Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-05-11
Prof. G. A. Reisner, of Harvard,
Believes He Has swe the
Problem That Has BaffIed
World.
From the Philadelphia Ledger.

university. set out on an exploring ex-
petition about 10 years ago, n 1t
will be remembered that, returning to
this country a few months since he
announced he had found the remains
of the palace of Jezebel and Ahab,
whose story was SO freely used to point
a moral in our Sunday school days.
This was a great deal, but there was
Boston announced. his very week.
hat Professor Reisner had also SOLVED
the riddle of the Sphinx"
Everyone knows the Sphinx and
everybody has heard it had a riddle.
To the public the fact that the ere
comes as a surprise. To the archeol-
ogtst. on the other hand. 1T is a piece
of good news but nothing startling.
There was. says Albert NJ. Lythgoe.
curator of the Egyptian section of the
Metropolitan museum of New York.
would turn out just as they have. The
connection between the Second Pyra-
mid at Gizeh and the Sphinx was close,
and it would not have been unusual
to give the great image the head of
the king who built it.
Professor Reisner has, however,
cleared up several points. Authorities
have differed as to the date of the
carving of the image: some put it
earlier than the fourth dynasty in
which the Second Pyramid was erect
ed. n more put it later, because the
sphinxes appear more commonly in
later times. Professor Reisner has un-
earthed the statue of the builder of the
Third Pyramid-also of the fourth dy-
nasty-and his head-dress is exactly
like that of the Sphinx. This fashion
OF mead covering does not appear else
where, so the two works of art evil
IDENTIFY belong to the same period.
Hence. the Sphinx is none other than
Cephren. son of that Cheops who built
himself the first and greatest pyramid
of the three huge tombs.
The Sphinx of the desert takes the
discovery of his secret with'composure.
quite unlike his Greek predecessor who
had the original riddl 1t was her Gus
tom to ask passersby what animal
went on four feet and on two and on
while away time by pleasant guessing
but to devour those who failed to give
the answer.
Edipus had the inspiration of guess
ing that the animal was man, who
goes first a-creeping, then walks erect.
n finally totters with a stick. The
Greek Sphinx threw herself from a
mountain top when she found her one
n only riddle guessed. and persisted
miserably; while the Egyptian pays no
attention at all to the ingenuity of the
Harvard professor. but gazes placidly
= .sNS "a SAS oAAl VII o1xA
thinks. You may guess who l am, but
you can't guess what l know"-whfch
makes him more irritating han ever.
The Sphinx of Egypt" said Profess
sor Reisner. lis nothing but the body
of a lion with the head of a reigning
king. In this guise the king is repre-
sented as a guardian trampling down
his enemies and warding them off his
territory. The motive occurs often.
The Great Sphinx is the guardian
M tho Sn1rDl ~~0nf-@A-. "a A.. o----a
Pyramid. placed beside the causeway
leading to the pyramid. The body is
the body Of a lion. The head is the
head of Cephren. the king who built
the Second Pyramid and carved the
Sphinx out of a knob of natural rock"
Cephren the Sphinx fulfilled his OBJ
ject well. Even to the. Arabs he is
known as THE Father of Terror" No
one has ever doubted that he was on
watch. not even those who knew moth
ing of the fact that the Sphinx is al
ways. in the Egyptian mythology, a
underworld and guardian of Ra, the
sun god, is frequently pictured as a
sphinx, Inc Ra himself is a sphinx
sometimes when he goes forth to bat
tie with his enemies. Because Ra is
associated with the idea 1t vas natural
that the image of Cephren should face
the rising sur.
That the Sphinx should guard the
pyramid was also natural. Such images
frequently protected tombs. The In
scription on one such Sphinx reads: IT
protect the chapel Of thy tomb, I guard
they sepulchral chamber. I ward of
The i%ntruding stranger, I cast down thy
foes to thai ground and their arms with
them, ] drive away the wicked from
the chapel Of thy tomb, I destroy thine
adversaries in their lurking place,
blocking 1t that they nay no more
come forth"
This calm assurance OF power and
a 1oul for the great Sphinx. Nearly
5000 years 1t q stood In the shifting
desert sands, and 1t always has had a
way Of troubling peoples conscience.
Between the paws there Is a little /
shrine, set there by a Pharaoh who
ruled about 1000 years after Cephren
and who has dreamed, after seeing 1t, /
for his neglect Of the image. He set |
up the. shrine and dug away the sand, !
but the wind oon buried the statue !
again, far over the paws. Several times |
during the last century 1t was dug out
again. but always the sand comes
back. Now It is half buried again.
Nj. Lythgoe explains that the Egyp-
leading from the valley to the temples
IN the pyramids where the people went |
TO worship the king. The causeway to
the Second Pyramid 10 moro %c0nspicu- I
GUS than those leading to the others, |
and it, entrance 10 guarded by the
Great Sphinx.
It was In h course OF his excava
Prof. Redsner added the last proof to
the strong suspicion. that the Sphinx
represented Cephren. The statue which |
showed the head-dress similar { the |