Konstantinos Konstantinidis – Amphiktyon
The Sphinx is located near the Pyramid of Cheops. Scholars believe that it served as a guardian of the pyramids. It is approximately 20 meters high and 72 meters long. Its form is that of a massive reclining lion with a human head. It was carved from a solid rocky hill or boulder. Apart from the head, which was built, it was completed with hewn stones.
The Greeks describe the Sphinx as a monstrous creature, as it had the face of a maiden, the chest, legs, and tail of a lion, and the wings of a bird. According to another version, it had the face, hands, and voice of a human, the body of a dog, the tail of a dragon, the claws of a lion, and the wings of a bird. There were also other variations of the Sphinx, such as a lion’s front and a human’s back with the wings of an eagle. It was also taught many riddles by the Muses of the Valley of the Muses in Boeotia.
The goddess Hera placed the Sphinx on Mount Phikion near Thebes and ordered it to pose the following riddle to passersby:
“What creature has one voice and two, three, and four feet? In the morning it uses four, at noon two, and in the evening three.”
If the passersby could not solve the riddle, it would devour one of them. Thus, it consumed one person each month, until it was driven away by the dog Laelaps of Cephalus, when the alliance of Amphitryon and Cephalus was formed against it. It was destined to capture whatever it desired and not to be captured by humans. For this reason, Zeus turned both it and the dog to stone.
Many stories have been written about the Sphinx. It is said that it was the illegitimate daughter of Laius, named Sphynx, and because Laius loved her, he revealed to her a secret oracle, which was kept hidden so that Cadmus would not learn it, and was known only to the kings and the legitimate children of the royal family. Since Laius had many children who claimed the throne, asserting they were not illegitimate, he appointed the Sphinx as judge to test whether they knew the oracle, which only the legitimate children of Laius knew. In this way, Laius rid himself of his illegitimate children who disputed the throne. However, Oedipus saw the oracle in a dream, overthrew the Sphinx, and won the kingship. On his way to Thebes, he killed Laius without knowing he was his father and married Laius’s wife, Jocasta, without knowing she was his mother. Thus, he became a patricide and committed incest. Yet the oracle had previously warned him that he would kill his father and marry his mother.
The Egyptians associated the Sphinx with the months of July and August, when the Sun is in the signs of Leo and Virgo, and the flooding of the Nile occurs.
A statue of this kind was also found near the Pyramids of enormous size. The circumference of its head alone was over one hundred feet, and the height from the head to the feet was forty-three feet. It was said there that this was the tomb of Amasis. According to announcements by researchers and archaeologists, the following conclusions arise:
- The Sphinx is purely a Greek symbol.
- It is the oldest Greek monument in Egypt.
- It was constructed by skilled craftsmen in very ancient prehistoric times, when Rhodians and Boeotians first set foot in the land of the Nile.
- It was built on an islet like a lighthouse for ships, before the Sahara Desert fully emerged, when it was then a sea. At the base of the Sphinx there are indications of marine erosion (at a depth of 20 meters, steps of coastal construction techniques were found).
- Beneath the Sphinx there are ancient chambers with tombs and treasures.
- It is estimated that the Sphinx was built around 25,000 B.C. by Greek craftsmen to house historical relics that were originally kept in the Museum of Dodonaean Zeus in Thessaly. After the Flood of Ogygus (around 23,000 B.C.), they were transferred from Greece to a safe location in the Sahara. Beneath the Sphinx, in chambers, it is said that there are Greek archives placed there by priests.
- There was also an underground water passage connecting the Sphinx with the Pyramids.
- Unpublished archaeological findings have been discovered beneath the Sphinx.
- Since the Greek myth of the Sphinx is older than the Egyptian one, this indicates that the Egyptians derived the concept of the Sphinx from the Greeks, with the difference that the Greek Sphinx had a female head. The Thebes of Egypt were built by Boeotian Greeks, who brought their gods, myths, and customs there. It should be noted that for the Egyptians the lion symbolized the guardian at the gates of Hades.
- According to Greek mythology, the Sphinx dwelled on Mount Phikion (or Phinion or Phaga), which dominates the plain of the village Vagia, west of Thebes. The area strongly preserves the memory of the Sphinx, which killed passersby who could not solve its riddles. Oedipus not only managed to answer but also took advantage of its confusion to kill it and free the Thebans from it (27/3/26).
Amphiktyon – Lieutenant General (ret.) Konstantinos Konstantinidis
Author, Member of the Society of Greek Writers
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