“Hmm.. so, what shall we do with that old rock?”
This illustration shows the 4th Dynasty pharaoh Khafre who is believed to have built the Great Sphinx. The facial features are based on the statues of Khafre from the Khafre Valley Temple at the Cairo Museum. He is depicted here in the pharaonic nemes headdress in a pose suggested by images of the creator god, Ptah. He holds a faience was staff, the animal-headed sceptre associated with divine authority.
Khafre inherited the throne from his brother Djedefre who is also credited by some with building the Sphinx. However, most commentators consider the Sphinx to be contemporary with the funerary complex constructed by Khafre. Their father Khufu had built the Great Pyramid at Giza and Khafre appears to have sought to outdo his creations. Khafre is thought to have ruled for around 26 years from circa 2570BCE. Whatever the truth of his reign, the Greek historian Herodotus recorded that ‘Khêphre’ was remembered as a tyrant who like his father exploited the Egyptian workforce for grandiose construction projects. These included his own pyramid situated next to the Great Pyramid on the Giza plateau, which he built on elevated ground and so attained a greater height than his father's construction.
Khafre’s pyramid was connected to the Sphinx enclosure that incorporated associated monuments and temples by a ceremonial causeway. It is thought the Great Sphinx may have been conceived as a guardian of Khafra's pyramid as the equinoctal sun sets between the Sphinx’s shoulder and Khafre’s pyramid. Both Khafre and Djedefre's statues show them to have rounder faces than their father with narrow jawlines quite unlike the face of the Sphinx, so this may perhaps represent their father who identified with the sun god. Khafre was succeeded by his son, Menkaure, who was remembered as a comparatively modest and benevolent king who restricted his building ambitions to the third largest pyramid on the Giza plateau.