Sphinx
3 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Sphinx. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a Greek word signifying the "strangler," applied to certain symbolical forms of Egyptian origin, having the body of a lion, a human or an animal head, and two wings. Various other EGYPTIAN SPHINX combinations of animal forms have been called by this name, though they are rather griffins or chimæras. Human- *headed sphinxes have been called androsphinxes; that with the head of a ram, a criosphinx; and that with a hawk's head, a hieracosphinx. The form when comlete had the wings added at the sides; but these are of a later period and seem to have originated with the Babylonians or Assyrians. In the Egyptian hieroglyphics the wingless sphinx bears the name of Neb, or lord, and Akar, or intelligence, corresponding to the account of Clement that this emblematic figure depicted intellect and force. Others see in it the idea of resurrection, symbolized by the triumph of the dawn over the darkness of night. The idea that it allegorized the overflow of the Nile when the sun was in the constellations Leo and Virgo appears to be unfounded. In Egypt the sphinx also occurs as the symbolical form of the monarch considered as a conqueror, the head of the reigning king being placed on a lion's body, the face bearded, and the usual head dress. Thus used, the sphinx was generally male; but in the case of female rulers that figure has a female head and the body of a lioness. The most remarkable sphinx is the Great Sphinx at Gizeh (Giza), a colossal form hewn out of the natural rock, and lying about a quarter of a mile S. E. of the Great Pyramid. It is sculptured out of a spur of the rock itself, to which masonry has been added in certain places to complete the shape, and it measures 172 feet 6 inches long by 56 feet high ( Vyse, " Pyramids " iii: 107). atelv in front of the breast found in 1816 a small naos or formed of three hieroglyphic dedicated by Thothmes III. and Rameses II. to the sphinx, whom they adore under the name of Haremkhu, or Harmachis, as the Greek inscriptions found at the same place call it-i. e., the Sun on the Horizon. These tablets formed three walls of the chapel; the fourth, in front, had a door in the center and two couchant lions over it. A small lion was found on the pavement, and an altar between its fore paws, apparently for sacrifices offered to it in the time of the Romans. Before the altar was a paved causeway or dromos leading to a walled staircase of 30 steps repaired in the reign of M. Aurelius and L. Verus on May 10, 166, A. D. In the reigns of Severus and his sons, A. D. 199-200, another dromos, in the same line as the first, and a diverging staircase were constructed, while some additions had been made to the parts between the two staircases in the reign of Nero. Votive inscriptions of the Roman period, some as late as the 3d century, were discovered in the walls and constructions; and on the second digit of the left claw of the sphinx an inscription in pentameter Greek verses, by one Arrian, probably of the time of Severus, was discovered. In addition to these walls of unburnt brick, galleries and shafts were found in the rear of the sphinx extending toward the N. To the S. of the sphinx Mariette in 1852 found a dromos which led to a temple of the time of the 4th dynasty, built of huge blocks of alabaster and red granite. In the midst of the great chamber of this temple were found seven diorite statues, five mutilated and two entire, of the GREEK SPHINX Immedi- monarch Chafra or Chephren, which are Caviglia fine examples of the oldest Egyptian chapel, sculpture. Later discoveries prove it to tablets, have been a monument of at least the age of the 4th dynasty, or contemporary with the pyramids. Besides the Great Sphinx, avenues of sphinxes have been discovered at Sakkara, forming an approach to the Serapeum of Memphis, and elsewhere. -- SPHINX Sphinxes of the time of the Shepherd dynasty have been found at Tanis, and another of the same age is in the Louvre; while a granite sphinx, found behind the "vocal Memnon," and inscribed with the name of Amenophis III., is at Petrograd. An avenue of criosphinxes, each about 17 feet long, is still seen at Karnak, and belongs to the time of Horus, one of the last monarchs of the 18th dynasty. Various small sphinxes are in the different collections of Europe, but seldom are of any very great antiquity. The Theban sphinx of Greek legend, whose myth first appears in Hesiod, is described as having a lion's body, female Apog head, bird's wings, and serpent's serpent's tail, tail, ideas probably derived from Phœnician sources. She was said to be the issue of Orthros, the two-headed dog of Geryon, by Chimæra, or of Typhon and Echidna, and was sent from Ethiopa to Thebes by Hera to punish the transgression of Laius, or according to other accounts, by Dionysus or Ares. The sphinx was a favorite subject of ancient art, and appears in reliefs, on coins of Chios and others towns, and often as a decoration of arms and furniture. In Assyria and Babylonia representations of sphinxes have been found, and the same are not uncommon on Phœnician works of art.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
