DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0065
OLDEST REPRESENTATIONS OF THE GODS.—THE SPHINX. 33
ibis, the bird sacred to that deity, on a full human body. The inscription leaves
no doubt as to the age of this representation of the deity, and reads " Khoom
Khoofoo, the great god, having life and health behind him, subduer of the An
foreigners."
The other representation of deity from this remote age, perhaps the best
known to the modern world of all Egyptian monuments, is the great Sphinx at
Gizeh (Fig. i, p. 14). This most prominent feature of the landscape has been for
thousands of years the object of wonder and veneration, and, as indicated by
a" inscription now in the Boolak Museum, even in Cheops' time needed and
'eceived repairs.7° The colossal form, 652.46 meters long (172 feet), is cut out
°t the natural rock, and represents a crouching lion, surmounted by a human
head, parts of which are constructed with layers of massive masonry. Over
the whole, color, seen in Pliny's time, and still evident in places, cast its pro-
tecting brilliant mantle.?' This mysterious______
Sphinx has been repeatedly excavated from
tts shroud of desert sand, and its lofty back
Counted with ladders, but only again to be
a't buried from view in the drear waste.
t'ily excavated, its gigantic form would
tower up to a height equalling that of a
five-story hou
fao
that
the
Fig. 15.
Relief of the God Thoth. Sinai.
se ; and of the size of the
e we may form some idea from the fact,
°ne standing on the upper lobe of
car has difficulty in reaching with out-
fetched hand the top of the head. The
Arabs call it "Aboo-l-hol," the Father of
ear- To the Egyptians of ancient days it was, however, the form of one of
eir highest gods, Hor-em-khoo, Horus on the horizon, or the rising sun, and,
atching over the vast necropolis at its feet, may have meant resurrection, and
0ncl"est over death. This gigantic apparition on the borders of the desert,
1 tl its boldness and energy of execution, illustrates powerfully that mysterious
ymbolism, so full of high spiritual significance to the Egyptians, but is to us
' tull of mystery. Was this giant of the desert the portrait of some king,
e other sphinxes of later days ? Did it have, like the rest, its mate ? And
y did it receive a form so much more colossal than that of all other known
sPhinxes ?
"ile this one monument, and, perhaps, some of the symbolic forms of
gods, seem to indicate an ideal tendency in the Egyptian mind, the main
< acter of the sculptures of the Ancient Empire is realistic, and, indeed, dis-
y Portrait-like, as we have seen from the study of its tombs.
ibis, the bird sacred to that deity, on a full human body. The inscription leaves
no doubt as to the age of this representation of the deity, and reads " Khoom
Khoofoo, the great god, having life and health behind him, subduer of the An
foreigners."
The other representation of deity from this remote age, perhaps the best
known to the modern world of all Egyptian monuments, is the great Sphinx at
Gizeh (Fig. i, p. 14). This most prominent feature of the landscape has been for
thousands of years the object of wonder and veneration, and, as indicated by
a" inscription now in the Boolak Museum, even in Cheops' time needed and
'eceived repairs.7° The colossal form, 652.46 meters long (172 feet), is cut out
°t the natural rock, and represents a crouching lion, surmounted by a human
head, parts of which are constructed with layers of massive masonry. Over
the whole, color, seen in Pliny's time, and still evident in places, cast its pro-
tecting brilliant mantle.?' This mysterious______
Sphinx has been repeatedly excavated from
tts shroud of desert sand, and its lofty back
Counted with ladders, but only again to be
a't buried from view in the drear waste.
t'ily excavated, its gigantic form would
tower up to a height equalling that of a
five-story hou
fao
that
the
Fig. 15.
Relief of the God Thoth. Sinai.
se ; and of the size of the
e we may form some idea from the fact,
°ne standing on the upper lobe of
car has difficulty in reaching with out-
fetched hand the top of the head. The
Arabs call it "Aboo-l-hol," the Father of
ear- To the Egyptians of ancient days it was, however, the form of one of
eir highest gods, Hor-em-khoo, Horus on the horizon, or the rising sun, and,
atching over the vast necropolis at its feet, may have meant resurrection, and
0ncl"est over death. This gigantic apparition on the borders of the desert,
1 tl its boldness and energy of execution, illustrates powerfully that mysterious
ymbolism, so full of high spiritual significance to the Egyptians, but is to us
' tull of mystery. Was this giant of the desert the portrait of some king,
e other sphinxes of later days ? Did it have, like the rest, its mate ? And
y did it receive a form so much more colossal than that of all other known
sPhinxes ?
"ile this one monument, and, perhaps, some of the symbolic forms of
gods, seem to indicate an ideal tendency in the Egyptian mind, the main
< acter of the sculptures of the Ancient Empire is realistic, and, indeed, dis-
y Portrait-like, as we have seen from the study of its tombs.