Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-03-06
To DIsINrEK THE SPHINX.
Steps Taken and the Results to be
Achieved.
FACTS ABOUT THE PRESENT CONDITION AND
THE HISTORY OF THIS MONUMENT OF EGYP-
TIAN SCULPTURE.

FACTS ABOUT THE PRESENT CONDITION AND
THE HISTORY OF THIS MONUMENT OF EGYP-
TIAN SCULPTURE.
From the London Daily Telegraph
1t will be good news for antiquities to learn
that at last an effort is being made to disinter
the Sphinx. For ages visitors to Egypt have
been amazed at this stupendous effort of the
sculptors who fiourished before the gnomon OF
Cheops was built. Yet while city after city has
been disinterred almost within sight of the
monument to the Kingly Horus, this magnif-
cent memorial of a vanished race has been per-
United TO get heaped deeper and deeper with
the desert sand, in spite of the prayer inscribed
on the slab of Thothmes, which begs the peoples
That are to come 10 keep the statue clear of the
drlft, which even then was threatening to over
whelm It, Some 40 feet of the figure are still
above the surface; but all save the head and
neck are covered, and we only know what lies
Deneath from the description of travellers like
salt and Caviglia, who examined it before the
SANDS had submerged the body of the figure.
Even then. nearly 10 years ago, it was only by
great Labor that the excavators could manage
TO make out the details they have supplied. and,
IN spite OF their efforts, the desert DRIFT was con-
stantly encrOaching on the cleared space. Since
that date nothing has been done. Every year
mas added To the Accommodations, and so steadily
mas the work OF inteTment been going on that
VISITORS after an absence OF 20 or 80 years
notice a sensible change in the amount
plItu up Tic cpHtHk.
Indeed, if something is not done the
chances are that before long the monument
winch divides with the Pyramids themselves
the interest of every intelligent Traveller will be
entirely swallowed up. This has been the fate
OF many similar architectural remains in its
close proximity. About twenty years ago Mari
cite Bey discovered a very ancient temple just
beyond 1t, which, although lying wholly below
the surface of the desert, has since been Kept
toierably clear of the drifting sand. This shrine
seems to have been of great antiquity. 1t is
built mainly of rose-cOiored granite, the pillars
being simply square monoliths, with roofs and
doorways OF the same material. and no sign of
inscriptions or decorative sculptures. In
all probability it is older than the Pyra-
mids-so old. indeed, that in its bare, mas
siye simplicity it has been likened to Stone
henge rather than to the later architecture of
Egypt. 1t would be vain to hope that in the
comparatively narrow space to be cleared in the
vicinity of the statue any remarkable find will
be made. Yet the labor will be amply repaid by
the fact that the entire proportions OF the fig
ure will at last be made visible as well as the
remarkable temple known to exist between it's
forepaws. The work of eXhumation is in-
trusted to Brugsch Bey, brother of the distin-
formed by Signor MasperO. About &c, 900 cubic
meters of sand must be cleared away To eX-
pedtte this task little tramway has been con-
structed, and $50 laborers engaged for the
more mechanical portion of the toll. About
Easter the work is expected to be completed.
