Then the sphinx threw herself down from the mountain.
The name of the sphinx in Egyptian was Hu.
In Greek mythology the most famous sphinx was that of Thebes in Boeotia, first mentioned by Hesiod (Theog.
The Sphinx was bared to the rock-level, and the famous granite and alabaster monument miscalled the "Temple of the Sphinx" was discovered.
The sphinx is common on Persian gems, and the representations are finely executed.
On a Persian intaglio are two sphinxes face to face, each wearing a tiara and guarding a sacred plant which is seen between them; but the sphinx, whether of the Egyptian or the Assyrian type, is not found in Persian sculptures (Perrot and Chipiez, History of Art in Persia, Eng.
An ancient female sphinx, but wingless, stands on the sacred road near Miletus.
It is curious that, though the sphinx (as also the gryphon) were thus common in the Mycenaean period, the words σφίγξ and γÏÏψ do not occur in Homer.
Helbig suggested that the word κÏων (dog), which is connected with the sphinx in the tragedians, was used by Homer for the sphinx, but this theory has not met with general acceptance.
Sphinxes were represented on the throne of Apollo at Amyclae and on the metopes at Selinus; in the best period of Greek art a sphinx was sculptured on the helmet of the statue of Athena in the Parthenon at Athens; and sphinxes carrying off children were sculptured on the front feet of the throne of Zeus at Olympia.
There is also an Athenian vase from Capua in the form of a sphinx painted white.
On the other hand, he holds that the destroying nature of the sphinx was much older, and he refers to instances in both Egyptian and Greek art where a sphinx is seen seizing and standing upon a man.
And, whereas the Theban legend is but sparingly illustrated in Greek art, the figure of the sphinx appears more commonly on tombs, sculptured either in the round or in relief.
From this Milchhöfer seems to infer that the sphinx was a symbol of death.
Ilberg, Die Sphinx in der griechischen Sage and Kunst (1895); Sir R.
The gateway is flanked by two huge blocks, each carved in front into the shape of a sphinx, while on the inner face is a relief of a two-headed eagle with wings displayed.
In that world some structure was still being erected and did not fall, something was still stretching out, and the candle with its red halo was still burning, and the same shirtlike sphinx lay near the door; but besides all this something creaked, there was a whiff of fresh air, and a new white sphinx appeared, standing at the door.
This building, the date of which is not yet finally settled, though its excavator believes it to be of the Old Kingdom like the temple of the Sphinx at Giza, is one of the most remarkable in Egypt, and the completion of its excavation is much to be desired.
According to Suidas, he was the author of an historical drama named Sphinx, of an epic, Anthomeros, in 24 books (both lost) and a Strange History.
In late times the priests of Denderah claimed Khufu as a benefactor; he was reputed to have built temples to the gods near the Great Pyramids and Sphinx (where also a pyramid of his daughter Hentsen is spoken of), and there are incidental notices of him in the medical and religious literature.
Such examples might be multiplied unendingly, but enough has been said to show that the attitude of civilized man towards the sphinx-riddle of his end has been in part dictated and is even still influenced by the savage belief that to die is unnatural.
West of Cairo, are the largest of the many pyramids and other monuments, including the famous Sphinx, built in the neighborhood of Memphis.
The well known stele of the sphinx was cut by the latter king, to commemorate his dream there and his clearing of the sphinx from sand.
Lord Rosebery maintained for the most part a sphinx-like seclusion, but in July 1901 he at last came forward strongly as the champion of the Liberal Imperialist section.
The sphinx monument just alluded to, the valves of the door are thrown wide open and give access to a little chamber, on the back of which is sculptured in relief a rude image of the Mother-goddess Cybele, having on each side of her a lion which rests its forepaws on her shoulder and places its head against hers.
The courage that is born of knowledge, the calm strength begotten by a positive attitude of mind, face to face with the dominant over-shadowing Sphinx of theology, were lacking.
Of the XIXth Dynasty, but in one case he has usurped earlier work, apparently of the XIIth Dynasty (a sphinx), and the city was evidently very ancient.
But it could hardly be of sufficient importance to cause Wykeham to play the sphinx, and the story is apparently due to the Elizabethan love of quips.
On his pages, close beside the Parthenon, the Sphinx, St Paul's, Etna and Vesuvius, you will find the White Mountains, Monadnock, Agiocochook, Katandin, the pickerelweed in bloom, the wild geese honking through the sky, the chick-a-dee braving the snow, Wall Street and State Street, cotton-mills, railroads and Quincy granite.
The Greek sphinx had wings and female bust, and the male sphinx of Egypt (wingless) is distinguished as "androsphinx" by Herodotus.
The sphinx, however, is a perfectly clear and well-defined type there, and is usually recumbent.
The most celebrated example is the Great Sphinx of Giza, 189 ft.
The king as a sphinx, in certain religious scenes, makes offerings to deities; and elsewhere he tears his enemies in pieces.
In the Saite period accordingly the figure of the sphinx was used as a hieroglyph for neb, " master," "lord."
Recumbent sphinxes were especially used in pairs to guard the approach to a temple, and it may be conjectured that the Great Sphinx was sculptured at Giza to guard the entrance of the Nile valley.
A falcon-headed sphinx was dedicated to Harmachis in the temple of Abu Simbel, and is occasionally found in sculptures representing the king as Horus, or Mont, the war-god.
Borchardt, "Das Alter der grossen Sphinx," in Sitzungsberichte of the Berlin Academy (1897), p. 752.
G.) From Egypt the figure of the sphinx passed to Assyria, where it appears with a bearded male head on cylinders; the female sphinx, lying down and furnished with wings, is first found in the palace of Esar-haddon (7th cent.
The country was ravaged by a monster, the Sphinx; Oedipus solved the riddle which it proposed to its victims, freed the country, and married his own mother.
Genera: Papilio, Sphinx, Phalaena.
(1533 B.C.) on the breast of the Sphinx at Gizeh.l The tablet represents Tethmosis before his guardian deity, the sun-god Re, pouring a libation of wine on one side and offering incense on the other.
The larvae of several nocturnal Lepidoptera feed upon the leaves of the willows, and the trunk of the sallow is often injured by the perforations of the lunar hornet sphinx (Trochilium crabroniforme).
SPHINX (Gr.
It was something white by the door--the statue of a sphinx, which also oppressed him.
Here too was placed the curious column, with many flutes and an Ionic capital, on which stood the colossal sphinx, dedicated by the Naxians, that has been pieced together and placed in the museum.
