The most recognizable statue in Egypt and among most famous in the world, The Great Sphinx of Giza. Egyptologists, and scholars, professor and historians outside of the archaelogy field claimed that it is older than the 4th Dynasty date mainstream Egyptology continually insists on. Scholars remain disagree over who built it and when it is created but they agree it is an impressive work over the centuries. There are many theories about it but no one have agree upon it.
the pharaoh making offering to god Horus
The goddess Mut from New Kingdom
The statue was never known as 'the sphinx' by the ancient Egyptians. During the New Kingdom of Egypt (1570-1069 BCE), the sphinx was known by the Egyptians as Horemakhet (Horus of the Horizon) and a cult grew up and associating it with god Horus. The 4th century CE Coptic Christians called the statue Bel-hit (The Guardian) and this name is still used today.
The Giza plateu was different in appearance to how it is present today. The capital of Egypt during the Old Kingdom was nearby city of Memphis; Giza was chosen for the kings of the 4th Dynasty the great pyramid builders, because it had been used by rulers from the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3150-2613 BCE) and maybe the Predynastic Period (c. 6000-c. 3150 BCE). Evidence shows that the sphinx was created after the pyramids come from an inscription on the left paw of the statue dating back to 166 CE.
The sphinx defies an easy and comfortable placement in time. An argument for the earlier construction of the sphinx is that, athough archeologists have found inscriptions and evidence related to the contruction of the pyramids of Giza in the 4th Dynasty, how the workers were housed, what they ate, how they were paid, there was never any mention about the sphinx.
