The Great sphinx

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Image Title: The Great sphinx

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By: Kamran
Copyright ©2005

View Photo Gallery of Kamran click HERE

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Photographer	Kamran {Karma:3526}
Project	#33 Pictures of Famous Places	Camera Model	Canon Digital Rebel
Categories	Architecture Journalism Travel	Film Format
Portfolio	Places Photo Art Architecture	Lens	Canon 18-55mm EFS f/3.5-5.6
Uploaded	3/11/2005	Film / Memory Type	Lexar 1GB
		ISO / Film Speed	16
Views	823	Shutter
Favorites	0	Aperture	f/
Critiques	42	Rating	5.58 / 28 Ratings
Location	City - Cairo State - Country - Egypt
About	In a depression to the south of Chephren's pyramid sits a creature with a human head and a lion's body. The name 'sphinx' which means 'strangler' was first given by the Greeks to a fabulous creature which had the head of a woman and the body of a lion and the wings of a bird. The sphinx appears to have started in Egypt in the form of a sun god. The Egyptian sphinx is usually a head of a king wearing his headdress and the body of a lion . There are, however, sphinxes with ram heads that are associated with the god Amun. The Great Sphinx is to the northeast of Chephren's Valley Temple. Where it sits was once a quarry. Chephren's workers shaped the stone into the lion and gave it their king's face over 4,500 years ago. The sphinx faces the rising sun with a temple to the front which resembles the sun temples which were built later by the kings of the 5th Dynasty. The figure was buried for most of its life in the sand. King Thutmose IV (1425 - 1417 BC) placed a stela between the front paws of the figure. It describes when Thutmose, while still a prince, had gone hunting and fell asleep in the shade of the sphinx. During a dream, the sphinx spoke to Thutmose and told him to clear away the sand because it was choking the sphinx. The sphinx told him that if he did this, he would be rewarded with a kingship. Thutmose carried out this request and the sphinx held up his end of the deal. The sphinx is built of soft sandstone and would have disappeared long ago had it not been buried for so long. The body is 200 feet (60m) in length and 65 feet (20m) tall. The face of the sphinx is 13 feet (4m) wide and its eyes are 6 feet (2m) high. Part of the uraeus (sacred cobra), the nose and the ritual beard are now missing. . The beard from the sphinx is displayed in the British Museum. The statue is crumbling today because of the wind, humidity and the smog from Cairo. Attempts to restore it have often caused more harm than good. No one can be certain who the figure is to personify. It is possible that it is Chephren. If that is so, it would then be the oldest known royal portrait in such large scale. Some say that it was built after the pyramid of Chephren was complete. It may have been set as a sort of scarecrow to guard his tomb. Still others say it is the face of his guardian deity, rather than Chephren himself. The image of the sphinx is a depiction of royal power. Only a pharaoh or an animal could be shown this way, with the animal representing a protective deity. In the 1980's, a carefully planned restoration of the Sphinx was in progress. Over 6 years, more than 2,000 limestone blocks were added to the body of the sphinx and chemicals were injected. This treatment did not work. It just flaked away along with parts of the original rock. Later, various mortars and many workers who were not trained in restoration worked for six months to repair it. In 1988 the left shoulder crumbled and blocks fell off. Present attempts at restoration are under the control of the Supreme Council of Antiquities' archaeologists. They are concentrating on draining away subsoil seepage which is damaging the rock. They are also repairing the damaged shoulder with smaller blocks and staying with the original size.

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Kamran

There are 42 Comments in 1 Pages
1

Mohamed Banna {K:34237} 6/19/2005

first thanks dear friend..really its amazing view for the Sphinx . very nice angle..perfect details.. WELL DONE 7

Nicole Davis {K:409} 6/12/2005

Definatly great "about" and great shot as well! I would LOVE to go and see the valley of the kings and the sphinx and what not.

Andrei Kislov {K:4041} 4/3/2005

Great picture of famous place! Very well composed,I like the natural colors and sharp details. What a great story about the Sphinx! Thanks for sharing.
regards _Andrei_

Kareem Hamdan {K:3180} 3/31/2005

Do you know that napilion destroyes its nose with a cannon shot??
I got something new.

Regards
Kareem

no longer a member

{K:10557} 3/27/2005

Great presentation! I wish I could go here myself to see it with my very own eyes. Hopefully they will find a way to preserve this great monument so our descendants can enjoy it too.
Excellent job!

Eric Simpson {K:2348} 3/21/2005

Great job! The composition is excellent and the detail is also very good!

Sony Kusumo {K:7190} 3/17/2005

Very sharp detail my friend, and very detailed story. Very interesting!!!!

