Background of the Study
Sophocles’ life encompassed almost the entirety of the fifth century BCE. Born ca. 495 BCE into a wealthy Athenian family, the young Sophocles was chosen because of his beauty to lead the singing and dancing at the ceremony held in celebration of the Persians’ defeat in the Second Persian War. The same good fortune followed him into adulthood where, if classical Athens ever had one, he was the perennial “golden boy.” For instance, as a young playwright, he defeated the veteran Aeschylus in dramatic competition—the evidence for this is found both on the Parian Marble and in later histories—and from there he went on to win an unprecedented number of playwriting victories at the City Dionysia, all this in spite of suffering from microphobia—that is, having a weak voice—which forced him at an early age to retire from acting in his own plays.
Later in life, Sophocles also served his city as soldier and statesman, appointed as General (strategos) at least twice and Imperial Treasurer of Athens in 443 BCE. In addition to that, he played an important role in religion. As priest of Asclepius (the god of health), he received this deity’s holy snake when it was first brought to Athens and had no temple as yet to house it. Because his counsel was widely respected, the aged Sophocles was one of the probouloi (“counselors”; singular proboulos) chosen to advise the Athenians after their navy was destroyed in Sicily in 413 BCE. Artist, accountant, priest and pretty boy, he was everything to everyone.
He died in 406 BCE at an extremely advanced age, having managed to remain active in theatre right up to the end. Following his death, the Athenians awarded Sophocles the highest honor a mortal could receive: he was dubbed a hero and given the name Dexion (“The Receiver”) for having taken in Asclepius’ sacred serpent. Living then from the triumph of the Persian Wars through almost the entirety of the fifth century BCE, Sophocles’ timely death spared him the horrors of witnessing the final humiliation of Athens at the conclusion of the Peloponnesian War which ended the Classical Age. Truly a blessed and remarkable man, he was the paragon of his times, having served in his day as the ancient Athenian equivalent of Shakespeare, Picasso, Lincoln, and Miss America.
Literature Review
Oedipus the King. After 429 B.C. City Dionysia.
Prologue, 1-150. (Priest, Oedipus, Creon)
The priests of Thebes appear before Oedipus as suppliants, entreating him to find some end to the plague. Oedipus has already sent Creon to Delphi, who arrives to report that the killer of Laius must be sought out and banished. Oedipus vows to find the killer and summons the people of the city.
Parodos , 151-215.
The Chorus of Theban citizens offer prayers to Zeus, Apollo,
Athena for release from the plague.
First Episode , 216-462.
Oedipus appeals for information and pronounces his curse on the murderer. Teiresias is summoned: at first he refuses to tell what he knows, but aroused by Oedipus’ taunts he declares Oedipus the murderer.
Oedipus declares a conspiracy by Creon. Teiresias declares that the murderer is present, and will be found son and husband to his mother.
First Stasimon , 463-512.
The Chorus are fearful of the pronouncement of the seer, but declare their loyalty to their king.
Second Episode , 513-862. (Creon, Oedipus, Chorus; Jocasta)
Creon is indignant at Oedipus’ accusations. They argue over the charge. Jocasta tries to intervene.
Kommos , 649-697. The Chorus advise restraint and Oedipus lets Creon go, though he declares him an enemy. Oedipus tells Jocasta the source of the dispute. Jocasta tells the story of Laius’ death, and Oedipus recognizes many details: but he was a lone killer, whereas a band of killers was reported.
Oedipus worries about the oracle; Jocasta denounces its veracity, adducing the prophesy about her son.
Second Stasimon , 863-910. (Chorus)
Ode to the sanctity of divine law. The tyrant who ignores justice and reverence for the gods will fall. The oracles must be true.
Third Episode , 911-1085. (Jocasta, Messenger, Chorus; Oedipus)
A messenger arrives from Corinth announcing the death of Polybus and Oedipus’ ascension. He allays Oedipus’ fear of the oracle (that he will marry his mother) by telling him of his true birth. Over Jocasta’s objections Oedipus vows to continue his search for the truth. Jocasta runs into the palace.
Third Stasimon , 1086-1109. (Chorus)
Ode to Mt. Cithaeron: we will soon know the parentage of Oedipus.
