Vivant Denon etched the image of the Sphinx of Giza
around 1798. This image (above) and written
account (a part of Dr. Freeman's
collection) is from the 1803 issue of
Universal Magazine. What is most intriguing is that Denon does not mention any damage to the
nose or lips of the Sphinx. From that
same magazine, here is the written account about the Sphinx of Giza in Denon's own words:
"...Though
its proportions are colossal, the outline is pure and graceful; the
expression of the head is mild, gracious, and tranquil; the character
is African, but the mouth,
and lips of which are thick, has
a softness and delicacy of
execution truly admirable; it seems real life and flesh.
Art must have been at a high pitch when this monument was
executed; for, if
the head wants what is called style, that is the say, the
straight and bold lines which give expression to the figures
under which the Greeks have designated their deities, yet
sufficient justice has been rendered to the fine simplicity
and character of nature which is displayed in this figure..."
--
The Sphinx of Giza image (above) is from the Freeman
Institute Black History
Collection
In 1787, Count Constantine de Volney -- a French
nobleman,
philosopher, historian,
orientalist,
and politician --
embarked on a journey to the East in late 1782 and reached
Ottoman Egypt were he spent nearly seven months.
Constantine de Volney was troubled much by the
institution of slavery. His expressed opinion that the
ancient Egyptians were black Africans much departed from
the typical European view of the late eighteenth century,
but it gave many people cause for reflection. During his
visit to Egypt he expressed amazement that the Egyptians –
whose civilization was greatly admired in Europe – were
not White!
"All the Egyptians,"
wrote de Volney, "have a bloated face,
puffed-up eyes, flat nose, thick lips – in a word, the true
face of the mulatto. I was tempted to attribute it to the
climate, but when I visited the Sphinx, its appearance gave me
the key to the riddle. On seeing that head, typically Negro in
all its features, I remembered the remarkable passage where
Herodotus says:
' As for me, I
judge the Colchians to be a colony of the Egyptians
because, like them, they are black with woolly hair...
"When I visited the
Sphinx, I could not help thinking that the figure of that
monster furnished the true solution to the enigma
(of how the modern
Egyptians came to have their 'mulatto' appearance)
"In other words, the ancient Egyptians were
true Negroes of the same type as all native-born Africans.
That being so, we can see how their blood, mixed for several
centuries with that of the Greeks and Romans, must have lost
the intensity of its original color, while retaining
nonetheless the imprint of its original mold.
"Just think,"
de Volney declared incredulously, "that this race of Black men,
today our slave and the object of our scorn, is the very race
to which we owe our arts, sciences, and even the use of
speech! Just imagine, finally, that it is in the midst of
people who call themselves the greatest
friends of liberty and humanity that one has approved the most
barbarous slavery, and questioned whether Black men have the
same kind of intelligence as whites!
"In other words the ancient Egyptians were true Negroes of the
same stock as all the autochthonous peoples of Africa and from
the datum one sees how their race, after some centuries of
mixing with the blood of Romans and Greeks, must have lost the
full blackness of its original color but retained the impress
of its original mould."
M. Constantine de Volney, Travels through Syria and Egypt
in the Years 1783, 1784, and 1785 (London: 1787), p.
80-83.
But who damaged the Sphinx's nose & lips?
Arabs? Mamelukes? French? British? Germans?
Wind, sand & erosion?
And when was its face damaged?
..................BOTTOM
LINE..................
Both Afrocentrists and Eurocentrists have made bold
statements.
Anyone who has a matter-of-fact, conclusive answer to
these two questions is
wrong! No one knows for sure.
Take a look below and you'll understand why...
"Years ago I stated with confidence that I knew what had
happened to the nose & lips of the Sphinx of Giza, who the
perpetrators were, and
approximately
when the deed had been done.
But, when confronted with a
chronological overview of
historical images I had to admit that I was wrong."
-- Joel A. Freeman
Joel A.
Freeman, Ph.D.
Tuthmosis
III
...NOSES & LIPS
We all have seen the damage done to the face of the Sphinx of Giza. Were some
noses and lips on ancient Egyptian statues knocked off because of collective or individual
racist intent? Perhaps. But we probably will never know for sure.
Truthcentic Alert: I do
believe that some noses and lips were knocked off of statues
by Pharaohs, solely for the purpose of destroying the
predecessor in his/her afterlife. Once the statue was defaced,
the dead Pharaoh's life would be snuffed out. Most
ancient Egyptians believed that the spirit of a dead person
could live beyond the grave, but only if some remembrance - a
body, a statue, or even a name - of the dead person existed in
the land of the living. (from
BBC)
...EXAMPLE:
It is reported that Tuthmosis III
defaced many of Hatshepsut's statues, images and titles after her
death in 1457 BC. She had effectively been cursed with endless
death. Some of her statues had their noses and lips knocked
off to cause her to suffocate in the afterlife.
