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The Great Sphinx Facts
The Great Sphinx Facts
geological considerations. Schwaller de Lubicz observed, and recent geologists (such as Robert
Schoch, Professor of Geology at Boston University) have confirmed, that the extreme erosion
on the body of the Sphinx could not be the result of wind and sand, as has been universally
assumed, but rather was the result of water.
Geologists agree that in the distant past Egypt was subjected to severe flooding. Wind erosion
cannot take place when the body of the Sphinx is covered by sand, and the Sphinx has been in
this condition for nearly all of the last five thousand years - since the alleged time of its 4th
Dynasty construction.
If wind-blown sand were responsible for the deep erosion of the Sphinx, we would expect to
find evidence of such erosion on other Egyptian monuments built of similar materials and
exposed to the wind for a similar length of time. Yet the fact of the matter is, that even on
structures that have had more exposure to the wind-blown sand, there are minimal effects of
erosion, the sand having done little more than scour clean the surface of the dressed stones.
The purpose of the Sphinx is not known. Some orthodox archaeologists assume that it was a
memorial to a Pharaoh or that it functioned as some sort of talisman or guardian deity. Other
scholars, however, believe the Sphinx functioned as an astronomical observation device that
marked the position of the rising sun on the day of the spring equinox in the time of Leo the
Lion, which lasted from 10,970 to 8810 BCE. This interpretation is given support by the leonine
shape of the Sphinx.
In 1798, when Napoleon came to Egypt the Sphinx was buried in sand up to its neck. Between
1816 and 1858, a series of adventurers and antiquarians, including Giovanni Caviglia, Auguste
Mariette and Gaston Maspero, attempted to clear the sand from around the body of the Sphinx
but were each forced to abandon the project due to the enormous amount of sand. Finally,
between 1925 and 1936, the French engineer Emil Baraize was successful in clearing the sand
to reveal the base of the Sphinx.
equinoxes, the sun on the spring equinox rises against the stellar background of a different
constellation. For the past two thousand years that constellation has been Pisces the Fish,
symbol of the Christian age. Prior to the age of Pisces it was the age of Aries the Ram, and
before that it was the age of Taurus the Bull. It is interesting to note that during the first and
second millennia BC, approximately the Age of Aries, ram-oriented iconography was common
in Dynastic Egypt, while during the Age of Taurus the Bull-cult arose in Minoan Crete. Perhaps
the builders of the Sphinx likewise used astrological symbolism in designing their monumental
sculpture. Geological findings indicate that the Sphinx may have been sculpted sometime before
10,000 BC, and this period coincides with the Age of Leo the Lion, which lasted from 10,970 to
8810 BC.
Further support for this vast age of the sphinx comes from a surprising sky-ground correlation
proven by sophisticated computer programs such as Skyglobe 3.6. These computer programs
are able to generate precise pictures of any portion of the night sky as seen from different places
on earth at any time in the distant past or future. Graham Hancock explains in Heavens Mirror
that, computer simulations show that in 10,500 BC the constellation of Leo housed the sun on
the spring equinox - i.e. an hour before dawn in that epoch Leo would have reclined due east
along the horizon in the place where the sun would soon rise. This means that the lion-bodied
Sphinx, with its due-east orientation, would have gazed directly on that morning at the one
constellation in the sky that might reasonably be regarded as its own celestial counterpart.