THE SPHINX HOAX.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 1143, 6 September 1913, Page 4

THE SPHINX HOAX.

It is not often that the serious science of urohaelogv is enlivened by a hoax, mil one of a during kind has recently caused considerable annoyance to Egyptologists in general, and to one well-known scholar, Ur. fl. Keissnei, in particular. Some weeks ago there was printed all o\er the world on account of some astonishing discoveries made in regard to w' famous Sphinx at Gizeh. It slated that Hr. Reitsner, who has for some years been workin*' on behalf of the University of Ilartaid. had made some most astonishing discoveries in the interior of the great statue ot the Sphinx, which for centuries has been the guardian of THE ROYAL NECROPOLIS AT GIZEH.

Hud It nd iioojj for the unjustifiable use of the name of Dr, Rename)-. why is wellknown ;;s an explorer and one of the great authorities on ihe pre-histone antiquities ot Egypt. tlie aeeonnf would have hern treated with file ridicule it deserved. According to the account published extensively in England and America Dr. Robsiier had discovered a large temple over 100 feet long within the body of the Sphinx, and. conneded with this hy a tunnel a second small temple, some 60 feet long by 14 lost wide, in »i)P bead of the Sphinx. Tlie I'arger urn/plp was described as the tomb of -Mena or' Hrpe.s, tlie first of tlie Pharaohs, and a drawing Wi> 9 given ot an ebonv tablet inscribed in’ archaic .characters which was said to have been found m the L 'announcement of this startling discovery caused immediate enquiry. ihe chief authorities at the Cairo Museum. Professor Sir Gaston Maspero and Captain Woi«-ali. the inspector of antiquities tor the Cai ret district, both denied the slightest basis for the report, No attempt to explore the centre of BpW«»S .had been made nor would .inv .such' .exploration be allowed, as the nature ;md character of (lie monument arc already well known. Moreover Dr. Reissmer has not bee.) working in the Cairn province this season, haying been as foi the Inst few your*, in Nubia and the Soudan. Tin- absence of Dr, Reissner from Cairo was no doubt Ihe reason hr the -selection of his Tianio in wiM? tho Jjpnx. THE TRUE STORY OF THE SPHINX, which is very simple, remains, therefore, nucha need. The great limestone block out of which the colossal figure is hewn forms the eastern termination of the limestone platform on which ihe pyramids are built. No .doubt, in the. remote prehistoric times the lu-ojeefblfi' rock had become wentliorofl into the nuif* nu‘ iiiiituiM head and face. There lire similar wind-worn rocks to, be seen on the banks of the Nile, and there is usually a superstitious sanctity attributed to them by Arabs, no doubt inherited from the old Eevptians. , . . , , fit early historic times, cmiaiuly before the age of the pyramid builders, some 4000 vears before our era, the figure was improved bv human hands, ihe head-dress and beard being carved, while in later n"es the whole vvus painted red, winch wives it the appearance of .sandstone. '’Portions of the serpent which adorned the forehead of the Sphinx and “t the he a-nil are to he seen in the T.ntish .Museum. The Ji-atpre of the stone and pa inline live dearly to be .win. The Siibinx o( Gi/.eh little m Eevpliatl literal lire, the ‘hiel letoienee to it'iieim” ill tlie rune ol Iholhnie,-. I \ ~ of ihe'eieTiiceiilli dynasty. D.U. 1460 1. was this monarch who built or restored THE SMALL TEMPLE BETWEEN THE ‘ FORE PAWS. In the large tablet at the ffld of Thotlmies telH «» interesting stmt. 11m King had be.cii hunting ID the district, ai d being tired at noonday fay down to Ust beneath the shadow of the Sphinx, During his siesta, the god .R<i Hciu Khuti (Harmaehis), to whom the Sphinx was sacred, appeared to him m « dtcam and ordered bin.) to dear away the sand which had then, as my, been wincl-dinen to such an extent as to bury the £eUJI’ 1g - This tusk Thothines accomplished, but oj the time of Rameses 11. the temple was in buried in the sand- In recent vears it was cleared by M. Manetle. but ‘it is non- nearly buried by the desert dust again.. ,