Is there anything under the Sphinx?

There are even reportedly access tunnels to some large and natural caves directly under the Sphinx. There have long been fables of hidden chambers, and a Hall of Records lies beneath the Sphinx.



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[Scholars put his reign at 1401–1391 B.C.] According to the stela, Thutmosis IV was strolling here one day, all alone. Around midday, he got very hot and decided to rest in the shadow of the Great Sphinx.

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Egyptologists mostly take it as settled fact that the Sphinx was carved about the same time as the Pyramids with which it shares the Giza Plateau and that its gentle, enigmatic face (minus a nose, a beard and other bits that have fallen or been knocked off over the centuries) is actually the likeness of a Pharaoh of ...

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Archaeologists and Egyptologists found a tunnel at the very back of the Sphinx. The top of the head once had a hollow cavity cut into it. And there is a wide crack in the bedrock towards the back of the Great Sphinx that was once believed to contain a burial.

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In 1378 CE, Egyptian peasants made offerings to the Great Sphinx in the hope of controlling the flood cycle, which would result in a successful harvest. Outraged by this blatant show of devotion, Sa'im al-Dahr destroyed the nose and was later executed for vandalism.

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The specially designated space around the Great Sphinx in Giza makes it impossible to get close to the monument and touch it, but you can still get close enough to have a good look at the Egyptian Sphinx's nose, and take an effective photo.

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You'll also need a Giza Plateau ticket. Adult tickets are 80 Egyptian pounds ($9) per person, while student tickets cost 40 Egyptian pounds (less than $5) each. All tickets include entrance into the Great Sphinx's temples, as well as access to the adjacent pyramids.

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sphinx, mythological creature with a lion's body and a human head, an important image in Egyptian and Greek art and legend. The word sphinx was derived by Greek grammarians from the verb sphingein (“to bind” or “to squeeze”), but the etymology is not related to the legend and is dubious.

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One particularly evidence-less legend about the Sphinx is that buried underneath it, there is a Hall of Records where an ancient civilization hid a trove of documents. Sometimes, the hall is said to contain Ancient Egyptian knowledge, while others really go for it and claim that civilization is Atlantis.

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More likely is that the head became smaller because it had been re-carved from the weathered remains of a larger original.

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This was the Sphinx's riddle: “What goes on four feet in the morning, two feet in midday, and three feet in the evening?” At around this time Oedipus came to Thebes (since he didn't want to go back home to Corinth), and he solved the riddle. Oedipus said, “The answer is 'man'.

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If you want to go inside the Great Pyramid of Khufu, you have to pay EGP 440(about US$14.00). If you need to go inside the Pyramids of Khafre or Menkaure, you have to pay EGP 100 (about US$3.3). (Note: From 12 July 2023 to 10 September 2023, there will be a 60-day maintenance period at the Pyramid of Khafre.

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Working closely with a young Egyptian archaeologist named Zahi Hawass, Lehner also explored and mapped a passage in the Sphinx's rump, concluding that treasure hunters likely had dug it after the statue was built.

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The Great Sphinx of Giza is a limestone statue of a reclining sphinx, a mythical creature with the head of a human and the body of a lion. Facing directly from west to east, it stands on the Giza Plateau on the west bank of the Nile in Giza, Egypt. The face of the Sphinx appears to represent the pharaoh Khafre.



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For comparison, construction on Stonehenge is believed to started around 3100 B.C.E., while the famed Pyramids of Giza are thought to have been erected around 2600 B.C.E. at the earliest. That makes the roundel at least 1,000 years older than Stonehenge and several thousand years older than the pyramids.

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In 1378 CE, Egyptian peasants made offerings to the Great Sphinx in the hope of controlling the flood cycle, which would result in a successful harvest. Outraged by this blatant show of devotion, Sa'im al-Dahr destroyed the nose and was later executed for vandalism. Whether this is absolute fact is still debatable.

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