sfinks, in Grecian and Egyptian mythology, a fabulous monster half beast, half human. The Greek sphinx was figured in art as having the body of a lion, the wings of an eagle, and the breast and upper part of a woman. Sphinxes of this sort are a characteristic form of sculpture in Cyprus. A wingless sphinx stands on the sacred road near Miletus. Half a dozen small specimens in gold were found in a tomb at Myconos. A sphinx appears among the ornaments of the helmet of the statue of Athena in the Parthenon. Sphinxes carrying off children were sculptured on the front feet of the throne of Jupiter at Olympus. For an account of the Theban sphinx, the most famous in Greece, see OEDIPUS. The term is Greek and is supposed to be allied to a word signifying the binder, the throttler, hence Death. The resemblance between the Grecian and Egyptian sphinxes may be accidental. The latter is without wings, and the head is usually that of a man, the breast is that of a lion. The Egyptian sphinx appears in Assyrian art, especially as the guardian of doorways. Colossal sphinxes in porphyry and granite are not unusual in Egypt. The most noted, the one mentioned usually as The Sphinx, is situated near Gizeh, about a quarter of a mile southeast of the Great Pyramid. It has the form of an enormous crouching lion cut from a single rock. The body is 140 feet long and 63 feet high. The head is thirty feet in length from chin to forehead and is about fourteen feet wide. Flaws in the rock are filled in with masonry. Its outstretched paws, fifty feet in length, are cased in masonry. Between them an inclined passage partly of rock-hewn steps, leads up to the chest at the front of which a memorial tablet fourteen feet high leaned. No interior cavity has been found. The Sphinx is a personification of the sun god. It is older than the pyramids. It is thought to be the earliest extant work of sculpture. "Hewn in the living rock at the extreme verge of the Libyan plateau," says Maspero, "it seems to uprear its head in order to be the first to catch sight of Ra, the rising sun, across the valley. For centuries, the sands have buried it to the chin, yet without protecting it from ruin. Its battered body preserves but the general form of a lion's body. The paws and breast, restored by the Ptolemies and the Caesars, retain but a part of the stone facing with which they were then clothed in order to mask the ravages of time. The nose and beard have been broken off by fanatics, and the red hue which formerly enlivened the features is almost wholly effaced. And yet, notwithstanding its fallen fortunes, the monster preserves an expression of sovereign strength and greatness. The eyes gaze out afar with a look of intense and profound thoughtfulness, the mouth still wears a smile; the whole countenance is informed with power and repose." Emerson's well known lines, The Sphinx is drowsy, Her wings are furled; Her ear is heavy, She broods on the world, are descriptive rather of the feminine winged Grecian sphinx than of the masculine bearded sphinx of Egypt. See Pyramid ; Egypt
1000 Classical Characters (1900)
A monster, having the head and breasts of a woman, the body of a dog, the tail of a serpent, the wings of a bird, and the paws of a lion. The Sphinx was sent into the neighborhood of Thebes by Juno , and here she propounded enigmas, devouring those who were unable to solve them. One of the riddles proposed was: What animal walked on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening? Oedipus solved it, giving as the meaning: A man, who when an infant crawled on his hands and feet, walking erect in manhood, and in the evening of life supporting himself with a stick. On hearing the solution the Sphinx destroyed herself. 2026 Editor's Note: The Sphinx described here, with a dog's body and serpent's tail, reflects a medieval European variant rather than the classical Greek or Egyptian depictions. The most famous sphinx, the Great Sphinx of Giza , lost its nose to deliberate vandalism with rods or chisels, not Napoleon's cannonfire as a popular myth suggests. (Ed: BR 2026-07-07)