In
his book, "The Complete Pyramids," Mark Lehrner states,
"Examination of the Sphinx's face shows that long rods or
chisels were hammered into the nose, one down from the bridge
and one beneath the nostril, then used to pry the nose off
towards the south..."
If
this is true, then the destruction to the face of the Sphinx
was not accomplished with cannonballs fired at the nose and
lips.
--
Any proof otherwise?
HISTORIC IMAGES
of the SPHINX of GIZA
=============================================================
r You are
about to see why there is so much controversy
and confusion about its nose, lips & gender.
Gaze upon the Sphinx in person or in photographs.
Is its ethnicity obvious to you?
Please
email me with any more images
or conclusive information
about the Sphinx of Giza that can provide greater clarity to
what
you will read and see below. Thanks, Joel Freeman
"The cleavage of Egypt from its ancient heritage was
completed in A.D. 693 when Amr, at the head of an Arab
army, captured the country for the Caliph Omar and
converted it to an Islamic state. The Muslims had no
interest in Ancient Egypt except to eviscerate some of its
standing monuments in the hope of unearthing the fabulous
treasures they were thought to conceal. Antiquities were
regarded askance as the work of infidels, to be shown
indifference or hostility; witness the action of Sheikh
Mohammed who mutilated the Great Sphinx at Giza because he
thought it would please God.''
-- from The
Egyptians by Cyril Aldred
Take a look at another intriguing account written by historian
Muhammad al-Husayni Taqi al-Din al-Maqrizi (died AD 1442),
from
a book called al-Mawa`iz wa al-i`tibar fi dhikr al-khitat wa
al-athar (G. Wien, ed., 1913).
In vol. 2, page 157 of the Wien
edition, al-Maqrizi states that the face, specifically the
nose and ears, were demolished in 1378 by Sa'im al-dahr -- a Sufi from the khanqah of Sa`id al-Su`ada.
The reasoning
behind the vandalism, according to al-Maqrizi, was to "remedy
some religious errors." At that time some Egyptians were still
burning milk-thistle (shuka`a) and safflower (badhaward) at
the foot of the Sphinx while murmuring a verse 63 times in
hope that their wishes would be fulfilled.
al-Maqrizi historian
"From the time of
this disfigurement also," al-Maqrizi wrote, "the sand has
invaded the cultivated land of Giza, and the people attribute
this to the disfigurement of Abul-Hol (i.e., the Sphinx)."
- NOTE -
It's
interesting
that al-Maqrizi mentions
the ears were also demolished!
The ears demolished? WRONG!
Take a close look. The Sphinx
still has its ears.
Was the Sphinx disfigured in 1378?
The answer is not clear. Not conclusive at all.
1572
The Great Sphinx of Giza from
Hogenberg & Braun's (map),
Cairus, quae olim Babylon (1572), exists in various editions,
from various authors, with the Sphinx looking different.
Is the nose still there? Is
it the depiction of a woman or a man?
1579
Drawing of
Sphinx of Giza by Johannes Helferich, 1579
Definite depiction of a woman. No
questions asked! Is
the nose still intact?
German,
Johannes Helfreich, a much-quoted visitor of Giza, tells in
his travelogue of a secret passage by which the ancient
Egyptian priests could enter the Sphinx and pretend to be its
voice. His writings do suggest that he was reasonably familiar
with the site. The woodcut he had made for publication in 1579
would suggest the opposite: this Sphinx is blatantly female
and about all that has come through of the real situation of
the monument at Giza at the time is that the breast is shown
buried in the sand and, perhaps, that the hair resembles the
damaged head-dress of the Great Sphinx. Helferich thought the
Sphinx was an image of Isis.
Jan Sommer,
(unpublished) Voyages en Egypte des annees 1589,
Institut de France
(Voyageurs occidentaux en Égypte 3)
Is the nose still there? Is
it the depiction of a man or a woman?
1610
In 1610
George Sandys etched this image of the
Giza Plaza (above), with a view of the Sphinx of Giza.
The illustrator of George Sandys' Relations of
a Journey began in 1610 made a much better job of
depicting the Sphinx. Sandy must have made a pretty detailed
sketch of it in the field, for the woodcut in his book is
really remarkably apt in showing the erosion of the neck, with
knobbly protuberances, and the damage to the head-dress, with
grooves and notches. What is more, this illustration of Sandys'
book largely avoids the cultural contamination with the
classical style that spoils many of the contemporary
renditions of Egyptian art.
Is the nose still there? Is it a woman
or a man?