Then, when the rock out OF which the statue
has been hewn is laid bare, a broad circular
walk will be constructed around it, and high
wall built to guard against future encroach-
1t cannot be denied that this prosaic fence, let
it be built in the most CyclOpean manner posi-
BILE, will detract from the appearance of the
Sphinx. Buried as it is at present, with only its
battered head and part of its back exposed, the
FIRST view OF the great Egyptian monument is
wonderfully impressive. Every year thousands
of lght-headed tourists, thinking of anything
except Oriental symbolism and the designs of
the Pharaohs of the fourth dynasty, drive out
to see it, They rattle over the Nile bridge above
Boulak to eat luncheon and be robbed by the
Arab guides at the pyramids of Ghizeh. The
holiday maker is laughing or quaffing or
chatting. whacking donkey boy, or, more
likely. paying backsheesh, when suddenly,
COUGHING in hollow halt covered with sand,
he comes upon an object that siences the
most garrulous. Ii is the great Sphinx. Awe
inspiring even in its ruin, the majestic face still
remains TO attest the poetry and genius of its
forgotten scuiptors. Upon the ancient dynasties
OF Ethiopian and Egyptian kings, upon Greek
and Roman, upon Arab and Osmani conquer
ors, upon Napoleon dreaming of an eastern en-
pire, upon AbeFcromby thwarting him, upon
battle and pestience, upon tue amending
misery of the Egyptian race, upon keen-eyed
travellers = Herodotus yesterday, Villiers
Stuart to-day-upon Arab one year, upon VOL
seley the next. upon Burton disguised in rags
as Mecca pilgrim, upon Gordon setting out
on his forlorn hope-upOn all these and many
more the Sphinx has gazed with the same
earnest eyes, and the same sad, tranquil
mien. And We" writes the author of
"Eothen,' eve shall die and Islam wither
away, and the EngIishman straining tar over to
hold his beloved India will plant a firm foot on
the banks of the Nile, and sit on the seat of the
watching and watching the works of the new
busy race with those same sad, earnest eyes
and the same tranquil mien everlasting" When
MIR. kingiake wrote these words he little
dreamed that the work OF dsinterriDg the
Sphinx from the sands of ages would be com
pieted by German, acting under the orders of
an italian, with knots Of British soldiers look
ing on England, it is true, does not sit on the
seat of the Faithful" But il is perhaps not too
much 10 say that had it not been Tor the en-
of English antiQuaries and the
protection of a British garrison the stupendOus
monument of the tar-away Kings of the Nile
Valley would be still sinking deeper and deeper
into the desert. Mr.. Petrie, by his recent eX-
cayation OF the site of the ancient city of Maui
Gratis, has done much to stimulate renewed
interest In "A country which has already yielded
so many treasures to the historian, and which,
judging from what the last year or two has pro-
duced, and the almost astounding discovery of
the royal burylDg place near Thebes, is des-
tined, If intelligibly searched give up records
OF the past still more remarkable.
1t Is dlfflcuit TO say tor certain when the
Sphinx was sculptured. But it rs we believe
now generally admitted that the idea of shap-
ing "a great rock into the semblance of Horus
surrounded with the regal "pScheDt," the tall
conical crown and wide-fiowing wig over the
brow OF the threatening basilisk, and from the
chin the royal beard, was carried out during
the era of Alta and Seneferu, PharaohS in
whose reign the love OF architecture was a rul-
ing passion. The ancient Egyptians loved to
have everything on great scale. They erected
huge pyramids and carved their records on ODE
lisks which, under northern skies, are still the
wonder OF the quarrymaD. Hence, when they
ga" Huot fluSc Vi projecting from
the platform at the foot of the Libyan noun
taips, and bearing a rude resemblance to a
quadruped, the temptation to- give it
human form must have been Irresistible to a
people who seem TO have lived chisei in hand
The figure OF a lion with the head OF a man was
the form IL was destined to take These
Sphinxes. as they came to be called, were not
the creatures of the Egyptian Imagination for
as symbols of force and Intelligence they are
ures are not uncommon in Phenician works
of art. There were Spbinxes with hawks
heads and rams heads-C riosphinxes and
Hieracosphinxes-the prototypes of those who
have turned their tails on theLondoner walking
along the embankment are known to Egyptolo-
glStS as AndrosphInxes, or beings with the
heads of men and the bodies OF lions Nomore
chosen, for as it lay conched due east and west
in massive grandeur, on.the scarped rock which
overiooks the Nile Valley, the great eyes gazing
on the distant horizon, it formed an emblem OF
the all-powerful Pharaoh. No wonder that the
Arabs know this mighty monster as Aboo'l
Hol, tthe Father OF ferrors) or that the Greeks
TO whom Its symbolism was a mystery, named
IL the Sphinx. Its lace is 80 feet long and Ia
feet broad, and was at one time glazed with the
sacred pigment, while its body is 40 feet in
length, and the 0utstretched paws no
longer 10 be seen, 90 feet long. Between
the paws was erected a temple 35 feet
long, while in front of the giants breast
was q small sanctuary, entered by a doorway
dlvided into Two passages by reclining lion.
Al the FAR end OF the sanctuary was the tablet
OF Thothmes ~. and on either side other tab
lets covered with sculptured bas-reiiefs and
hieroglyphics, while in the court of the temple
was an altar, which, with some fragments OF
the Sphinx, is now in the British museum
Here tor ages troops OF priests ofticated. Up The