Ward, John: Pyramids and progress: sketches from Egypt (London, 1900)

THE -'TEMPLE OF THE SPHINX"—THE SPHINX.

39

Let us now return to the Gizeh platform. There is a weli-defined ancient
causeway leading, for about half a mile from where the river flowed in ancient
times, towards each of the three pyramids on the great platform. This road to the
Second Pyramid is angled off so as to avoid touching the Great Sphinx, a proof
that it was a venerated ancient object when Khafra was building his tomb. He
had two temples ; one at the pyramid, and another at the eastern end of this
causeway. The lowermost structure is the beautiful mortuary temple of Khafra,
and a number of fine statues of this king were found in a deep well within it,
which were of remark-
ably fine sculpture, the
material being diorite,
possibly the hardest
stone known. The tem-
ple was probably meant
as a sepulchre for his
family, and it is the
most impressive mauso-
leum in Egypt. The
blocks of polished As-
souan granite are often
18 feet by 7 feet, and
are quite perfect, as
freshly polished as when
the temple was built,
but all that survives is
the lower storey of the
temple. The desert
sand being piled round
it gives it the appear-
ance of a cellar. The
style of its architecture
is simple and massive. There are several chambers whose uses are unknown,
lined with blocks of transparent alabaster. No doubt much more of this
superb temple remains under the sand awaiting discovery. What is now un-
covered was found by the indefatigable Manette.

In 1840, the Sphinx, as we see from Roberts's drawing, was buried up to the
neck in the sand, and this temple was also entombed in the then level desert. This
would soon happen again, and the sand has to be cleared away every few years.
The Great Sphinx must be numberless years older than even the Pyramids ;