Why were the noses removed from Egyptian statues?

Research has shown that ancient Egyptians believed that statues had a life force. If an opposing power came across a statue it wanted to disable, the best way to do that was to break off the statue's nose and hamper the breathing. Broken noses are thought to be the earliest form of iconoclasm.



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A Roman stela with hieroglyphic and demotic writings from the Roman era was found below the sphinx.

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Robert Morkot wrote in 2005 that The ancient Egyptians were not 'white' in any European sense, nor were they 'Caucasian'... we can say that the earliest population of ancient Egypt included African people from the upper Nile, African people from the regions of the Sahara and modern Libya, and smaller numbers of people ...

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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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