Note 268 — Chapter XXII · ABYDUS AND CAIRO.

“On sait par une stèle du musée de Boulaq, que le grand Sphinx antérieur au Rois Chéops de la IV Dynastie.”—“Dic. d’Arch. Égyptienne:” Article Sphinx. P. Pierret. Paris, 1875.

[It was the opinion of Mariette, and it is the opinion of Professor Mapero, that the sphinx dates from the inconceivable remote period of the Horshesu, or “followers of Horus;” that is to say, from those prehistoric times when Egypt was ruled by a number of petty chieftains, before Mena welded the ancient principalities into a united kingdom. Those principalities then became the nomes, or provinces, of historic times; and the former local chieftains became semi-independent feudatories, such as we find surviving with undiminished authority and importance during the twelfth dynasty.—[Note to second edition.]]

A long-disputed question as to the meaning of the sphinx has of late been finally solved. The sphinx is shown by M. J. de Rougé, according to an inscription at Edfu, to represent a transformation of Horus, who in order to vanquish Set (Typhon) took the shape of a human-headed lion. It was under this form that Horus was adored in the Nome Leontopolites. In the above-mentioned stela of Boulak, known as the stone of Cheops, the Great Sphinx is especially designated as the Sphinx of Hor-em-Khou, or Horus-on-the-Horizon. This is evidently in reference to the orientation of the figure. It has often been asked why the sphinx is turned to the east. I presume the answer would be, because Horus, avenger of Osiris, looks to the east, awaiting the return of his father from the lower world. As Horus was supposed to have reigned over Egypt, every Pharaoh took the title of Living Horus, Golden Hawk, etc. Hence the features of the reigning king were always given to the sphinx form when architecturally employed, as at Karnak, Wady Sabooah, Tanis, etc.