Mystery behind builder of the Sphinx solved

[Dover]

Mystery behind builder of the Sphinx solved :

World News > London, Dec 14 : Who was the original builder of the one of the most intriguing structures in the world, the Sphinx, is a question that has been mystifying Archaeologists since generations and now a French Egyptologist claims that he has conclusive evidence that the structure was built by an Egyptian pharaoh called Djedefre.Till today one of the most widely accepted theories is that the 65ft high, 260ft long limestone half-human statue had been built by Khafre, a king of the Fourth Dynasty whose pyramid is located behind the statue.

But now the Egyptologist, Vassil Dobrev, whose findings will be aired in the documentary 'The

Secrets of the Sphinx' has indicated that it was built by Djedefre, Khafre's half brother and a son of Khufu, the builder of the Great Pyramid, reports The Telegraph...cont'd

http://www.123bharath.com/news/index.php?action=fullnews&id=44245

[NMDemDist2]

1. hmmm, I thought there was a lot of controversy over the age of the

Sphinx and that it was much much older then the Pyramids :shrug:

[indigobusiness]

6. Egyptians are loath to accept new information

that challenges their historical paradigm.

Egyptian history is not fully told, by a long shot. IMHO

[T Roosevelt]

2. I've seen that documentary

and frankly I'm unconvinced. The conclusions (from what I saw) seem to be based on the Sphinx as it is now, not necessarily as it was four, five, six thousand years ago.

The main thing that strikes me about it is the disproportions between the head and body, leading me to believe that the head was once much larger, and has been altered over the years to match whatever ruler of the day wanted his image to be seen.

[Xithras]

5. Yep, look at this

One of the problems we run into today when looking at the Sphinx is that it has been altered considerably over the last couple hundred years by people attempting to "restore" it. Whole sections have been covered in concrete, stone has been added, portions of the body have been completely rebuilt, etc. The effect of these changes have been to give the statue a more uniform look, which undermines the theory that the body is older than the head. But look at this photograph:



This 1858 image of the Sphinx, taken before modern "restoration" attempts began, clearly shows the massive difference in the weathering between the head and the rest of the body from the neck down. The stone supports under the head and the stone cladding today blends the two, but this unmodified view really shows clearly that they are from different eras.

Besides, I still haven't seen a convinving explanation as to why the "buried" portion of the Sphinx was supposed to have weathered faster than the portion that was exposed to the elements. I know the theories about groundwater saturation and such, but if there were any truth to them the foundations of the pyramids themselves should be crumbling by now (same stone, same age, same elevation). Because there is no evidence that this type of limestone degradation exists below ground anywhere on the Giza plateau, I'm inclined to believe that the weathering comes from a time when the deserts weren't so dry, and that it was rainfall that did it in. I don't know that I believe the theories that it's 12,000+ years old, but it's quite possibly the oldest existing human monument on the planet.

[Nihil]

7. Thanks for that photograph - excellent!

I have read about the differences in weathering and apparent ages of the
head and body (i.e., that the head appears to have been re-worked) but
the photo brings it home.

The "groundwater saturation" hypothesis is garbage - no more tenable
that the "UFOs did it" approach - and the dating of several items on
the plateau appears to be in question.

Don't think much of the hypothesis in .0 though ... unless you take the
view that it was only the most recently re-worked face that matches
rather than the actual building of the sphinx.

Nihil

[mcscajun]

3. Whew! Finally, I can sleep tonight!

That's been keeping me up for decades!

J/K -- I couldn't help myself.

[MatrixEscape]

4. Great news! Now where can I contact

Djedefre? I have wanted to buy that property for ages.