The Sphinx is safe

The crack that appeared in the Great Sphinx  reminds us that the state of the monument has often been used in politics and propaganda, writes Zahi Hawass

The Great Sphinx at Giza is a powerful symbol of ancient kingship and the iconic symbol of modern Egypt. Carved from limestone, it is one of the oldest and largest monolithic statues in the world. About a month ago, a deep crack appeared on the north side of this great monument. Archaeologists and conservators moved quickly to restore the Sphinx.

The overseer of the workmen, Saeed, an excellent stonemason, was called in by the sculptor Mahmoud Mabroud and undertook “surgery” on the monument with the result that the Sphinx is now safe. What happened to the Sphinx also reminds us that the Sphinx’s condition has often been used in politics and propaganda.

The ancient Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose IV was the first to do this in about 1400 BCE. He recorded a story on the “dream stela” located between the two front paws of the Sphinx. According to the story, he went out hunting wild animals in the Valley of the Gazelles and came to rest in the shadow of the Sphinx. While he was sleeping, the Sphinx came to him in a dream and said that the sand around his body and neck was hurting him, saying to Thutmose, “If you remove the sand, I will make you king of Egypt.”

Thutmose did as he was bidden and removed the sand and restored the fallen blocks of the Sphinx, later indeed becoming pharaoh of Egypt. However, it has been theorised that he actually killed his elder brother who was supposed to become the king of Egypt and that Thutmose concocted the story of the Sphinx in order to convince people that he had been chosen by the god Horemakhet, in the guise of the Sphinx, to become the king instead of his brother.

Museum Pieces - Fragment of the beard of the Great Sphinx

Length: 78.700 cm - Gift of Giovanni Battista Caviglia - EA 58

Fragment of the beard of the Great Sphinx

From Giza, Egypt

Perhaps New Kingdom, 14th century BC

Together with the nearby pyramids, the Great Sphinx at Giza is one of the great symbols of ancient Egypt. It is generally attributed to Khafre, the king who built the second pyramid. It was carved out of local limestone, which was probably left over from rock used for construction of the 'Great Pyramid' of Khufu (Greek: Kheops), Khafre's father.

The British Museum has this small fragment - about one-thirtieth in total - of the Great Sphinx's beard. It was presented by Giovanni Battista Caviglia, who excavated at Giza in 1817 and cleared parts of the Sphinx, which was then buried in sand up to the neck. His expenses were covered by Henry Salt (British Consul-General) and other British businessmen, with an agreement that finds be presented to The British Museum. This was done according to a directive of Mohammed Ali Pasha, who was at that time virtually the ruler of Egypt.

Caviglia found a number of fragments of the beard and the tip of the uraeus between the paws of the Sphinx, and left other parts of the beard in the sand. When the Sphinx was cleared in 1925-26 some other fragments were removed to the Cairo Museum.

The sphinx takes the form of a lion's body with a royal head, symbolizing the immense power of the king. The fragment shows the beard to have been of the plaited, 'divine' type, depicted on gods and the dead, rather than kings and the living (see an example on the sarcophagus of Sasobek, also in The British Museum). However, it is doubtful whether it would have had a beard when first carved in about 2550 BC; it was probably added during restoration work in the Eighteenth Dynasty (about 1550-1295 BC), and fell off in antiquity. It has sometimes been suggested that damage to the face was caused during the late eighteenth century by Napoleon's troops. In fact an early fifteenth-century Arab historian reported that the face had been disfigured in his time. Seventeenth- and mid-eighteenth-century drawings, made before the French expedition to Egypt, appear to support his report.

M. Lehner, The complete pyramids (London, Thames and Hudson, 1998)

Z. Hawas, The secrets of the Sphinx (Cairo, 1998)

G. Hart, Pharaohs and pyramids (London, Dorling Kindersley in association with the British Museum, 1991)

Source: http://www.britishmuseum.org/

Egypt's Sphinx, Pyramids threatened by groundwater, hydrologists warn

New water pumping system at Giza Plateau has ecologists worried about possible damage to Egypt's best-known historical monuments

Nevine El-Aref , Thursday 5 Jul 2012

One month ago, Giza's antiquities inspectorate installed a new system to pump subterranean water out from under Egypt's historical Sphinx monument and the underlying bedrock.

Subterranean water levels at the Giza Plateau, especially the area under the valley temples and Sphinx, have recently increased due to a new drainage system installed in the neighbouring village of Nazlet Al-Seman and the irrigation techniques used to cultivate the nearby residential area of Hadaeq Al-Ahram.

The system involves 18 state-of-the-art water pumps capable of pumping 26,000 cubic metres of water daily.

