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The Great Sphinx

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The Great Sphinx

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A lion with a human head lies on the eastern side of the Giza plateau, with the pyramids in the backdrop, and is one of the world’s biggest sculptures. The planet’s oldest Sphinx was built by King Kephren; it is a single block of limestone that was previously attached to the main bedrock and is 20.5 meters tall, 73 meters long, and 6 meters wide.

The Sphinx Story:

When the pyramid of King Kephren was being built, limestone was taken from the area that today houses the Sphinx, and a large portion of the rock was ignored by the workers after being examined and shown to be of poor quality to be cut for the pyramid. After finishing construction work on the pyramid, this piece of rock was still blocking the view of the pyramid, which clearly irritated the king, who most likely gave orders to remove this rock so that the view of the pyramid would be unobstructed. The idea was then hatched to make a statue for the king instead, but the size and shape were inconvenient for making a typical royal statue sitting on a throne.

The choice was made then to construct this Sphinx with the king’s head and the forest’s king’s body “lion,” which may be defined as a combination of the lion’s physical power and the king’s intelligence power in one image. The Sphinx is at least 4500 years old; the bottom portion of the Sphinx has been tested and proven to be more than 10,000 years old, and it has stood throughout much of man king history in both situations.

The Dream Stele:

Between the Sphinx’s claws lies the Dream Stele, a slab of granite with hieroglyphs engraved on it that relates the narrative of Prince Thotmoses IV, who was once hunting in the Giza desert and fell asleep in the shadow of the Sphinx when the Sphinx was swallowed in sand save for its head. Thutmose IV had a dream in which he saw god offering him a new kingdom. Indeed, this deity was the Sphinx himself, as the ancient Egyptians recognized him as “the living image of God on earth.” Sshp-ankhw, a term given to royal sculptures of Dynasty IV (2575–2467 BC and thereafter) in the New Kingdom (c. 1570–1070 BC) and especially to the Great Sphinx. Although the term Sphinx is not phonetically similar to the work Sshp-ankw, it might be a mispronunciation by the Greek.

The face’s one-meter-wide nose is gone. Long rods or chisels were hammered into the nose, one down from the bridge and one beneath the nostril, and then used to pull the nose off towards the south, according to an examination of the Sphinx’s face.

The loss of the nose is attributed to iconoclasm by Muhammad Sa’im al-Dahr, a Sufi Muslim, according to the Egyptian Arab historian al-Maqrz, who wrote in the 15th century AD. Sa’im al-Dahr was incensed when he saw Egyptian peasants presenting sacrifices to the Sphinx in the hope of improving their harvest in AD 1378. He smashed the nose and was executed for vandalism. The Sphinx, according to Al-Maqrz, is the “talisman of the Nile,” on which the inhabitants believed the flood cycle was dependent.

There is also a legend that the nose was broken off by a cannonball thrown by Napoleon’s troops, which has survived to this day. Other variations accuse British soldiers, Mamluks, and others. However, drawings of the Sphinx created in 1737 and published in 1755 by Dane Frederic Louis Norden show the Sphinx without a nose.

A ceremonial pharaonic beard is supposed to have been affixed in addition to the missing nose, however, this might have been added later after the initial construction. According to Egyptologist Vassil Dobrev, if the beard had been an original component of the Sphinx, it would have injured the statue’s chin when it fell. The absence of apparent damage backs up his assumption that the beard was added later.

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0 – 05.99 Free of Charge
6 – 11.99 pay 50% of the tour price
12+ pay full tour price per adult person.
Notes: Child pricing applies to children who share rooms with their parents (Max 2 Children in one Room)

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Egypt offers some of the biggest and most amazing landmarks and attractions in the whole world, making a trip there one of the best choices you will ever make. It is now much simpler to plan a vacation in Egypt than it was in the past since we, as a travel agency, will be honored to help you plan the greatest trip you can imagine, complete with the most alluring tour pricing and the most expertly planned itinerary based on your needs.

What People Say About Us
5/5

Thank you Egypt Fun Tours for a most memorable trip. I admit I didn’t do any of the planning (it was all done by my boyfriend) but as you can read in the reviews below Hani (the owner of Egypt Fun Tours) is superbly organized and accommodating with scheduling.

My boyfriend and I, and our dearest mutual friend, booked the 7Days-6Nights tour. In short time, we visited Cairo, Aswan, and Luxor sailing down the down the Nile, pit stopping to see key sites at these location – and so much more!!! We got to know the ancient and modern egypt in depth thanks to Hani’s impressive knowledge. He also enlightened us on the people and their beliefs and went as far as showing us what a typical life looks like. I cannot express the level of personalized service Hani offered us. He was flexible to adapt to our requirements and added sites to our schedule that was not part of the tour simply to ensure we were 100% satisfied with our experience in Egypt.

I went to Egypt practically blind-folded, not knowing what to expect, especially considering the time we had decided to go (December 2020 – we were the first group that Hani met with after months of having to put his tour agency on hold considering the pandemic) yet he managed to surpass all of our expectations. I felt so incredibly lucky for us to have stumbled on Hani. I would recommend Egypt Fun Tours to anyone and everyone. It was truly, HANDS DOWN, the best cultural experience I’ve ever had. You’ll be in the best of hands.

This Review was posted on Tripadvisor

Nille cruise,Luxor and Aswan where amazing sites to see, specially when you have with you the best tour guide in Egypt .Hamada was absolutely fantastic, lots of information and some of them not spoken by others. This guy was not only a simple tour guide for us, he became a good friend also. Was a one in lifetime experience. Highly recommend Fun Tours. Really a great experience.

This Review was posted on Tripadvisor

Hamada was incredible! So knowledgeable and kind. He had information about every item, street corner, and relic we looked at. Any questions we had, he had answers! He even made sure to give us tips while walking through the crowds so that’s we would feel more comfortable when being approached by vendors. Oh and the food?! He took us to the best places! Delicious food!! We tried Egyptian fried chicken, falafel for the first time, the best shawarma in the city (we love food). We even got to meet his beautiful wife and children and try some “French” Egyptian coffee in their home! Truly made friends for life!! We’ve promised to host him and the family when they travel to America for the first time! Such an incredible experience, and Hamada (and family) made it that much more memorable and amazing!

This Review was posted on Tripadvisor

Excellent trip to historic sites with no one else around. We came to see Egypt while most places still had COVID19 fears. The staff at Egypt Fun Tours were professional, safe, and great to deal with. Very helpful, knowledgeable, and entertaining. I feel like I just got a a year of Egyptology in the last week and we had all the sites to ourselves due to COVID19. While people are shutting down and staying home you should feel safe to come explore with Egypt Fun Tours and have the place to yourself.
This Review was posted on Tripadvisor
 
 

Trip of a lifetime!! COVID SAFE!! Knowledgeable guide who loves to share the magic of Egypt with tourists. Friendly and accomodating. This company goes to the extreme to make clients feel welcome and help you. Family company who takes good care of their support staff. Must book the 7 night trip which gives you a great feel for all of the history in upper and lower Egypt. The guide is an expert photographer and historian. He knows so much about each site and the culture. You MUST take this guide to teach you all about Egypt!

This Review was posted on Tripadvisor

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