Sphinx

A **Sphinx**, is a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of a falcon.

## Etymology

The word sphinx comes from the Greek Σφίγξ, associated by folk etymology with the verb σφίγγω, meaning "to squeeze", "to tighten up". This name may be derived from the fact that lions kill their prey by strangulation, biting the throat of prey and holding them down until they die. However, the historian Susan Wise Bauer suggests that the word "sphinx" was instead a Greek corruption of the Egyptian name "shesepankh", which meant "living image", and referred rather to the statue of the sphinx, which was carved out of "living rock", than to the beast itself.

## Egypt

The largest and most famous sphinx is the Great Sphinx of Giza, situated on the Giza Plateau adjacent to the Great Pyramids of Giza on the west bank of the Nile River and facing east. The sphinx is located southeast of the pyramids. While the date of its construction is not known for certain, the general consensus among Egyptologists is that the head of the Great Sphinx bears the likeness of the pharaoh Khafre, dating it to between 2600 and 2500 BC. However, a fringe minority of late 20th century geologists have claimed evidence of water erosion in and around the Sphinx enclosure which would prove that the Sphinx predates Khafre, at around 10,000 to 5000 BC, a claim that is sometimes referred to as the Sphinx water erosion hypothesis but which has little support among Egyptologists and contradicts other evidence.

## Europe

The revived Mannerist sphinx of the late 15th century is sometimes thought of as the "French sphinx". Her coiffed head is erect and she has the breasts of a young woman. Often she wears ear drops and pearls as ornaments. Her body is naturalistically rendered as a recumbent lioness. Such sphinxes were revived when the grottesche or "grotesque" decorations of the unearthed Domus Aurea of Nero were brought to light in late 15th-century Rome, and she was incorporated into the classical vocabulary of arabesque designs that spread throughout Europe in engravings during the 16th and 17th centuries. Sphinxes were included in the decoration of the loggia of the Vatican Palace by the workshop of Raphael, which updated the vocabulary of the Roman grottesche.

## Asia

A composite mythological being with the body of a lion and the head of a human being is present in the traditions, mythology and art of South and Southeast Asia. Variously known as puruṣamr̥ga, purushamirugam, naravirala in India, or as nara-simha in Sri Lanka, manussiha or manutthiha in Myanmar, and norasingh or *thep* norasingh, or nora nair in Thailand. Although, just like the "nara-simha", he has a head of a lion and the body of a human.

## Freemasonry

The sphinx imagery has historically been adopted into Masonic architecture and symbology.

## Capabilities

Sphinxes are mythical creatures with the body of a lion and the head of a human or a cat.

## Common powers

**Enhanced Intelligence:** Sphinxes have an intellect that is far beyond the level of many geniuses in human history.

**Feline Physiology:** Sphinxes possess the traits, attributes, characteristics and abilities of felines, from domesticated, to wild, to big cats etc. They achieve this either through full or partial transformation into felines, choosing to mimic certain aspects of them, or simply already being a feline in the first place.

**Guardian:** Guardians are often those who are of noble birth or a high position of great historical or legendary importance.

**Spiritual Awareness:** Sphinxes possess a heightened awareness to the paranormal, allowing such feats as being able to see or sense entities, such as spirits, ghosts, angels, and demons, that are normally invisible to humans.

**Unnatural Size:** Sphinxes either possess a level of physical size either greater or smaller than that of a normal member of their species or is simply a member of a species that is naturally bigger or smaller than humans.