Fourth Episode , 1110-1185. (Oedipus, Shepherd, Chorus)
The shepherd arrives who exposed the infant of Laius and escaped when Laius was killed. Oedipus’ parentage becomes clear. Oedipus rushes into the palace.
Fourth Stasimon , 1186-1222. (Chorus)
No man is blest: happiness is but an illusion, for even the great power and blessings of Oedipus have come to a fall.
Exodos , 1223-1530. (Messenger, Chorus; Oedipus, Creon)
A messenger announces the suicide of Jocasta and the self-inflicted blinding of Oedipus. Oedipus appears to lament his fate. Creon appears. Oedipus begs him to take care of his children; Antigone and Ismene (mute) arrive to comfort their father. Creon persuades Oedipus to return to the palace, and assumes the kingship.
Oedipus Rex begins with King Oedipus already married to Queen Jocasta, with whom he has four children. The audience learns that Oedipus became the king of Thebes after solving the Sphinx’s riddle, thereby freeing the city from its curse and being rewarded with marriage to the queen. The play opens with a priest and the Chorus asking King Oedipus to help them with a plague that is destroying the city. Oedipus sends his brother-in-law, Creon, to consult with the oracle. Creon returns with the news that the plague will only end when the murderer of the former king, Laius, is found and brought to justice. Oedipus vows to find the former king’s murderer, to avenge him, and bring an end to the plague.
As Oedipus investigates, the truth begins to emerge. The audience learns that years ago, Queen Jocasta and King Laius received a prophecy that their son would kill his father and marry his mother. Therefore, they sent their son to the mountainside with a Theban shepherd to be killed. However, the shepherd instead gave the baby away to a Corinth shepherd, who in turn gave the baby to the king and queen of Corinth to raise as their own.
Oedipus summons a blind prophet, Teiresias, who claims to know the answers to Oedipus’s questions. Teiresias refuses to speak, but after Oedipus accuses him of being involved, Teiresias tells Oedipus that he is the murderer of Laius. Teiresias leaves Oedipus with the riddle that the murderer of Laius will turn out to be both father and brother to his own children. Oedipus does not believe him, because he left his parents behind in Corinth in order to escape the prophecy. He accuses Teiresias of working with Creon to conspire against him. Jocasta tells Oedipus not to worry; she and her dead husband, Laius, received a prophecy that Laius would be killed by his own son, but it did not come true, because Laius had been killed by bandits at the crossroads of Delphi. Oedipus gives pause to this, knowing that he had killed an old man at the crossroads at Delphi in order to save his own life. The shepherd who took Oedipus to Corinth tells him that his father, King Polybus, has died. Oedipus believes that because he is not did not kill King Polybus, he has thwarted the prophecy.
However, the Corinth shepherd shares that King and Queen Polybus were not Oedipus’s biological parents. Jocasta, realizing the truth, urges Oedipus not to pursue the matter any further. However, Oedipus will stop at nothing to learn the truth. He summons the Theban shepherd who took Jocasta’s baby to the mountain. The Theban shepherd reveals that Oedipus was that same baby, and Oedipus has therefore fulfilled the prophecy by killing his biological father Laius, and marrying his biological mother, Jocasta.
Jocasta has already figured out the truth and has hung herself. Oedipus then gouges out his eyes with Jocasta’s brooch. Oedipus, after requesting to see his children, is led out of the land of Thebes and his brother-in-law Creon assumes power and control.
When we discuss OT (Oedipus Tyrannus, also known as Oedipus Rex), we often focus on the contemporary political crisis in Athens, the plague that has beset the people, the loss of religious focus that some fear has brought the wrath of the gods upon them – all the ways that we think the play might have affected the contemporary audience.
Significance of the Study
But what we often ignore is the mythic dimension of the play, a dimension that allows us to understand some of the basic tensions of the play. Oedipus comes onto the scene in Thebes after killing the sphinx, a mythical creature with very specific and foreboding connotations from Greek mythology. The sphinx, like many of the other fantastic hybrid creatures, stands as a pre-eminent threat to Greek society and human culture. As a liminal (threshhold) creature, neither one thing nor the other (as a centaur is neither horse nor man, an Amazon neither woman nor warrior, a Siren neither woman nor bird), it threatens our conception of what belongs and what doesn’t, of what can be understood and what cannot, of what can be controlled and what cannot.