Vinay Raj {K:5537} 3/16/2005

Hai Kamran
Though we have seen a lot of pics of Sphinx, this one ranks above mos of them. Very nicely taken, good exposure, good Clarity. Good.

Peter Daniel {K:33866} 3/14/2005

Wonderful Photograph Kanram, Great Colors and Clarity. Very well presented.

Thanks for sharing,
Your friend, Peter

V T {K:1921} 3/14/2005

show de bola essa foto, parabéns !

Gaetan Chevalier {K:4188} 3/13/2005

Very nice shot, with beautiful composition.

Maja Gligoric {K:13528} 3/12/2005

Good angle

Maria José Barres {K:11276} 3/12/2005

beautiful!

Mark Kresl {K:9434} 3/12/2005

Very well composed, Kamron. Excellent exposure. Thanks so much for the history lesson. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about this wonder.

Mark

naftali raz {K:1819} 3/12/2005

nice portrait of an old lady! and thanks for posting the story too.

Burak Tanriover {K:16610} 3/12/2005

nicely composed,I like the natural colors,best regards

Inji Amer {K:22997} 3/12/2005

Great shot & great about .
Thanks for sharing .

Inji Amer

Del Metheny {K:25617} 3/12/2005

Excellent photo. Your informative "about" adds so much to the photo. You are fortunate to have had the opportunity to film it. Del.

Alexei Basarab {K:145} 3/12/2005

Looks great, I wish I could see it in real. Nice shot and very educating description.

Mark Evans {K:17428} 3/11/2005

Superb kamran !! well done mate !! cheers .. mark .

Marcio Janousek

{K:32538} 3/11/2005

Amazing !!

Dave Stacey

{K:150877} 3/11/2005

Nice capture, Kamran, and a very interesting "about"! I hope someone can figure out how to preserve and restore this, without destroying the original.
Dave.

Michael J. Wagner {K:5896} 3/11/2005

wonderful very descript about and super photo!

Randy Lorance {K:24769} 3/11/2005

Excellent capture and narative!

Randy

I g n a c i o D e L a F u e n t e {K:10518} 3/11/2005

?Gran imagen de un gran monumento!

Salvatore Rossignolo {K:13559} 3/11/2005

Great image Kamran !
Sal

Mats Johnsson {K:1881} 3/11/2005

Its a good picture of a greate trasure

Larry Hammond {K:16631} 3/11/2005

Wonderful image Kamran, it remains pretty detailed. Your history of what has passed is great my friend!!

Thanks for sharing...........

Larry

CorrieLynn Jacobsen {K:9882} 3/11/2005

This is so neat, not that many people can say that they have a picture of the sphinx that they took themselves!! Its perfect, send me this as a postcard!!haha ;)

Khaled Mursi Hammoud {K:54005} 3/11/2005

Nicely composed image of the Sphinx my friend.
I like how you included the great pyramid in the background, and the texture of the sphinx itself is just wonderful.
Good work my friend,
PS, thanx for the informative about.
Khaled.

EHAB MAGDY {K:2382} 3/11/2005

Excellent

kokupsy_un morita {K:2651} 3/11/2005

great capture.

(i read a story while watching a pic.)

thank you.

Orcun Kozluca {K:3487} 3/11/2005

very nice shot.

Marian Man

{K:80636} 3/11/2005

excellent shot and a so detailed about dear Kamran!!! very well done
best regards
Marian

Teunis Haveman {K:53426} 3/11/2005

Kamran, beautiful Sphinx
Great story you tell, thanks for share with us
teunis

John Loreaux {K:86210} 3/11/2005

Excellent photo of the sphinx Kamran!The story is so interesting also! Ashame they can,t repair it !
What a wonderful feat of human acievement!
Take care Friend!..............John

Deb Mayes {K:19605} 3/11/2005

Very nice composition, Kamran, and wonderful about. Hope this time they do a better job saving such a magnificent creation. Well done!

Larry Fosse {K:66493} 3/11/2005

Wonderful shot Kamram..I certainly hope restoration efforts are successful

Hakan M {K:2145} 3/11/2005

Very well presented! Thanks for sharing

Rutger van Soelen

{K:1337} 3/11/2005

Yeah, famous subjects are hard to portray in an original way, but I think you made your way out fairly well. Maybe one note though about the sky, have you considered using a polarizing filter in order to accentuate the clouds?

Margaret Sturgess {K:49403} 3/11/2005

Not only an impressive shot, but impressive 'about'
Margaret

Saeed Al Shamsi

{K:47735} 3/11/2005

I like the way you fill this frame with low angle shot showing just enough the sky for natural contrast, superb work. Saeed

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