Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-08-15
THE SPHINX.
,oxrrHtNc OF THE HISTORY OF THIS
REHARKABLg MONUMENT.
p,oeress Of the Work Of Removing the
prifted Sands Of Five Thou
sand Years

nIlftCd sNuuh va Et'e 49,
sand Years.
eva went on a moonlight picnic to
re Main of Gizeb night before last,
and We drank champagne to the mystic
rious sphinx and success to Maspero in
his Efforts to uncover 1t from sccumu.
lated SANDS OF many centuries" SO
writes a friend at Cairo IN private let
Ter Of recent date, and thus, says Paris
correspondent Of the San Francisco
Chronicle, am reminded Of subject
which ought to have referred TO some
tire ego. Msspero is an antigua
rian, an indefatigablc hunter for buried
temples, statues, and mummies, who
proposes to remove-who is, indeed,
now removing---the mountains Of sand
that conceal the base Of the famous
sphinx from view. Ernest Rensn Is
helping him to raise the necessary
funds, and the work, commenced last
January, is now going on with much
rspidity. Everybody has heard about
and even knows the appearance OF this
fftv.centuries- colossal guardian
that keeps such silent and mysterious
watch over the plain on which stand
the great pyramids. There are no
lack OF sphinxes in Egypt, but every
where else in that country they have
always been found in pairs, and some
times drawn up in long lines on either
side Of the approach to some temple.
But the sphinx Of Gizeh stands solitary
and alone in its majestic grandeur, and,
with its lion.shaped body and human
head clothed with the attributes of
ancient Egyptian royalty, is not only
symbol, but is very likely a statue
carved to resemble some long-departed
monarch. The Egyptians believed their
sovefeigns to be incarnations Of the sun
god. The kings in their allegorical divine
nature combined the wisdom Of man
with the strength Of the lion, aud most
of the sphinxes which they have left us
are portraits Of themselves. know
not which one Of the Pharoahs left his
features 20 posterity on the stone face
of this great sphinx, but whoever he
was he must have belonged to negro
race. for the face bears all the striking
features Of the Ethiopiaus, a people
Shich supplied Egypt with several of
z its earlier dynastles.
But be that as it may, the old head
Is interesting for many reasons, and
. chiefly because it is the Oldest of all
the monuments due TO the hand Of man
which are now standing on the face Of
the earth. 1t was already an ancient
monument when the great pyramid was
built. The Greeks corrupted the old
Egyptian name for the sphinx into
Hsrmakhs. and the Arabs Of to-day
call this Aboul'hOl, which means the
father Of terror" According to the
Egyptian idea q sphinx represented
the sun on the horizon--that
is, both a rising and setting
sun-the Vesper and Lucifer OF
the Greeks combined in one. AS q
guardian of the royal metropolis it sym
bolized the end Of life, and at the same
time the triumph Of the soul over
death. Standing on the lice separating
the fertile plain from the arid desert, it
was also q symbol Of the fertility aud
life-giying power Of the sun. and of the
death dealing and destroying force of
its more ardent rays. The kings Of
Egypt built themselves tombs on the
plateau across which the sun cast its
mighty shadow, and the rich people Of
the land followed their example, until
finally the whole plain became covered
with temples and pyramids. 1t is a
we'll established fact that this Colossus
is cut out Of a single block of stone,
doubtless out OF some great rocky mass
which projected above the soil at this
spot, and which perhaps had naturally
somewhat the shape Of crouching lion
with a human head. The total length
of the monster is not exactly known,
but it is believed to be about sixty-tive
feet, while it is as high as a six.story
house. The ears and nose are six feet
long, and the length Of the mouth is
over seven feet. 1t looks due east, and
originally its face was painted bright
rel, which lit up in strange way when
touched by the first beams of the rising
sun.
From the first it has had one great
enemy to contend with, an enemy which,
time and again, has come very near
proving the victor, and from which it Is
about to be freed once by the efforts Of
Nj. Maspero. mean the sand of the
desert, which is always crawling slowly
upward from around its feet, and which
every now and then is driven in masses
by the wind and piled high in mount
aims against its side. The history of
the sphinx, if it's stone lips could
but tell it, would be one long
story of struggles with this re-
lentless enemy. Thoumates Nv.
came to its rescue nearly four thou
sand years ago. lie recorded the fac;
on an immense block Of stone, which
be stood up against the right shoulder
Of the statue. Later on Rsmeses ii.
utilized this tablet and some Others
found in the neighborhood to build
sort Of temple close by. A few CEN
tuiies afterward the sand again began
10 get the better of the sphinx, aud the
fragments Of the temple were utilized
by another monarch to form a sort Of
roofless chamber in the hollow formed
by the front paws Of the statue. The
Ptolsmsis and Romans did a good deal
of building in this neighborhood, but
already when Trsjan was emperor It
was so buried under the sand that visl-
tors were no longer able to reach It's
summit by the pathway arranged along