It sits majestically on the sands in Giza, near the famous pyramids. And common belief is that it is another monument made by the Pharaohs of Egypt, who made the pyramids. But according to ancient records and some latest research, the Sphinx in Giza is believed to be much older than it was thought earlier, also, there are still many mysteries buried in the ashes of time. In Greek mythology, the Sphinx was a monster with the head of a woman and the body of a lion that had wings. It was supposed to have been sent as a punishment from the heavens to kill the youth of the land who could not solve her riddle. Then a young man named Oedipus solved the riddle and thus it is said that the Sphinx was never seen again.
Coming back to our actual mystery, the huge statue of the Sphinx at Giza is made from one block of stone except the structure of its paws, which is where the myth and mystery lies. According to historians, there are underground chambers and tunnels beneath the Sphinx, which hold many secrets as to its origin and many other mysteries of civilisation and the ancient world. Speaking of which, was the Sphinx built by the Egyptians or another lost civilisation much earlier like that of Atlantis? What lies in the chamber, which has been detected beneath the paws? An ancient artefact or records of the lost civilisation that the survivors of that land have buried?
It has also been discovered that there are also underground tunnels and passageways under the pyramids, which have been detected by explorers but have not been fully discovered due to being infested with bats and poisonous spiders. And also because of the air being too thin which makes it difficult to breathe in there. According to British explorer Andrew Collins, “There is untouched archaeology down there, as well as a delicate ecosystem that includes colonies of bats and a species of spider which we have tentatively identified as the white widow”.
As regards the Sphinx, Pliny the Elder, a Roman author and philosopher and an important figure at the time of Roman Emperor Vespasian, wrote in his Natural History, that in front of the Giza pyramids is the Sphinx, which should be described and given more importance than the pyramids, but the Egyptians are silent on the matter. He stated that the people around the area think that a king named Harmais is buried in it.
But after many theories and investigations, including those by the Egyptian authorities, which claim that the Sphinx was made by the Egyptians around 4,500 years ago and has nothing more than small cavities underneath that lead to dead ends, some research says otherwise. Independent teams have done their own research and a Japanese team that undertook serious scientific investigation to the underground study and the structure of the Sphinx itself came to the following conclusion the kind of erosion on the Sphinx proves that it was carved at the end of the last Ice Age, 12,000 years ago.
Also, that there are many unexplored tunnels and caves under the Sphinx which include a large chamber or room which is rectangular and 25 feet deep and which lies under the front paws.
However, if not the Egyptian Pharaohs, then what secret does the chamber holds and why it was built is still a mystery held tightly between the rocky paws of the great Sphinx.
