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The Sphinx is located south of the three great Giza Pyramids. The Sphinx is a statue of a crouching lion with a human head, carved from a single outcropping of rock. There are many sphinxes in Egypt, some of them just tiny statuettes, they were looked upon as guardians of sacred places. The name is Greek, from the word meaning "to bind", and refers to the joining of human and animal figures in a single form. The Greeks may also have used the word because of its similarity to the Egyptian term shesep - ankh, "living image". The landmark is 240 feet long and 66 feet high. The head is about 14 feet wide , and wears a royal headdress. The Sphinx has been up to it's head in sand two times in history that we know of and both times Egyptians have cleared the sand away. About 1380 A.D., Moslem fanatics attempted to destroy the face, and it suffered severe damage.
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