The Sphinx is over 4,000 years old, and was sculpted from limestone left over from the building of Giza's pyramids. Believed by scholars to have been created for Pharaoh Khafre, it has gone through several restorations. In 1400 B.C., after Tuthmosis IV had a dream in which the Sphinx promised him the kingdoms of upper and lower Egypt, he cleared away the sand that had built up around the monument.
The Sphinx measures 240 feet in length and 20 feet in width. It stands 66 feet high, making it taller than a six-story building. Each paw is 50 feet long. The nose, now missing, was over three feet wide, on a face that was 14 feet wide and 30 feet long.
The Sphinx, which is half lion and half human, has eroded over the millennia, but scholars believe its face once represented the Pharaoh Khafre, whose pyramid sits behind it. A carved tablet known as the "Dream Stela," stands between its paws. Commissioned by Tuthmosis IV, it depicts his fateful dream, and shows the pharaoh offering tribute to the Sphinx.
