There are two main types of sphinxes. One is an Egyptian desert statue with a lion body and the head of another creature, especially human, and the other is a Greek demon, depicted with a tail and wings. The two sphinxes are similar because they have body parts from more than one animal. Here you will find more information on some of the ancient sphinxes and sphinx-types.
Oedipus, made famous in modern times by Freud, who based a psychological condition on the ancient king who killed his father, Laius, and married his mother, Jocasta, answered the riddle of the sphinx.
The sphinx had been ravaging the countryside. When Oedipus ran into the sphinx, she asked him a riddle she did not expect him to answer. Should he fail, she would eat him.
She asked, "What has four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three at night?"
Oedipus answered the sphinx, "Man."
And with that answer, Oedipus became king of Thebes. The sphinx responded by killing herself.
That may have been the end of the most famous, mythological sphinx, but there were other sphinxes in art and some of them still exist. The earliest is the sphinx statue made from the native bedrock in the desert sands at Giza, Egypt, a portrait thought to be of Pharaoh Khafre (fourth king of the 4th dynasty, c. 2575 - c. 2465 B.C.). This -- the Great Sphinx -- has a lion body with a human head. The sphinx may be a funerary monument to the pharaoh and of the god Horus in its aspect as Haurun-Harmakhis.
The sphinx made its way to Asia where it gained wings. In Crete, the winged sphinx appears on artifacts from the 16th century B.C. Around the 15th century B.C., the sphinx statues became female, often depicted sitting on their haunches.
Facts and figures on the ancient Egyptian Sphinx.
Giza Plateau Computer Model
As part of an investigation of the construction of the Giza pyramid complex. the Oriental Institute has been involved in a computer model. Here are a wireframe and a rendered model of the sphinx temple.
Great Sphinx
This InterOz site says "sphinx" means "strangler," a name given the woman/lion/bird statue by the Greeks. Site tells about repair and reconstruction efforts.
Guardian's Sphinx
Photographs and physical description of the Great Sphinx which is thought to have been commissioned by the Fourth Dynasty's King Khafre.
Saving the Secrets of the Sand
Interview and article on Dr. Zahi Hawass, director of the Sphinx Restoration Project, by Elizabeth Kaye McCall. See Recent Interviews for more information from Dr. Hawass.
Remnants of a Lost Civilization?
Zahi Hawass and Mark Lehner explain why most Egyptologists ignore the early dating theories of West and Schoch -- West and Schoch ignore the evidence of Old Egyptian society.
