For more than 4,500 years the Sphinx has guarded Khafra’s pyramid at Giza. Carved from a huge outcrop of limestone, it is the largest free standing sculpture to survive from ancient times. It has the body of a lion and the head of a king. The drifting sands have buried it up to the neck for most of its history. Attempts were made to clear it as early as 1400 B.C by Thutmose IV. When he was a prince Thutmose fell asleep under the sphinx’s head after a tiring hunt in the desert. In the prince's dream, the sphinx promised to make him king if he freed it from the suffocating sand. After he had dug the sphinx out the prince recorded his dream on a stone tablet between his huge paws.
In 1818 an Italian sea captain, Giovanni Caviglia, tried to find a way into the sphinx. He cleared the sand of its chest and uncovered a chapel. This was one of many modern attempts to free the sphinx from the desert sands. It was finally dug out in 1925. Many conservationists are worried about the effects of pollution on its crumbling body. Some even suggest that it may be safer buried in the sand again.
Statues of lions often guard the entrances to Egyptian temples. The sphinx was probably meant to protect the pyramid complex of Khafra in the same way. There is no evidence that it was worshiped in its own right when the pyramids were built. In later times the sphinx was identified with Horemakhet or Horus in the horizon, a form of the sun god.
Almost everything that is known about pyramids has been learned in the last two centuries. A great breakthrough was made in 1822 when the French scholar Jean-Francois Champollion began to decipher hieroglyphics, the Egyptian picture-writing. By then the Egyptian language and civilization had been dead for nearly 2,000 years. The desert sands have swallowed up the smaller pyramids, and the names of the great kings and queens had been lost and forgotten. Modern archaeologists sift through these ruins, searching for tiny clues that will help them to piece together the puzzles of the past. However, the answer to some questions may never be answered.
In 1864, Piazzi Smyth claimed that the pyramids were built to God’s measurements. Nowadays experts agree that the pyramid was a symbolic vehicle for sending the dead king’s spirit to heaven. But a question often asked, was the king supposed to join the sun god Re, or become and indestructible star? The pyramid texts mention both. For instance, Spell 882 says, “Oh King, thou art this great star, the companion of Orion”. It is possible that step pyramids were part of a star cult while true pyramids were associated with the sun. The “ventilation shafts” of the Great Pyramid may have been aligned with major stars like the Pole Star and Orion. But some experts think their use was purely practical.