The project, which cost some LE22 million and is financed by USAID, has raised fears among some hydrologists and ecologists that it could erode the bedrock under the Sphinx and lead to the historic monument's collapse.

Kamal Oda, professor of hydrology at Suez Canal University, told Ahram Online that, according to a report by Egypt's Ministry of State for Antiquities, the machines will pump some 9.6 million cubic metres a year of water at a depth of 100 metres beneath the Sphinx. This, he warned, could cause a drop in the ground level and increase the risk of erosion and collapse of both the Sphinx and the nearby great Pyramids of Giza.

Ali El-Asfar, director of Giza Plateau antiquities, for his part, challenged Oda’s assertion. He said that the pumping machines would stop automatically when subterranean water levels reached 15.5 metres above sea level.

El-Asfar told Ahram Online that the Sphinx, the Great Pyramids and the plateau's valley temples were "completely safe," since water levels underneath them had reached 4.6 metres below ground level – the same levels seen in ancient times.

"Such levels are natural," said Minister of State for Antiquities Mohamed Ibrahim. He went on to point out that the Nile River had once reached the plateau, where a harbour had been dug for the boats transporting stone blocks for the as-yet-unbuilt pyramids from faraway quarries in Aswan and Tora.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/40/46972/Heritage/Ancient-Egypt/Egypts-Sphinx,-Pyramids-threatened-by-groundwater,.aspx

Antiquities Authority starts pumping out drainage water from under the Sphinx

The Ministry of State for Antiquities started a project to reduce the water table accumulated under the Sphinx at Giza plateau

by Nevine El-Aref , Saturday 26 May 2012

This week, Giza Inspectorate operated 18 water pump machines to pump out subterranean water that has accumulated under the Sphinx.

The machines are distributed over the Giza plateau according to a map showing the areas where the subterranean water has accumulated.

Mohamed Ibrahim Minister of State for Antiquities said that the machines will pump out 1100 cubic metres of water every hour, based on studies carried out previously by reputed Egyptian and American experts in subterranean water and ground mechanic and equilibrium factors.

He explains that the reasons behind the increase subterranean water-rates is because of the new drainage system installed in the neighbouring area of Nazlet Al-Seman.

Mohamed El-Sheikha, head of Projects Section at the Ministry of State for Antiquities (MSA) said that the project is carried out in collaboration with USAID (US Agency for International Development), which also supported similar projects at Karnak and Luxor temples in Luxor eight years ago.

Pumping work will start in the area of King Khafre’s Valley Temple and the area surrounding the southern hill.

El-Sheikha explains that according to ecological and geophysical studies, the Sphinx and its bedrock are safe.

He told Ahram Online that the level of water under the ground level is 4.6 metres, similar to the level in ancient time. Such a level, El-Sheikha pointed out, is natural since one of the Nile branches had once reached the plateau when a harbour was dug to shelter boats transporting required blocks from quarries in Aswan and Tura in Helwan for the construction of the pyramids.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/40/42950/Heritage/Ancient-Egypt/Antiquities-Authority-starts-pumping-out-drainage-.aspx

Egypt's iconic archeological sites prepare for the second phase of restoration

Minister of state for antiquities visits the Sphinx and Mit-Rahina monuments as the Giza Plateau Development Project moves to the next stage

by Nevine El-Aref , Sunday 1 Jan 2012

Earlier today the Minister of State for Antiquities Mohamed Ibrahim led a tour around the Giza plateau to monitor work being done on the Sphinx’s Valley Temple and Mit-Rahina archaeological site, as part of the lead up to the second phase of the Giza Plateau Development Project due to be launched in March.

At the Sphinx’s Valley Temple, workers have been draining the subterranean water that has accumulated under the iconic statue. Ibrahim maintained that they only periodically pumped the water as part of the planned schedule designed to prevent further damage of the Sphinx. At Mit-Rahina, Ibrahim announced an immediate draining project to ensure the subterranean water levels were reduced to their original levels at this historical site.

Ibrahim forged an agreement with the local vendors to rebuild their stalls at a lower level to maintain a clear panoramic view of the historic monuments, as well as promising to build a market for tourists selling replicas and souvenirs at the open air museum.

Ibrahim also visited the Saqqara archaeological site where he inspected the restoration work carried out in the Djoser pyramid area. There Ibrahim announced that the Djoser pyramid restoration work is being carried out according to schedule. To date six of the pyramid's mastabas (flat-roofed tombs) have been archaeologically restored and cleaned. Damaged blocks on Djoser have also either been restored and returned to their original position or replaced with new replicas.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/40/30671/Heritage/Ancient-Egypt/Egypts-iconic-archeological-sites-prepare-for-the-.aspx