are thought to have been statues of Osiris still exist on each side. The original Sphinx must have been a startling sight compared to the inscrutable face that time has modelled from it.

For more information on the Sphinx

http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Great_Sphinx_of_Giza