Sphinx

“Sphinx is a Greek word signifying ‘strangler,’ applied to certain symbolical forms of Egyptian origin, having the body of a lion, a human or an animal head, and two wings. Various other combinations of animal forms have been called by this name, though they are rather griffins or chimæras. Human-headed sphinxes have been called andro-sphinxes; that with the head of a ram, a criosphinx; and that with a hawk’s head, a hieracosphinx. The form when complete had the wings added at the sides; but these are of a later period and seem to have originated with the Babylonians or Assyrians. In Egypt the sphinx also occurs as the symbolical form of the monarch considered as a conqueror, the head of the reigning king being placed on a loin’s body, the face bearded, and the usual head dress. Thus used, the sphinx was generally male; but in the case of female rulers that figure has a female head and the body of a lioness. The most remarkable sphinx is the Great Sphinx at Gizeh (Giza), a colossal form hewn out of the natural rock, and lying about a quarter of a mile S.E. of the Great Pyramid. It is sculptured out of a spur of the rock itself, to which masonry has been added in certain places to complete the shape, and it measures 172 feet 6 inches long by 56 feet high."—(Charles Leonard-Stuart, 1911)

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