George Sandy's comments about the Sphinx:
"Not far off from these the colossus doth stand…
wrought
altogether into the forme (sic)
of an Ethiopian woman and adored
heretofore by the countrey (sic)
people as a rurall (sic)
Deity.”
Images of the Sphinx of Giza from 1579
- 1668
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1. Helffrich (1579) 2.
Unknown (1500's) 3. Sommer (1591) 4. Sandy (1610)
5. Hollar (1643) 6. le Gouz (1653) 7. Moncony (1665) 8.
Afrique (1668)
Are the nose and lips still
intact? Which
images look male or female?
____________________________________________________
1653
Drawing of
Sphinx of Giza by François de La Boullaye-Le Gouz, Les Voyages et Observations
(1653)
Definite depiction of a woman.
Agreed? Is the
nose still there?
.
Boullaye-le-Gouz's Sphinx has a rounded hairdo and bulky
collar (perhaps the way travelers remembered the protruding
and weathered layer of the neck).
1665
Drawing of
Sphinx of Giza by Balthasar de Monconys, Journal des
voyages (1665)
Is the nose still there?
Is it the depiction of a woman or a man?
Balthasar
de Monconys interprets the headdress of the Sphinx as a kind
of hairnet.
1665
Image of
Sphinx of Giza by Olfert Dapper, Description de l'Afrique
(1665),
note the two different displays of the Sphinx.
Is the nose still present on the
face of the Sphinx?
Is the
image on the left the depiction of a man or a woman?
1698
Cornelis de
Bruijn's engraving of the Sphinx of Giza in 1698.
Are the nose, lips and ears still
intact? Pretty clear, huh? Is
it the depiction of a man?
After you have finished reviewing
this page (below) click on image
to learn more about TruthCentrism.
1724
Image of
Sphinx of Giza by Johanne Baptista Homann (map), Aegyptus hodierna (1724)
Is the nose still there?
1743
Engraving of the Sphinx by Richard Pocoke,
1743
Are the nose, lips and ears still intact? Is it the depiction of a man
or a woman?
The
picture of the Sphinx in Richard Pococke's account of his
Egyptian travels, published in 1743, seems to have mimicked
Bruijn's work of 1698, even down to the placement of the
people standing or sitting near the Sphinx's head.. Erosion
and damage are fairly accurately recorded. The nose of the
monument is shown intact.
1755
Frederic L. Norden, 1755 -- Front View
Hmmmm... The nose seems to have suddenly disappeared. Is it the depiction of a man?
The Danish marine
architect Frederick Norden published the
story of his travels in 1755, including two images of the
Sphinx.
Frederic L. Norden, 1755 -- Side View
The nose is definitely gone. Are there any
other historical engravings prior to 1800
that reveal such a clear loss of the nose? Is it the depiction of a
man?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the only depiction that some will exhibit when trying
to prove a particular point.
They leave out the other inconvenient images surrounding the
date of this engraving.
1790
Painting of
Sphinx of Giza by Louis-francois Cassas, circa 1790
Oops, the nose is back on the
face again! What's that all about?
I warned you that this was
not conclusive.
Is it the depiction of a man or a woman?
1798
Vivant
Denon's etching of the Sphinx of Giza, 1798
Is the nose still there? Is it the depiction of a man
or woman?
Vivant
Denon, who had joined Napoleon's expedition to Egypt as an
archaelogist and an artist , published in 1802 his sketches of
Egyptian monuments and art objects in his Voyage dans la
basse et la haute Egypte (Journey in Lower and Upper
Egypt). Denon would later become the first director of the
Louvre museum.
PERSONAL
NOTE FROM DR. FREEMAN
I have read
much about the destruction of the face of the Sphinx and still
am not entirely convinced that anyone conclusively knows when
it happened or who demolished it.
I tend to agree with many scholars that some of the
engravings prior to Napoleon's Egyptian military campaign
have varying degrees of suspicion surrounding them.
But it is also my
understanding that some images (shown
above with noses and lips intact) were drawn by eyewitnesses...or
at least by artists who would have heard some
descriptions about the condition of the nose and
lips..
One of the main things that continues to give me
pause about the conclusive answer to the "who-were-the-perpetrators-and-when-was-it-done"
question is what Vivant Denon had to say (and
perhaps even more importantly what he didn't say)
about the Sphinx, in concert with his etching of
the same (see image above).
I own an original copy of that etching and Denon's description from
Universal Magazine (1803). Denon did nothing but
praise the craftsmanship of the Sphinx,
describing its lips and mouth as thick, soft, etc.
As a confirmed and credible eyewitness, Denon
mentions nothing about the lips and nose being
demolished or harmed in any way. And his etching
seems to reflect his verbal description.