The sphinx has an additional threatening feature in that it is its intellect that is so overwhelming. It is a typical motif of Greek myths that mythic heroes fight such creatures, which represent metaphoric threats against human culture and Greek society in particular. It is no coincidence that monumental sculpture describing victories over such creatures is found on the temples of archaic and classical Greece (e.g., Lapiths v Centaurs on the Parthenon, the Temple of Zeus at Olympia; the Greeks v the Amazons on the Parthenon and others; Theseus v Minotaur on the Hephaesteum…). All are the victory of man’s culture over nature gone wild.
The sphinx, too, is such a liminal creature. She has the haunches of a lion, the wings of a great bird, and horribly, the face and breast of a woman. She is treacherous and merciless: those who cannot answer her riddle suffer a fate typical in such mythological stories: they are gobbled up whole and raw, eaten by this ravenous monster. What greater threat is there to a humanity desperate to leave its mark upon history than to be completely consumed and obliterated? Odysseus fights his man-eater (several, actually) and Heracles has his Cacus – mythic heroes often defeat anthropophagy to ensure human and cultural survival (this is typical of mythic heroes in general: many Japanese heroic tales depict heroes defeating man-eating monsters, and even the dragon that St. George kills is so threatening because it is a man-eater). IH students will naturally think of Soumaoro here, too, from the West African epic Sundiata.
This is what Oedipus saves the people of Thebes from when he kills the sphinx, certainly a threat in the mythic sense. Oedipus crows about his ability to save Thebes. He proves Protagoras’ maxim that “man is the measure of all things.” Indeed, “Man” is the answer to the Sphinx’s riddle! But not just any man – Oedipus solves the riddle, Oedipus ends the sphinx’s reign of terror over the people of Thebes, Oedipus brings a new era of harmony to the city of Thebes by besting this mythic and metaphorical threat to human culture and society.
But ironically (and necessarily), this man who overcomes the great threat to human culture posed by the sphinx is the same man responsible for causing an even more serious pollution and rending of the social fabric: this same man commits the cardinal sins of patricide/regicide and incest – the one is disallowed by ancient and modern law because of its threat to society (see Aeschylus’ Oresteia), the other is a mythic taboo first – mythic heroes are supposed to eradicate such threats, not cause them (I am reminded of Claude Levi-Strauss’ conclusion that cannibalism and incest are two sides of the same coin, being the most exaggerated forms of sex and eating).
So the fact that in OT Oedipus begins with a rep for killing a man-eater and ends with the discovery that he has committed incest (mythically equivalent crimes) is the key, I think. Both the response and the responder to the riddle of the Sphinx is Man and Man turns out to be both the preserver and the polluter of the society. Perhaps this is Sophocles’ message to his fifth century audience after all – that man has the power to both preserve and destroy. In order to make the right decision, he must go about his business with both eyes open.
Oedipus Himself:
- What is wrong with Oedipus? Does he have a character flaw?
Oedipus is rather impressive as a leader. He wants to take everything on himself. When it’s suggested he send for a prophet, he’s already done it, for example. Ironically, he doesn’t follow through with how all this applies to him, how he really is responsible for it all. Notice (in most translations) how he uses the personal pronoun “I.” He seems full of himself, but there’s a blind spot in the middle of all this pomposity.
A very telling instance of what’s wrong can be detected in the whole notion of the riddle of the Sphinx. Here’s Joseph Campbell’s discussion of the riddle:
The Sphinx in the Oedipus story is not the Egyptian Sphinx, but a female form with the wings of a bird, the body of an animal, and the breast, neck, and face of a woman. What she represents is the destiny of all life. She has sent a plague over the land, and to life the plague, the hero has to answer the riddle that she presents: “What is it that walks on four legs, then on two legs, and then on three?” The answer is “Man.” The child creeps about on four legs, the adult walks on two, and the aged walk with a cane.
What was the Sphinx?
Did Sophocles during his time served in the Greek army in Persia adapt the Sphinx to Greece?
The riddle of the Sphinx is the image of life itself through time–childhood, maturity, age, and death. When without fear you have faced and accepted the riddle of the Sphinx, death has no further hold on you, and the curse of the Sphinx disappears. The conquest of the fear of death is the recovery of life’s joy.
