Durango semi-weekly herald., 1904-03-24
SPHINX NOT A MYSTERY.
0rsatest Enigma That Ever PerpIexed
Mankind Has Been Solved.
BY William e. Curtis.
Special Correspondence of The Chica-
go Record.Herald.

To represent a woman. The inquis-
tiveness Of modern antiguarians has
solved the greatest enigma that ever
perplexed mankind No other relic of
antiquity has been the object of more
discussion or the subject OF wilder
theories, legends and superstltons
During the last two thousand years a
whole library of books has been writ
ten about It, and al times conirover.
sizes as to its age. Significance and pur-
poses have been very active While
~ sse is still unknown. and no facts
connected with It's origin have have
come down to us. yet within the last
few years Psychologists have shown
that II Is nothing but a colossal i'm
age or portrait OF Ra-Harmachls, God
Of the Morning. Conqueror of Dark
ness. and hence II faces the Rising
Sun
This was recently disclosed by in.
scriptions upon the walls Of a temple
which lies underneath and around the
Sphinx and the discovery was largely
due to Colonel Ram, an American
scholar who has been engaged for
several years in excavations there.
He has uncovered tho foundations Of
the great statue and has brought to
light many Interesting features which
until recently were unknown The
temple surrounding the base was in
tended for the worship of Harmachis
and several chambers hewn in the
rock were the tombs of kings and
priests devoted 10 his worship In
1896 Colonel Ram discovered n stone
cap with a sacred asp carved ON the
forehead, which once served the head
of the Sphinx like a royal helmet, and
must have added immensely to its
grandeur. particularly II 1t was gllded,
as Colonel Ram believes.
The Sphinx is not an Independent
structure. The body and head are ac-
tnally hewn out OF the solid rock. but
much sandstone masonry was built
In TO make the outlines perfect and
cover defects in the material This
reinforcement of the original rock Is
very apparent now 10 n close obscrv
er. but originally they were concealed
for scientists believe with enamel
Indeed II is possible even now to find
fragments still adhering to the sur
tiles found in tombs and the ruins ol
the ancient palaces, Several private
collectors and some museums have
large blocks of most brilliant colorinp
and artistic design, and from them
we can imagine what an imposing
spectacle the great statue must have
been before the Persians and the Mo
hammedans destroyed its glory.
While II Is still an impressive pic.
ture 1t has no beauty whatever. The
nose. the lips and other features have
been mulilated by vandals. among
whom the French soldiers under Ma
poleon are said to have been the most
vicious, but the defacement began be.
fore The Christian area when Cam
byses invaded Egypt and made it
province of the Persian Empire. The
expression upon the face of the great
statue is blank. Poets and imagina
tive people have expended much elo
quence in describing lines which do
not appear and are purely fanclul
and We have been told again and again
that the solemn lmmobiity of it's ex
preston is the ideal of mystery in
other day described it as having "a
comelincss not of this world" "a
mould of beauty now forgotten--for
gotten because Greece drew forth
Cythrea from the flashing foam of the
Aegean and In her image created new
forms of beauty" While this sounds
fine II Is preposterous rot There lis
no more expression about the face of
the Sphinx than there would be in
any sandstone image that has been hit
square in the nose by three hun
dred pound shot fired from French
cannon and had Its features scattered
over a square mile of desert.
But. nevertheless, there is fascin.
alton about this great statue that can.
not be avoided, and one viii go again
and again and as often as possible to
look at It's shapeless face and mon.
strous figure which rises from the
sand against the amber sky.
The body of the Sphinx. which re.
sembles that of lion. Is $50 feet
long; the paws and legs which are
stretched out in front, are 50 feet
long the head is 80 feet from the
neck upwards, the face is II feet
wide and the whole figure - feet
high. 1t is believed 10 have been
built long before the pyramids. for
inscriptions found within the temple
show that it was old at the time of
Cheops, who erected the big pyramid
300 years before Christ. He made
many repairs In the temple and upon
the Image and left record of that
fact There is also tablet showing
that ii was repaired by King Cheph.
ren. one OF his SUCCESSORS Another
tablet tells an interesting story One
day while he was taking his after
dinner nap. King Thophmes ". (B |
c. 1889. had vision in which the |
god Harmachis appeared to him and |
made generous promises If he would |
dig his image, this same Sphinx out |
OF the sand. Thophmes did as re
quested and erected this tablet to
commemorate the fact
There are ii pyramids in the neigh