Repairing the Sphinx:
Preservation, pt. 6

July 23, 2006

When people visit the Pyramids and the Sphinx they like to imagine what they were once like—back when everything was new. In Mark Lehner's The Complete Pyramids there is a computer generated view of what the Giza plateau looked like originally:

There you can see the pyramids with their casings still intact and their nice limestone causeways leading down to the valley. You can also see the Sphinx in the middle, to the side of the valley temple of the Pyramid of Khafre. This it seems to me is the ideal vision that most people are trying to get.. and which guidebooks help to construct. I call this philosophy "Originalism."

The problem with Originalism is that things stay original for a very short period of time. Even within ancient Egypt the meaning of the pyramids and the Sphinx was eclipsed. The most dramatic example of this is found in the stela set up by the 18th Dynasty king Thutmose IV, dated to 1401 BC. The narrative of the stela begins with high praise for himself:

Now then his majesty appeared as king as a beautiful youth who was well developed and had completed eighteen years upon his thighs in strength. He was one who knew all the words of Mont; he had no equal in the field of battle. He was one who knew horses; there was not his like in this numerous army. [41, Ancient Egyptian Literature, vol. 2, trans. Miriam Lichtheim]

I am going to skip some of the self-praise.. but soon the topic of horses brings round some interesting information:

He raised horses that were unequalled. They did not tire when he held the reins: they did not drip sweat in the gallop. He would yoke them with the harness at Memphis and would stop at the resting place of Harmakhis. [42]

This needs a little commentary. Memphis was the ancient capital of Egypt, and was located on the west side of the Nile, near Saqqara. Thutmose IV is thus claiming to have started there and to have ridden hard until he got to the "resting place of Harmakhis." This was the Sphinx, Harmakhis being a version of Horus. Thutmose IV continues:

He would spend time there leading them around an observing the excellence of the resting place of kings Khufu and Khafra, the justified. His heart desired to make their names live. [42]

The two large pyramids at Giza are today known by the names of their builders: Khufu and Khafre. Even 1,100 years after their deaths, their names were not forgotten and were indelibly connected to the two largest pyramids. But the site had obviously become abandoned at this point.. a place for riding horses across the empty sand.

The narrative continues, and the youth becomes a king:

Then his majesty remembered the place where he had enjoyed himself, in the vicinity of the pyramids and of Harmakhis. One ordered to make a resting-place there and to place a stela of limestone in it... [42]

At the end we find that the narrative is the story of the stela, and how it came to rest between the paws of the Sphinx itself. (You can see the stela which contains this narrative in the first picture, on the bottom right corner.)

So far as I have discovered, this represents one of the earliest direct examples of preservation. The motive? It seems that he had rested with his horses in this spot during his youth, and promised to himself that he would make the names of these ancient kings live. It seems refreshingly human.

Not only did he set up a stela, but there is also evidence that he made direct repairs on the Sphinx. The attention of the visitor today is naturally drawn to the face, but the body is a fascinating mixture of stone reparations. Here is the tail:

The original Sphinx was carved from natural rock, so anything that is constructed or shaped from stone blocks represents a later repair. As you gaze at the Sphinx, you start to notice many different sizes and types of blocks.. indicating a number of different periods in which repairs were made. The smaller blocks are generally modern, but the larger blocks in the middle of the photo date to the repairs made by Thutmose IV around 1400 BC—the same time as the stela was erected. Mark Lehner provides a picture that color codes the different periods of repair (the peach colored stones being the old ones):

What is original from the Sphinx is everything above the line of reconstruction.. that is, the weathered old stone that once served as the back of the Sphinx. My guess is that this also pretty much represents the line at which the Sphinx was buried in the sand:

The lesson here is that Originalism does not get us very far with the Sphinx. Early on it was reinterpreted as Harmakhis.. when it was neglected and partially covered.. and this reinterpretation as a friendly and protective god turned out to be a cause of its restoration. The restoration also resulted from the personal experience of Thutmose IV, resting his horses and gazing at the bygone splendors of Egypt. In fact, that story of a future king being affected by his proximity to these ruins is one of the most captivating personal images to come out of ancient Egypt.. much more colorful than anything we know about the origins of the Sphinx. Preservation can thus be seen as deeply connected to the spirit of mis- or re-interpretation.. and the continuing preservation of a monument often has more to do with later personal stories than with any original knowledge.

One wishes we could ask the Sphinx: "What were the best days?" And I wonder if it would not prefer the days when a king took refuge in its shade as it lay forgotten, to the crowds of tourists that traipse in front of it now.