Chapter 18 18

When mentioning the Three Great Pyramids of Giza, people immediately think of the Sphinx in front of the Pyramid of Khafre.Its reputation is so great that it greatly surpasses the Khafre Pyramid and can keep pace with the Khufu Pyramid; its gigantic image is familiar to the world, and people call it synonymous with "silence" and "mystery"; its Life experience and "health" have attracted the attention of all countries, affecting the hearts of hundreds of millions of people throughout the ages. According to legend, when the Greeks ruled Egypt in the second and third centuries BC, groups of Greek travelers crossed the Mediterranean Sea to visit Egypt.As soon as they saw this strange stone statue, some people exclaimed: "Sphinx!" So, the name of Sphinx spread in the west, and it is still called by this until now.

What is the Sphinx?Why were the Greeks so terrified when they saw this stone statue, they shouted at each other?It turns out that there is a terrible monster in ancient Greek mythology. It has the head of a woman, the body of a lion, and two wings.Its name is Sphinx.Legend has it that it is cruel by nature and has learned many riddles from Muse, the goddess of wisdom.Anyone who can't guess will kill and eat him on the spot.No wonder the Greeks turned pale when they saw the Sphinx in Egypt. The Sphinx is located in the center of a depression 372 meters northeast of the Khafre Pyramid.When the pyramids were built, it was a quarry.The quarrymen mined the best hard stones in the field to build the pyramid, but a piece of rock in the center contained impurities such as shells, and the structure was not strict, so it was discarded.After the pyramids were completed, a hill was left over from the quarry.

Legend has it that in 2610 BC, Pharaoh Khafre came to inspect his future tomb. Seeing that the mountain was in front of the tower, it was quite unsightly, and Long Yan was immediately displeased.There are two choices in front of the architect: either dismantle it or transport it away; or use it as a component of the mausoleum.At this time, the presumably genius designer drew inspiration from ancient Egyptian myths and the shape of mountains.In ancient times, the chief who was responsible for protecting the safety of the tribe and resisting external enemies was often compared to a brave lion.In mythology, lions became guardians of holy places such as tombs and temples.Perhaps the designer realized that the lion has a cruel animal side, so he ingeniously sculpted the hill into the head of Khafre and the body of the lion, symbolizing the combination of human wisdom and lion's bravery.

An immortal plastic art crystal was born in this way. The human face is cut from a whole boulder (hill), 20 meters high and 57 meters long. If the two front paws made of stones are counted, the total length is 72 meters.Its face is 4.075 meters wide, its nose is 1.71 meters long, its mouth is 2.30 meters wide, and its ears are 1.925 meters long.It wears a crown, with a fan-shaped "Nams" turban drooping on its ears, a relief of the holy snake "Kubola" that is said to be able to spray venom on its forehead, a long beard that symbolizes the majesty of the king hangs on its lower forehead, and a scarf around its neck. Wearing a collar, the pattern of eagle feathers adorns the lion's body.

The stone statue has a kind face, revealing a mysterious smile. For more than 4,000 years, it has loyally guarded the pyramid, staring at the rising sun every day, silently observing the vicissitudes of life in the world, and enduring the torment of chronic diseases. ■The angry sun god Khafre created a precedent for carving a sphinx. Since then, although the kings of all dynasties did not follow his example in front of the pyramid, they made one after another and set up monuments for themselves.Some kings of the 5th and 6th dynasties have sphinx reliefs shaping their faces on the east wall at the beginning of the pyramid slope, and the defeated enemies are prostrate on the ground in front of them.During the New Kingdom period, two rows of sphinx statues were generally carved in front of the temple, but the heads of the statues were sometimes human heads, sometimes eagle heads or sheep heads.The scale of the descendants of the Sphinx is far less than that of Khafre. Among them, the famous ones are the stone statue of Ramses II erected in the ancient capital of Mufu and the stone statue of Queen Hatsubert exhibited in the Cairo Museum.It is the only female sphinx in ancient Egypt wearing a long beard.

During the New Kingdom, the Khafre Sphinx was regarded as the sun god and became a holy place for people to worship.At that time, the stone statue was honored as Hall? Aim? Eicht, which means "Horace at sunrise".After the Arabs entered Egypt, the name of the stone statue changed from Zhou Egyptian to Abu Hur (the Egyptian dialect is the father of terror, but in fact this name does not mean that the stone statue is terrible). In recent years, the Egyptian public opinion circles have continuously shouted: "The Sphinx is sick" and "Hurry up and save the Sphinx!" At noon on October 19, 1981, there was a bang, and the retaining wall built in 1926 on the left hind leg of the stone statue collapsed, forming a 2-meter-wide and 3-meter-long hole, which touched the heartstrings of the Egyptian people and the public all over the world.People are worried that maybe one day, thousands of tourists who come here admiringly will face the ruins and pay their respects silently.

