Great Sphinx in the context of "Khafre Enthroned"

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⭐ Core Definition: Great Sphinx

The Great Sphinx of Giza is a limestone statue of a reclining sphinx, a mythical creature with the head of a human and the body of a lion. The monument was sculpted from the limestone bedrock of the Eocene-aged Mokattam Formation and faces east on the Giza Plateau, on the west bank of the Nile in Giza, Egypt. The oldest known monumental sculpture in Egypt, the Sphinx is part of the Memphite Necropolis and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Archaeological evidence suggests the Sphinx was created by Egyptians of the Old Kingdom during the reign of Khufu (c. 2590–2566 BC) or Khafre (c. 2558–2532 BC). Scholars and Egyptologists believe the face of the Sphinx was carved to represent either the pharaoh Khufu or one of his sons, pharaohs Djedefre and Khafre, but a consensus has not been reached and the person(s) in whose likeness the Sphinx was carved remains in dispute.

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👉 Great Sphinx in the context of Khafre Enthroned

Khafre Enthroned is a Ka statue of the pharaoh Khafre, who reigned during the Fourth Dynasty of ancient Egypt. It is now located in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Made of anorthosite gneiss, a valuable, extremely hard, and dark stone, it was brought 1,000 km (620 mi) down the Nile River from the "Khafre quarries" west of Gebel el-Asr. The statue was carved for the Pharaoh's valley temple near the Great Sphinx, a part of the necropolis used in funeral rituals.

This sculpture, depicted in-the-round (versus relief sculpture), shows Khafre seated, one of the basic formulaic types used during the Old Kingdom to show the human figure. Mummification played a huge role in the Egyptian culture, a 70-day process to ensure immortality for the king. Starting in the 3rd millennium BCE, if the king's mummy was damaged, a ka statue was created to "ensure immortality and permanence of the deceased's identity by providing a substitute dwelling place for the ka".

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Great Sphinx in the context of Giza

Giza (/ˈɡiːzə/; sometimes spelled Gizah, Gizeh, Geeza, Jiza; Arabic: الجيزة, romanized: al-Jīzah, pronounced [ald͡ʒiːzah], Egyptian Arabic: الجيزة el-Gīza [elˈgiːzæ]) is the third-largest city in Egypt by area after Cairo and Alexandria; and sixteenth-largest city in Africa by population. It is the capital of Giza Governorate with a total population of 4,458,135 as of 2023. It is located on the west bank of the Nile opposite central Cairo, and is a part of the Greater Cairo metropolis. Giza lies less than 30 kilometres (20 miles) north of Memphis (Men-nefer, today the village of Mit Rahina), which was the capital city of the unified Egyptian state during the reign of pharaoh Narmer, roughly 3100 BC.

Giza is most famous as the location of the Giza Plateau, the site of some of the most impressive ancient monuments in the world, including a complex of ancient Egyptian royal mortuary and sacred structures, among which are the Great Sphinx, the Great Pyramid of Giza, and a number of other large pyramids and temples and the Grand Egyptian Museum. Giza has always been a focal point in Egypt's history due to its location close to Memphis, the ancient pharaonic capital of the Old Kingdom.

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Great Sphinx in the context of Giza Governorate

Giza (Arabic: محافظة الجيزة Muḥāfaẓah Al Gizah) is one of the governorates of Egypt. It is in the center of the country, situated mostly on the west bank of the Nile River opposite Cairo. Its capital is the city of Giza. It includes a stretch of the left bank of the Nile Valley around Giza, as well as a relatively small portion of the east bank (such as Ghammāzah al Kubrá and El-Saf). Giza acquired a large stretch of Egypt's Western Desert, including Bahariya Oasis when the 6th of October Governorate was merged into it on 14 April 2011. The Giza Governorate is also home to the Great Sphinx and the Pyramids of Giza.

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Great Sphinx in the context of Egyptian nationalism

Egyptian nationalism is based on Egyptians and Egyptian culture. Egyptian nationalism has typically been a civic nationalism that has emphasized the unity of Egyptians regardless of their ethnicity or religion. Egyptian nationalism first manifested itself as Anti-English sentiment during the Egyptian revolution of 1919.

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LINKED FROM (PARENTS)
← Giza ← Giza Governorate ← Khafre Enthroned ← Egyptian nationalism
LINKS TO (CHILDREN)
Limestone → Statue → Sphinx → Legendary creature → Khafre → Lion → Bedrock → Eocene → Mokattam Formation → Giza Plateau → Nile → Giza → Monumental sculpture → Memphite Necropolis → List of World Heritage Sites in Egypt → Old Kingdom → Khufu → Djedefre →