(The Power of Myth, 151-152)
The Sphinx was a being with the head of a woman, the body of a lioness, the wings of an eagle and the tail of a serpent. She guarded the entrance to the city of Thebes and would pose a riddle to travellers who aimed to enter. If they could not answer it, she would devour them. The riddle is “What goes on fours in the morning, on twos in the afternoon and on threes at night?” When Oedipus travelled to Thebes, the Sphinx posed the riddle to him. He said that the answer is a human being, because a human being walks on all fours in early life, on two legs as an adult and with a walking stick in old age. It would seem that the Sphinx regarded the value of her life as bound up with having a riddle that no mortal could solve, for she killed herself because of his success. Oedipus was then appointed king because of his service to the city. In Sophocles’ play Oedipus the King, Oedipus talks about his achievement. He converses with the blind seer Tieresias, who understands the language of birds and uses this ability to predict the future. Oedipus says: Her riddle was not something the first man to stroll along could solve – a prophet was required. And there the people saw your knowledge was no use – nothing from birds or picked up from the gods. But then I came, Oedipus, who knew nothing. Yet I finished her off, using my wits rather than relying on birds. (2004: 471-478)
Oedipus continued toward Thebes and found the city in crisis. The Sphinx had established herself on the road to Thebes — some sources place her on Mount Phicium, others on the city walls themselves — and was killing every traveler who could not answer her riddle. The city was effectively under siege. Laius had been on his way to Delphi to seek Apollo’s help with the Sphinx when Oedipus killed him at the crossroads. With Laius dead and the Sphinx unchallenged, Thebes was leaderless and desperate. Creon, Jocasta’s brother, had assumed temporary authority and proclaimed that whoever freed the city from the Sphinx would receive the throne and Jocasta’s hand.
The Sphinx’s origin varies across sources. Hesiod’s Theogony makes her the offspring of Echidna — the mother of monsters — and possibly Orthrus (the two-headed dog) or Typhon. Other traditions attribute her to Hera, sent as punishment on Thebes for Laius’s crime of abducting Chrysippus, the son of Pelops. In this version, the Sphinx is a divine punishment — the city pays for its king’s transgression, and the creature’s removal requires a reckoning with the city’s buried guilt.
Oedipus approached the Sphinx. She posed her riddle. The most common version, recorded by Apollodorus (Bibliotheca 3.5.8), runs: “What has one voice but walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening?” Athenaeus (Deipnosophistae 10.456b) preserves a longer, metrically structured version attributed to the epic poem Oedipodeia (now lost): “There is a thing on earth that is two-footed, four-footed, and three-footed, and has one name; and of all creatures that move upon earth and through the air and in the sea, it alone changes its nature. When it moves supported on the most legs, then the swiftness of its limbs is weakest.”
Oedipus answered: “Man.” The human being crawls on all fours as an infant, walks upright on two legs in the prime of life, and uses a cane as a third leg in old age. The answer is correct. Some sources record a second riddle: “There are two sisters: one gives birth to the other, and she in turn gives birth to the first.” The answer is day and night (in Greek, both hemera and nyx are feminine nouns). This second riddle is not attested in the earliest sources but appears in later compilations.
The Sphinx, upon hearing the correct answer, destroyed herself. The manner varies: she threw herself from her rocky perch, or she was pushed, or she was killed by Oedipus. The self-destruction is the most common version and carries its own significance — the Sphinx does not lose a fight; she ceases to exist once her riddle is solved. Her power was the riddle. Without it, she is nothing.
Thebes erupted in celebration. Oedipus was crowned king and married Jocasta. They had four children: two sons, Eteocles and Polynices, and two daughters, Antigone and Ismene. For years — the traditions vary on how many — Oedipus ruled Thebes competently and peacefully. The city prospered under the man who had defeated the Sphinx.
Bottom of Form
Every nation has its own mythology. Today, the first mythology that comes to mind is Greek and Roman mythology. The reason why it is attributed to Greece and Rome is that these surviving legends were written in Greek and Latin. However, the origin of these legends is not Greece. It is Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Egypt. In fact, it is a tradition formed by the influence and mixing of oral traditions from different geographies. Today, the fact that European civilizations see themselves as the continuation of Rome and that researchers are predominantly western scientists has caused mythologies to be misinterpreted intentionally or unintentionally. This view has been engraved in people’s minds, especially through cinema and other means of communication. The sphinx, which is the subject of the study, is one of these. Although it has a history dating back to the 3rd millennium BC, the first written mention of the creature is Hesiodos (8th century BC), one of the ancient Greek writers. In Greek mythology, the sphinx appears as a winged creature with a human, usually female, head and a lion’s body. In his Theogonia
1, Hesiodos says that the sphinx settled on a mountain to the west of Thebai, in the immediate vicinity of the city, and asked riddles to passers-by, killing those who could not answer, and that this situation continued until Oedipus solved the riddle.