What's wrong with the Sphinx?How to heal? Approaching the stone statue and looking carefully, you will find that after a long and ruthless years of washing, like wrinkles on the face, most of the red clay on the outer layer of the past has peeled off, and the crown, holy snake, and long beard have disappeared. , its nose is sunken, its chest and body "muscles" are loose, it is mottled and bruised.The collar and painted elements are gone, only a deep hole on the top of the head where the square crown is fixed.Regarding its nose, for nearly 200 years, there has been a widespread rumor that it was bombarded by Napoleon's soldiers as a target.In fact, history is not like this.According to the records of Maggrizi (1364-1436), a famous Arab historian in the Middle Ages, at that time, the lion's body part of the stone statue was covered by sand. A religious sect) believers oppose idolatry and are angry that people often come here for pilgrimage, so they climbed up the sand dunes, slashed the exposed nose, and destroyed the image of the human face to prevent believers from worshiping.Magrizzi also said that after the incident, the flying sand buried the nearby farmland and caused serious natural disasters. The local people attributed it to the anger of the sun.Since then, some historians have mentioned similar historical facts.It can be seen that Napoleon, who invaded Egypt more than 300 years later, should be innocent on this point.

■Historical stone statue in the dream "Sickness" has a long history, and "healing" did not start today.There is still a dream card between its two front paws, which records an interesting ancient "cure" story: During the eighteenth dynasty, the yellow sand was everywhere near the pyramid, antelopes and other wild animals haunted it, and the stone statue was buried by stones to the neck.Once, Tohutmos, the young prince of Imenhutaber II, came here to hunt.At noon, when there was no shady place around, he came to take a nap under the shade of the stone statue, and suddenly saw the stone statue speak to him in the dimness: "I am the great Hall? Let it out. If you can remove the sand from my body, I will make you the king of Upper and Lower Egypt." The prince promised immediately, and after waking up, he reiterated that he must remove the sand from the stone statue.Later, he really became king and became Tohutmos IV.He fulfilled his promise and ordered the removal of sand and stones, and built an adobe wall on the south, west, and north sides of the stone statue to prevent the sand from accumulating again.The earth wall remains so far, and the name of Tohutmos is engraved on each piece of adobe.At the same time, he also decided to build this granite dream tablet in front of the stone statue to narrate this history.Scholars have a lot of doubts about this historical fact. They think that Tohutmos is not the prince. He may have fabricated this story and used the name of the sun god to grant him the kingship to legalize his usurpation of the throne. But they all agree that this is For the first time in history, a stone statue was "healed".

The second cleanup and repairer was probably Prince Hemwas, the son of King Ramses in the 19th Dynasty. When Herodotus visited the Giza pyramids in 450 BC, he didn't say a word about the stone statue that was close to the feet, and it may have been buried in the sand at that time. During the Ptolemy period, stones fell off the body of the lion. At that time, small stones were used to repair the sides, front glue and tail, and an altar was built between the two front paws. The remains are still there.In the late years of this dynasty, it is rumored among the people that there are secret chambers and tombs dug under the stone statues, and it is even said that there is a secret road connected to the Khafre Pyramid.In the era of Roman rule (30-642 BC), it was a tourist attraction.The Romans built an amphitheater and other Romanesque buildings.Some Roman celebrities kept visiting here, some left engraved steles, some left inscriptions on their forelimbs, and some even carved a poem praising it on their forepaws.

In modern times, in 1818, the British-Italian Caffiria was digging treasures here for four years, and found a relief of a holy snake and a long beard that fell from the head of the stone statue. In 1916, the Egyptian Antiquities Bureau, headed by the French, presided over the construction of the parapet of the lion's hind limbs. In 1936, the famous Egyptian archaeologist Salim Hassan cleaned up the sand near the stone statue and found a small adobe temple and many steles.The temple is located in the northeast of the stone statue and was built by Yimen Hu Taibo II.Various patterns are engraved on the temple wall.A stele in the temple records that he came to pay homage to him when he was young.In addition, many stone tablets carved by the subjects were found, and the sphinx was painted on the tablets.Some steles are engraved with one, two or more ears, which symbolizes that the gods are listening to the subjects' prayers for blessings.

