There could have been two sphinxes, argues one researcher

Daily Star News ^ | August 28, 2007 | Ahmed Maged

[SunkenCiv]

Egyptologist Bassam El Shammaa believes that the famed half-lion, half-man statue was an Egyptian deity that was erected next to another sphinx, which has since vanished without a trace. This contradicts what many have believed for centuries -- that a single colossal statue functioned as a guard to the Pyramids. The idea of two sphinxes is more in line with ancient Egyptian beliefs, which were mainly based on duality, the researcher said. He cited Ancient Egyptian records and mythology saying that lightening had destroyed part of the Sphinx. This may have been a reference to the second sphinx which was eliminated after a curse by the chief Egyptian deity... El Shammaa pointed out that the Dream Stela carved by Thutmosis IV clearly depicted two sphinxes. The inventory Stela exhibited at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo did the same. The display showed that King Cheops -- builder of the Great Pyramid -- had undertaken the task of restoring the damage to the Sphinx's neck caused by lightening. "Examination of the Sphinx revealed that damage in its neck, matching the measurements mentioned in the inventory Stela, had been restored. But we also discover that, besides the Sphinx's neck, the lightening destroyed a sycamore tree as well as an object between the tree and the Sphinx whose remains have settled behind the Valley Temple.

[SunkenCiv]

The same guy was plugging this idea around 1998; I have a file from November that year, and did a search just now to turn up this link -- one that doesn't yield Wayback Machine results, so I'd guess (based on the folder where I stored it) that the saved text came from transcripts of some fringe conference. I also found this:

A Second Sphinx At Giza?
James Gregory
NewHeavenNewEarth
(based on A. Robert Smith
Venture Inward
July-Aug/97)

Egyptologist Mohammed Nazmi caused an uproar in London recently with the publication of his study that theorized the existence of second hidden sphinx near the Giza Plateau. Nazmi claimed that, "according to the ancient Egyptian religion, which was linked to the Sun, there should have been two sphinxes -- the first to worship the sunrise and the second for the sunset."

[dblshot]

There could have been two but the remaining one ain’t talking.

[SunkenCiv]

Straight nutjob topic, for the heading "Oh So Mysteriouso". The Inventory Stele info is correct AFAIK, but there's nothing on the ground to show a multiple great sphinx; there's no place for it in the enclosure; there's no known second enclosure; and there are known multiple images of various rulers, which by Shammaa's standard of logic should mean that all pharaohs had identical twins (or triplets).

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[ClearCase_guy]

Reminds me of the Monty Python routine in which John Cleese proposed building a bridge between the two peaks of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

There was just one flaw ...

[SunkenCiv]

;’)

[SunkenCiv]

Must have been a friend of the Clintons.

[aruanan]

The other one was taken back by the space aliens who built the pyramids.

[muawiyah]

At the same time the Sphinx' head, as seen from the rear, looks remarkably like a mushroom ~ an amanita muscaria to be specific.

The rest of the device (the Sphinx as we know it) was created as limestone was removed from the immediate area to be placed in one or more of the pyramids.

No doubt some happy camper knew about the earlier significance of the Sphinx when it was but a wee fruiting body~!

[Monkey Face]

Indivisisable sphinxes?

[colorado tanker]

I wonder if this guy is into conspiracy theories?

[Mumbles]

The duality reminds one of the Ying & the Yang, God & the Devil, Good & evil, and Republicans & Democrats. (Order of citation on purpose. LOL)

[Monkey Face]

Indivisisable sphinxes?

:Banging head on desk:

[TexGuy]

What's this I hear about having TWO sphincters!

[coconutt2000]

Two can keep a secret... If the other one is dead.

[mozarky2]

Never mind!

[SunkenCiv]

With a friend like that, who needs enemas?

[SunkenCiv]

:’) The word Sphinx is a transliteration of the Egyptian name for the statue, which translates as “living image”.

[SunkenCiv]

Y’think? ;’)

[SunkenCiv]

Abducting the sphinxes Americans won’t abduct!

[SunkenCiv]

bio of the “researcher”:
http://wftga.org/shamma/Bassam_Biography.jpg

Inventory Stele:
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Cafe/7808/Invntry.jpg

Dream Stele:
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Cafe/7808/Dreamst.jpg