2
He states that the Sphinx committed suicide by throwing himself down from the rocks after Oedipus asked “what is the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three legs in the evening” and Oedipus said “this creature is man”.
3
The origin of the name Sphinx is also Greek. Greek writers agree that the name of the sphinx comes from “Phix”, which in turn derives from the name of Mount “Phikon” on which the legendary Sphinx of Thebai lived. Plato says that the name of the sphinx is derived from the folk etymology “Sphingein” “to try to strangle – to kill by strangling”.4 When we look at the depictions of the creature, we see that it first appeared in Egyptian art and was depicted until late periods.5
1 EYUBOGLU/ERHAT 1991, 325–330. The oldest known sphinx is the “Great Sphinx” in Giza6
2 These statements reveal that although he was depicted as a frightening creature in Greek mythology, he was also recognized as a representative of wisdom because of his riddles. (Fig. 1), which is believed to have been built during the reign of Kefren (2520–2494 BC), the IVth pharaoh of the 4th dynasty in Egypt.
The Sphinx is located at the entrance to the Valley Temple, where the pyramid of Kefren is also located. 20 m high and 77.5 m long, carved into a natural rock, some parts of the sphinx, such as the claws, are made of cut stone. The sphinx, one of the most important monuments of antiquity and Egypt, has been damaged by both natural and human factors for five thousand years. It is known from the “Dream Stone” erected between the front paws of the sphinx that it was buried under sand from time to time7
3 CAN 1994, 198; HAMILTON 1996, 194; COTTERELL 1997, 175. due to sandstorms and that the first cleaning works were carried out during the reign of Pharaoh Tuthmosis IV. The sphinx, which has the body of a lion, is depicted with a beardless face and a nemes8
4 DEMISCH 1977, 15. with an uraeus9
5 DESSENNE 1957, 175; TURANI 1997, 43. snake. Since it is known that some pharaohs were depicted without beards, it is not unusual for the sphinx here to be beardless. The question is whether the sphinx represents the pharaoh or the god. From the Old Kingdom onwards, the sphinx appears in the pyramids as a lion-god (rwty). In the Middle Kingdom it is identified as the guardian of the “Fortress of Sesotris”. In the New Kingdom, he is combined with the god Atum.10
6 PERROT/CHIPIEZ 1882, 243–244, Fig. 157; BONNET 1952, 747; PRITCHARD 1969, 339, Fig. 238 LLOYD/MULLER/MARTIN 1975, 93–94, Fig. 163–166; DEMISCH 1977, 18, Abb. 21; COTTEREL 1997, 50; SCHULZ/ SEIDEL 1998, 75, Fig. 60–61; SILIOTTI 2005, 135, Fig. 134–135. From the reign of Tuthmosis I onwards, the name of the Sphinx of Giza is known as “Hor-em-akhet”. This name means both “Horus on the Horizon” and “Horus in the Tomb”.11
7 The fact that Herodotus does not mention the sphinx is probably due to the fact that the sphinx was buried under the sands at that time. SCHWEITZER 1948, 34. Horus, the sun god, depicted with the head of a hawk and the body of a man, is also known as “Horus Herachte” (the lord of the rising sun in the form of a lion’s head). From the statement in the Book of the Dead12
8 The garment Pharaohs wore on their heads. , “I have passed through the sky, I am Ra, I am the lion”, it is clear that the lion is a manifestation of the sun god.13
9 Pharaonic emblem, the name given to the erec
In Egypt, the pharaohs were the representatives of God on earth, as seen in most of the early societies. A symbol that would perfectly reflect the pharaoh and his divinity was sought and for this purpose, the sphinx was created by combining the body of a lion with a human face. With the 4th Dynasty, this wild predatory animal began to be seen as a depiction with the necessary qualities for the pharaoh.14 In fact, in Egyptian mythology, there are gods and goddesses with animal heads and human bodies.15 Anubis with the head of a jackal, Sobek with the head of a crocodile, Horus with the head of a falcon, but this composition, which gives a human face to a god in animal form, emerged for the first time in this period. With the sphinx, a “syncretism” of deified kings and gods depicted in animal form emerged, and in this way, three elements (god-king-lion) combined16 to form the sphinx.17
