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Great Sphinx

         There Sphinx are many Sphinxes in the world. Egyptians and Greeks had mythes about these creatures. But the Great Sphinx of Egypt is the largest and oldest Sphinx known to man.
          It is about 240 feet long and 66 feet high. Its is located near Giza in Egypt. It is about 6 miles from Cairo, Egypts capital. It was built around 4,500 years ago by Egyptians. Some say it was built 7000 to 10,000 years ago because of water erosion marks on it. Egypt is very dry and arid these days, but was once plentiful with water and rain. But the traditional theory is 4,500 years old.
          Limestone was an important thing, it was used to buld most of the Great Sphinx. Limestone though is very "soft", so erodsion is much faster. They would pile up limestone bricks weigh about 70 tons and then wedge away the limestone in the shape of a male lions body and a man's head.
          The Great Sphinx wears a royal headdress. This has helped to assume that the face looks like King Khafre or Pharoah Khafre. His pyramid was also built nearby. But there is some doubt about it really being the head of Khafre. In 1996 a New York Detective measured the head and found it did not correspond with Khafre's head. It looked more like Djedefre, his older brother. But this was not truly proven to be enough evidence, so it is still thought to be Khafre's head.
          The Great Sphinx was covered with sand several times. The sand was removed several times by workers in 1818, 1886, 1926, and 1938.
          Sand, rain, wind, and the sun have eroded much of the Great Sphinx. During the 1970s chemicals were used to preserve it.
          The Great Sphinx may also be holding a secret. It is believed that a doorway in the paw of the Sphinx led to a secret chamber that held secrets to the disappearing of Atlantis. A doorway was found and tunnels explored. The used seismographs and found hollow chambers between the paws. To this date no more examination has been allowed...

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