Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 1.djvu/411

 The Temple under the Ancient Empire, 321 that in those early days the gods of the Egyptians were not yet created, and consequently that there were no temples erected in their honour, Is to hazard a gratuitous assertion which may at any time be disproved by some happy discovery, such as that which gave us, twenty years ago, the statue of Chephren now in the Boulak Museum. Before that statue was found it might similarly have been contended that the series of royal effigies only commenced with the first Theban Empire. We possess, moreover, at least one divine effigy which, in the opinion of all contemporary archaeologists, dates from the time of the ancient monarchy, namely, the great Sphinx at Gizeh (Fig. 157)- We learn from epigraphic writings that this gigantic idol, combining the body of a crouching lion with the head of a man, represents Hor-em-Khou, or ' Horus in the shining Sun,' corresponding to the Harmachis, or rising sun, of the Greeks. According to the stele above quoted, it was carved, long before the time of Cheops, out of a natural rock which reared its head above the sand in this part of the necropolis ; here and there the desired form was made out by additions in masonry.^ As primitive Egypt had gods she must have had temples. Few traces of them are to be found, however, and their almost total disappearance is mainly owing to causes which merit careful notice. Before they began to erect stone buildings, the early Egyptians ^ The total height of the Sphinx is 66 feet ; the ear is 6 feet 4 inches high ; the nose is 6 feet, the mouth 7 feet 9 inches, wide. The greatest width of the face across the cheeks is 14 feet 2 inches. If cleared entirely of sand the Sphinx would thus be higher than a five-storied house. For the history of the Sphinx, the different restora- tions which it has undergone, and the aspect which it has presented at different epochs, see Mariette, Questions relatives mix iwnvelles Fouilles. Our plan (Fig. 204) shows the wide flight of steps which was constructed in the time of Trajan to give access to a landing constructed immediately in front of the fore-paws. Between these paws a little temple was contrived, where the steles consecrated by several of the Theban kings in honour of the Sphinx were arranged. Caviglia was the first to bring all these matters to light, in 1817, but the ensemble, as it now exists, only dates back to the Roman epoch. It is curious that neither Herodotus, nor Diodorus, nor Strabo, mention the Sphinx. Pliny speaks of it (N. H. xxxvi. 17); some of the information which he obtained was valuable and authentic, but it was mixed with errors ; it was said to be, he tells us, tiie tomb of the king Armais, but he knows that the whole figure was painted red. The Denkmaler of Lepsius (vol. i. pi. 30) gives three sections and a plan of the little temple between the paws. The same work (vol. V. pi. 68) contains a reproduction of the great stele of Thothmes relative to the restoration of the Sphinx. VOL. I. T I-