One may wonder why the body of a lion was preferred to represent the greatest god of Egypt. In Anatolian and Mesopotamian civilizations, the bull or bull’s head is a symbol of the god and bull worship is a cult dating back to Prehistoric times. This can be seen especially in the cult chambers18 (Fig. 2–3) and wall paintings19 at Çatalhöyük, which dates back to the Neolithic period when people settled down. That its sanctity continued in later periods is evident from the bull-horned headdresses worn by gods and goddesses depicted in Anatolian20 (Fig. 4) and Mesopotamian21 (Fig. 5) art, and from their depiction on bulls22
18 MELLAART 2001, 90–99, Şek. 38. . In the Greek and Roman pantheons, the bull also appears constantly. Sometimes in the depictions of Minotauros23
19 HODDER 2006, 191–208. (Fig. 6) or Akhelous24
20 DARGA 1992; AKURGAL 1995; AKURGAL 1998. (Fig. 7), which are formed by combining human and bull bodies, and sometimes in the Cult of Mithras25
21 STROMENGER 1962, Fig. 159. (Fig. 8), one of the mystery religions of Rome, the bull appears as a sacred animal sacrificed to the gods. The bullfights organized in Spain are in fact nothing but the reflection of these rituals to the present day. Likewise, in religions such as Hinduism, bull worship continues as in ancient times. While the bull was so prominent in cultures outside Egypt, in Egypt it was worshipped, though not as much as the lion. The “Bull of Apis”26
22 EICHLER 1984; SEIDL 1992, 143–158; SEIDL 2004; CAVUSOGLU 2014. (Fig. 9) carrying the sun between its horns is one of them. The Apis Bull, one of the most sacred animals of Egypt, carrying a pair of horns with the sun in the center, became a part of the worship of the goddess Hathor and was accepted as one of the depictions of the goddess.27
23 LIMC 1992, VI–2, 316–325. The main reason why the bull was considered so sacred in Egyptian religion, but could not replace the lion, must be related to its geography. The heads of animals such as bulls, jackals, crocodiles, rams, etc. attached to the human bodies of Egyptian gods belong to the animals most commonly encountered in the Nile Delta. The lion is one of them. However, as is the case today, it has surpassed them all as a symbol of power, strength and dominance. This must be the most logical answer to why the pharaohs adapted their faces to the body of a lion instead of other animals.
In Egyptian art, in addition to representing the pharaoh, sphinxes were mostly identified28
24 LIMC 1981, I- 2, 20–33. with the function of protection (guardianship) and in this context, they were placed at the entrances of temples or sacred places, as in the Giza Sphinx. Although an altar found between the claws of the Sphinx of Giza reveals that it was used as an element of worship in some periods, the places where they were made and the way they were carved reveal that their protective-guard features were at the forefront rather than their worship function.
When we come to the Middle Kingdom Period, we see some changes in the depictions of sphinxes. In this period, sphinxes have lion manes and Osiris beards.29
25 ULANSEY 1989, 12, Fig. 1.3; LIMC 1992, VI–2, Fig. 168, 325–368. The most common sphinxes of this period, the “Tanis Sphinxes”, have the face of the pharaoh, but unlike the Giza Sphinx, they emphasized the animal side of the sphinx rather than the humanoid side of the sphinx and depicted it with lion ears and mane30
26 LURKER 2005, 29. (Fig. 10) Although this type of sphinx is the hallmark of this period, the usual nemesed sphinxes of the Old Kingdom are also found.31
27 YAVI/YAVI 1996, 100–101; LURKER 2005, 42 This can be seen in the sphinx statue32
28 BONNET 1952, 747; DESSENNE 1957, 176; LISE 1986, 4. of Sesostris III, one of the kings of the 12th dynasty (Fig. 11). The sphinx with an imposing lion’s body, a nemesis with an uraeus serpent and Osiris beard continues the tradition of the Old Kingdom Period.
