Skip to contentSphinx and Pyramids, Egypt
Five thousand years ago the Sphinx was carved out of solid rock, close by the Pyramids, in Egypt. The head is that of King Kephren who built the Second Pyramid, the body that of a lion. A stone tablet of heiroglyphics in front of the Sphinx, not shown here, tells the story of the building of the great monument 3000 years before the birth of Christ. (CC BY-SA 2.0 ©2008 kmf164)
The Sphinx of Giza. The head and body are carved from rock. The forelegs and paws are made of brick. For the past few centuries sand covered the entire body—with only the head showing above the ground. The stone nose, and stone beard, unprotected, were destroyed. But the body, buried under sand and not dug clear until recently, today looks just as Demetrius saw it in 250 BC. The body is 240 feet long, the top of the head 70 feet above the ground, the face 13 feet high. (CC BY 2.0 ©2007 Roderick Eime) 
