Sphinx. - Hardcover

 
9783896782502: Sphinx.

Synopsis

'Sphinx' tells the story of the monumental Sphinx of Giza, created around 4500 years ago and besides the pyramids represents one of the great monuments of ancient Egypt, which still fascinates tourists and researchers alike. Christiane Zivie-Coche tries to get on the track of the riddle of the Sphinx: from deciphering iconography to the possible function or role of the giant statue with the body of a lion and the head of a human in the context of the pyramids of Giza. Was the Sphinx a kind of guardian of the graves on the plateau? Or was he part of King Chephren's tomb in the narrow sense, is the human head his image? What eras -- especially Egyptian history -- saw the Sphinx come and go? How did contemporaries see the unique colossal figure? Zivie-Coche not only undertakes an in-depth excursion into the historical and religious context (Harmachis and the other gods of Giza), but closes the arc with the rediscovery of the Sphinx in (Greco-Roman) ancient and modern times up to its excavation in the 19th and 20th centuries.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.