At the end of the Middle Kingdom Period, after the 12th dynasty disappeared for unknown reasons, the country entered an interim period of depression. Hyksos of Asian origin conquer Lower Egypt.33
29 Osiris Beard: A false beard traditionally worn on the chin by male and During this period, sphinxes continue to be made with new features.34 Differently, the Hyksos depict the sphinx in the winged form borrowed from Syrian art and introduce this type to Egypt.35 The addition of a wing to the lion’s body is not very unusual. For the wing is a symbol of divinity in Antiquity. Winged demons36 (Fig. 12), griffin-demons37 (Fig. 13), chimaira38 (Fig. 14), griffin
39 (Fig. 15), pegasus40 (Fig. 16), lamassu41 (Fig. 17), winged goats (Fig. 18) and many other creatures are depicted with wings. In general, many creatures positioned between gods and humans are depicted with wings. The wing is actually a tool used to reach the gods who are believed to live in the sky. In this context, the addition of a pair of wings to humans, animals or creatures formed by combining the limbs of more than one creature is nothing more than an attempt to transform it into a divine or sacred being. In Christian iconography, the depiction of angels with wings in holy places such as churches is a reflection of this understanding. The question to be asked here is why the first Egyptian sphinxes do not have wing attachments as seen on other mixed creatures
42 in Asia Minor civilizations. The answer to this question is related to the function of the sphinx in other civilizations. Because in Anatolian and Mesopotamian civilizations, sphinxes were mostly used as gate guards and were in a position between gods and humans and did not represent any god or king. Like other creatures, it is a divine creature and has a wing to reach the gods. In Egypt, the sphinx has the body of a lion, the symbol of the god, and the face of the pharaoh. Since the pharaoh declared himself a god, the sphinx is not an intermediary, but the deified pharaoh himself. The
At the end of the Middle Kingdom Period, after the 12th dynasty disappeared for unknown reasons, the country entered an interim period of depression. Hyksos of Asian origin conquer Lower Egypt.
33 During this period, sphinxes continue to be made with new features.
34 Differently, the Hyksos depict the sphinx in the winged form borrowed from Syrian art and introduce this type to Egypt.
35 The addition of a wing to the lion’s body is not very unusual. For the wing is a symbol of divinity in Antiquity. Winged demons
36 (Fig. 12), griffin-demons37 (Fig. 13), chimaera
38 (Fig. 14), griffin39 (Fig. 15), Pegasus
40 (Fig. 16), lamassu
41 (Fig. 17), winged goats (Fig. 18) and many other creatures are depicted with wings. In general, many creatures positioned between gods and humans are depicted with wings. The wing is actually a tool used to reach the gods who are believed to live in the sky. In this context, the addition of a pair of wings to humans, animals or creatures formed by combining the limbs of more than one creature is nothing more than an attempt to transform it into a divine or sacred being. In Christian iconography, the depiction of angels with wings in holy places such as churches is a reflection of this understanding. The question to be asked here is why the first Egyptian sphinxes do not have wing attachments as seen on other mixed creatures
42 in Asia Minor civilizations. The answer to this question is related to the function of the sphinx in other civilizations. Because in Anatolian and Mesopotamian civilizations, sphinxes were mostly used as gate guards and were in a position between gods and humans and did not represent any god or king. Like other creatures, it is a divine creature and has a wing to reach the gods. In Egypt, the sphinx has the body of a lion, the symbol of the god, and the face of the pharaoh. Since the pharaoh declared himself a god, the sphinx is not an intermediary, but the deified pharaoh himself.
The first sphinxes could have a human head (androsphinx), but sometimes had a ram’s head (criosphinx) or a falcon’s (hieracosphinx). They often wore a nemes, the striped head-cloth worn by pharaohs. As a protective animal, the sphinx was often sculpted into a throne, or on the armrests.
In Ancient Egypt, the Sphinx was foremost a guardian. It marked the entrances to royal residences and especially to tombs, like the famous Sphinx of Giza, constructed during the 4th Dynasty. An emblem of wisdom and strength, he became known as Her-em-akhet (“Horus on the horizon”), the horizon being the Giza plateau, and Horus being the Egyptian falcon god. A cult was established for the Giza Sphinx, and a small temple was built between its paws. During the Middle Empire, sphinxes were often in pairs, and starting at the time of the New Empire, there were avenues flanked with long rows of sphinxes leading to a temple