The Sphinx is one of the Egypt's most recongisable landmarks, and has been so for thousands of years - Egyptians carved its images onto their tomb walls,and ancient Greek historians spoke of it.Though the majestics imagenary of the lion is a common occurence, the heads of Sphinxes over the world are different. The Sphinx in front of the Great Pyramid at Giza is the largest one we know of.Despite conflicting evidence and viewpoints over the years, the traditional view held my modern Egyptologist at large,remains that the Great Sphinx was built by pharaoh Khafra, the third ruler of the 4th Dynasty (approximately 2560 B.C. to 2450 B.C.
In Greek mythology, the Sphinx had a face of a woman and a pair of wings; she wasn't just extremely intelligent,but said to be all-knowing.She would present them with the famous riddle: "What walk on four hands in the morning,two in the afternoon,and three in the evening?" Anyone who failed to answer her question would be devoured.It wasn't until the hero Oedipus came along that she was defeated.When he was answered her with "Man,who crawls as an infant,walks on two legs as an adult,then uses a walking stick in old age", the Sphinx was so mortified that she cast herself down from the rock and perished.
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