During the Second World War, in order to prevent the artillery fire on the nearby British artillery positions from collapsing the head and German aircraft bombing, a high wall was temporarily built under the head protruding 1.5 meters from the neck to support the head. By 1947 tear down. Since the 1970s, stone statues have been "seeing a doctor" one after another, and minor repairs and repairs have been carried out continuously.Historically, in addition to removing sand and soil from stone statues, the "healing" method for the statue itself has always been to paste limestone similar to the original stone on the eroded parts of the surface. In 1975, a new chemical drug injection method was tested in the neck and neck.The method is to place a vessel containing barium hydroxide solution above the site, put one end of a piece of white gauze into the solution, put the other end on the injection site, cover the surrounding area with plastic, and the solution penetrates into the stone statue through the gauze. The barium hydroxide undergoes a chemical change with the calcium carbonate in the stone, transforming the "skin" of the stone statue into a hard protective layer against natural aggression.How effective is this "healing"?Some people warn that not to play with the rare and priceless treasure, this kind of "healing" may lead to more serious consequences, and the whole layer will fall off in a few decades.Faced with this situation, people from all walks of life appeal loudly: to "comprehensive consultation" on the stone statue, to find a perfect plan, so that this national treasure will be passed on from generation to generation, and the temporary treatment of headache and foot pain can no longer be used. There is a way to deal with it. According to the results of inspection and "consultation" from the aspects of geology, hydrology, climate, wind power, stone materials, etc., it is concluded that the stone statue suffers from "chronic diseases" and is in the process of aging.The main symptoms are: the neck and chest are constantly shedding, and the whole body is thin and eroded. The etiology is roughly as follows: "congenital" deficiency, that is, the stone is fragile and loose, the stone of the head is relatively hard, and the stone of the chest and body is the worst; it is affected by the scorching sun, the great difference in temperature between day and night, morning dew, and humidity; Flying sand and rocks are constantly attacking it; the stone statue is 45 meters lower than the high ground. Although there is little rainfall here, the town of Nazlai Samar, which is less than one kilometer away, has no drainage system and there are farmlands around it. With the construction of the Aswan High Dam , the Nile water is stable on the surface, causing the groundwater level under the stone statue to rise, seeping into the body, and chemically changing with the limestone. Salt crystals have been found on the surface of the stone statue. Three wells were dug next to the stone statue, and the water came out at a depth of 3-4 meters from the ground; nearby factories, enterprises, villas, and nightclubs polluted the stone statue. At the beginning of 1982, the Egyptian authorities took decisive action, starting with the villa of the late President Sadat, and using bulldozers to tear down all the villas, nightclubs, and entertainment venues around the Pyramid of Khufu. There are also new worries emerging in "The Consultation."At the beginning, the lower beard of the stone statue was chiseled with long beards, which not only symbolized the majesty of the king, but also supported the head weighing hundreds of tons.Now that the beard has been lost for a long time, will one day lose its center of gravity and "heads fall to the ground" Woolen cloth?Why not take advantage of the "healing" of the whole body, put on a beard and restore its former dignified appearance?So, where's the beard?According to research, it is long, 4 meters long, 2.75 meters wide at its widest point, and weighs about 30 tons, but it has been torn apart and scattered all over the place.The Cairo Museum has two, probably repaired by Tohutmos IV.There is one in the collection of the British Museum, which is 75 cm long, 40 cm wide and weighs about four to five hundred kilograms.It is said that the United Kingdom also "escrows" one.Therefore, the Egyptian Minister of Culture went to Britain to negotiate for a beard.Surprisingly, the United Kingdom made an exception this time and "lended grace" and agreed to return it.Someone privately disclosed that the reason why Britain agreed so readily was that this piece of rubble was not a complete work of art, and keeping it was not meaningful, and it was better as a personal favor.However, the United Kingdom is also worried that if it sets a precedent for the return of the property to its original owner this time, and countries come to claim the looted cultural relics one after another, why not return the British Museum and close its doors?As for the sacred snake reliefs and a large number of Egyptian artifacts preserved in Britain?Not seen below. The "cause" of the stone statue has been found, and part of the long beard will be returned. The next step is "treatment".Experts have different opinions on this.Some people advocate covering the whole body of the stone statue with glue to prevent the surface layer from peeling off; some people suggest making a huge glass cover to cover it all, and install air-conditioning equipment inside?Some people think that after piecing together the sections of the beard, use stainless milling strips to connect the beard and the lion's body in series and fix it, which not only supports the beard, but also does not affect the appearance. It seems that chronic diseases that have existed for thousands of years cannot be cured overnight, and the treatment method is still being carefully selected. We know that there is an "Oriental Pyramid" in Jilin Province, China, but it has no origin relationship with the Egyptian pyramids. However, the carving art of the Sphinx came to China across the ocean.Quanzhou in Fujian Province is a famous port in ancient China. On the waist of the Xumizuo, the main hall of the Kaiyuan Temple, there are reliefs of lions and sphinxes.There are 36 and 37 carved lions and sphinxes on the east and west sides of the stone steps respectively.These sphinxes have different shapes and expressions: some are fluffy and stand on all fours; As if opening their mouths to eat; some gallop forward, look back and look forward.These carvings were originally placed in a Brahman temple, but were later demolished and moved to Kaiyuan Temple.According to research, the artistic images of these sphinxes originally originated from Egypt, and then spread to Greece, then to India when Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia in Greece, invaded Asia, and finally to Quanzhou from India.This can also be regarded as a testimony of cultural exchanges between China and Egypt. Coincidentally, people have also found evidence from alien planets. Dr. Brenov, a Soviet astronaut, declared that the images of stone figures sent back by Voyager 2 are similar to those found on the moon, Venus and Mars. The Voyager 2 space explorer used a high-precision telephoto camera to photograph Neptune and send it back to Earth during its flight close to Neptune.Dr. Brenov explained: These signals were received by the California base laboratory in the United States, and my laboratory also intercepted these signals. After processing, 11 pictures showed the stone faces found on the moon, Venus, and Mars, and 4 The face of the planet stone statue has large oval eyes, a well-defined nose and a strangely shaped helmet. The civilization that carved those giant stone-faced people predates the appearance of humans on earth, we may never know who left the stone statues, or how far away they came from the planet, but those people seem to just want to tell later people that before them People have been to those planets before. The Egyptian Sphinx may be the work of aliens.