It is quite interesting to note that unlike its counterpart within Greek mythology who mercilessly killed travelers who could not answer its riddle the Egyptian Sphinx was actually thought of as a benevolent guardian with a special relationship with the Sun (World Wonders, 2009). This startling contrast between two cultures that existed at almost the same time throughout antiquity yet were separated by thousands of miles is indicative of a form of cultural “sharing” that is actually quite common throughout history and is indicative of some form of contact between Egypt and Greece, possibly through maritime trade (World Wonders, 2009). Purpose An examination of the burial customs of ancient Egypt reveals a prominent usage of the Sphinx (for royalty and important officials at least). It was often the case that the body of the Sphinx had the head of the person who was actually within the tomb (World Wonders, 2009). It can be hypothesized that by including an image of an individual on top of the guardian “beast” this was to indicate a special relationship between that person and the deity of the sun. In fact Sphinx statues were also thought of as immobile guardians of tombs who were to protect the sanctity of a pharaoh’s resting place (World Wonders, 2009). Thus the size of the Great Sphinx at Giza can be thought of as a greater display of an already accepted burial tradition within the ancient Egyptian world. Creation of the Sphinx While the specifics regarding the precise history of the construction of the Sphinx is to this day generally unknown it is assumed by various local residents that the Great Sphinx at Giza was commissioned by Pharaoh Khafra in 2500 BC and was possibly created along the same time as the second pyramid of Giza. As for how the giant statue itself was made various accounts by local residents have indicated that the mystery of its construction can actually be solved by looking at the very pyramids behind it. Due to the interlocking nature of the limestone blocks found in the pyramids and the fact that the Sphinx itself is almost similarly made of limestone it can assumed that several of the limestone blocks from the same quarry as the pyramids were used in the statues construction with the same method of erecting different blocks utilized as a means do creating the height of the piece with the more intricate details added in later by stone carvers (Hadingham, 2010). Aspects of Civilization and Cultural Development Just by viewing the Sphinx itself it becomes obvious that the Sphinx represents not only the advanced nature of the fields of architecture and engineering during this particular time period within ancient Egyptian civilization but it also represents how important religious iconography was to the ancient Egyptian people and how the concept of death was thought of more highly than it is today (World Wonders, 2009). Influence of Previous Civilizations It must be noted that the Great Sphinx at Giza is not unique in the sense that it is the only example of its kind, such an assumption is fallacious given that it has already been mentioned within this paper that the iconography of the Sphinx was featured prominently in the burial customs of ancient Egyptian Pharaohs hundreds of years before the creation of the Great Sphinx. Rather, a far more accurate statement would