The sphinx is a limestone/rock structure located in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt. It consists of a lions' body and the head of King Khafra. Until 1926 only the head could be seen above ground, until a French-led team excavated the area revealing the entire statue. However, since it has been exposed to both the desert air and pollution from poorly drained 300,000 populous tourist city nearby the condition has declined greatly. The head is expected to fall within 200 years, and it is being eaten away at a rate of 1/5th of an inch per year. Since it was built the shpinx has been under constant maintanence, although the decline of the conquerers of Egypt, the Romans left it to gather dust after withdrawl frrom Egypt. Both the romans and the greeks however did make good efforts to rebuild the crumbling outers of the shpinx. This differes from the industrial-hardcore-and-cement methods used in 1981 by a hasty group of investors. The supreme council of antiquities has since commisioned skilled labourers to do the work properly, using the same methods as were origianally used. The 1981 attempt resulted in repair sections simply falling away, and further eroding the inner beast with high salt adhesives. Ideas for saving the battered head include a steel pole being driven through to the neck. There was a beard added in the eighteenth dynasty, although this fell off, and the fragments are scattered among private collections and museums. The largest chunk is approx. 1/13th of the beard located in London.
The nose of the sphinx is missing, and the face badly damaged.
The nose of the sphinx is missing, and the face badly damaged.
Contrary to popular myth, the nose was not knocked off by french in the napoleonic wars, nor by the brits in WWI. Photographs show the nose being missing long before WWI, and accounts of the face being in present state predate the napoleonic wars by half a millenia.
by Kung-Fu Jesus June 06, 2004
LUNCH LADY1: "I put Ex Lax in the meatloaf today"
LUNCH LADY2: "Wonder what their sphinx will feel like tomorrow"
LUNCH LADY3: "Ha, ha"
LUNCH LADY2: "Wonder what their sphinx will feel like tomorrow"
LUNCH LADY3: "Ha, ha"
by Michael Gebhardt May 03, 2007
Stop sphinxing at the people napping at the back of the bus!
or
Anna, don't stare those little kids in the sandbox, you are being such a sphinx!
or
Anna, don't stare those little kids in the sandbox, you are being such a sphinx!
by Kellyriffic June 10, 2008
Theres Sphinx...what a legend :D
by Sphinx^ April 17, 2005
Verb.
When a cat lays on its belly with front legs outstretched and head up looking forward, striking a pose resembling The Great Sphinx of Giza
When a cat lays on its belly with front legs outstretched and head up looking forward, striking a pose resembling The Great Sphinx of Giza
by mcnathan January 25, 2017
That chick with the sphinx looked like a 6-year-old!
by King Tutankhamun September 18, 2004
1. A mythological creature depicted as a lion with a human head. Appears in Egyptian and Greek mythology.
2. A breed of hairless cat. They are often energetic, intelligent, and affectionate.
3. The main protagonist in the video game "Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy."
2. A breed of hairless cat. They are often energetic, intelligent, and affectionate.
3. The main protagonist in the video game "Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy."
The riddle of the Sphinx: what creature walks on all fours in the morning, two legs at midday, and three legs at night?
by Erin Catherine July 11, 2008