In contrast to the other seemingly specific
accounts about the destruction of the Sphinx's
face, Denon's description is rather puzzling to
me. Here is what I have transcribed from his
account published in the 1803 edition of Universal
Magazine:
"...Though
its proportions are colossal, the outline is pure
and graceful; the expression of the head is mild,
gracious, and tranquil; the character is African,
but the mouth, and lips of which are thick, has a
softness and delicacy of execution truly
admirable; it seems real life and flesh. Art must
have been at a high pitch when this monument was
executed; for, if the head wants what is called
style, that is the say, the straight and bold
lines which give expression to the figures under
which the Greeks have designated their deities,
yet sufficient justice has been rendered to the
fine simplicity and character of nature which is
displayed in this figure..."
COMMON SENSE ALERT: It seems rational to me that if the
mouth and lips had been demolished when Denon saw
the Sphinx and drew it, he would have at least
mentioned it with a bit of chagrin or regret about
the destruction. It was obvious that Denon was
smitten by its beauty and I would have thought
that he would have at least written about it from
the perspective of it's obvious past glory --
something like this.
"...the
mouth, and lips of must have been thick, with a
softness and delicacy of execution that must have
been truly admirable; it must have seemed to be
real life and flesh. What happened to the nose and
lips was shameful. Art must have been at a high
pitch when this monument was executed..."
Instead Denon writes glowingly about the "thick,
soft and delicate" features of the Sphinx in the
present tense. This is puzzling to me.
That's one of the main sticking points in my mind
when considering the panorama of images and accounts
about the Sphinx from AD 639 to 1809. Any thoughts?
EMAIL
-- Joel A. Freeman
1801
Painting of
The Great Sphinx by Luigi Mayer, 1801
Head of the Sphinx - LEFT: 1st
edition (1801) RIGHT: 2nd edition (1804)
Views in Egypt : from the original drawings in the possession
of Sir Robert Ainslie, taken during his embassy to
Constantinople by Luigi Mayer: engraved by and under the
direction of Thomas Milton: with historical observations , and
incidental illustrations of the manners and customs of the
natives of that country London : Thomas Bensley ... for R.
Bowyer, 1801. Item held in the Overstone Library, Reading
University Library
by Fiona Barnard Rare Books Librarian
Yes, the nose, lips and ears seem to still be intact? Is it the depiction of a man or
a woman?
"Luigi Mayer,
a watercolorist and draughtsman, is renowned as the most
accurate delineator of the Near East before David Roberts, who
produced the monumental volumes The Holy Land (1842) and Views
in ancient Egypt and Nubia (1846), copies of which are also
held in the Overstone Library. Despite the success of Mayer's
publications, very little is known about his life." ...Overstone
Library, Reading University Library
____________________________________________________________________ FROM THIS POINT ON -- 1809 -- NO IMAGES DEPICT
THE SPHINX WITH NOSE & LIPS.
1809
The
Great Sphinx of Giza in Description de l'Egypte
(1809, Panckoucke
edition), Planches, Antiquités, volume V (1823),
also published in the Imperial
edition of 1822.
Yup, the nose is definitely gone -- from this point forward. Is it the depiction of a
man?
The
educationally valuable Description de l'Egypte (Description of
Egypt) was a series of volumes published between 1809 and
1829. It is the extensive compilation of the field
reports, sketches and descriptions made by the members of
Napoleon's scientific team during the expedition in Egypt.
(The Freeman Institute Collection owns 92 original pages)
The
Great Sphinx of Giza in Description de l'Egypte
When the Sphinx of Giza was
seen by Napoleon's troops, it was largely buried in sand.
In 1817 its chest was uncovered by Giovanni Battista Caviglia.
It would take another 119 years before Émile Baraize would
excavate the sphinx in 1936 completely.
1839
David Roberts
painting of the Sphinx of Giza, 1839
Yes, the nose is definitely gone.
See partial excavation.
Is it the depiction of a man?
David Roberts
paintings of the Sphinx of Giza, 1839
The Sphinx at Giza
(rear view, 1839)
Dust-storm at the Sphinx at Giza (1839)
1849 From the Photographic Collection of the
New York Public Library, 1849.
Howard
Vyse’s picture of the Sphinx under excavation by Caviglia
shows the sand dune around the Sphinx opened up in front of
the breast and around the left shoulder, revealing the front
paws and the chapel between the forelegs.
1860
By 1860 the Sphinx had been reclaimed by the
desert sand.
1865
Charles
Piazzi Smyth's photograph of the Sphinx of Giza, 1865
Conclusive photographic evidence that the nose and lips have
been damaged.
Is it the depiction of a
man or woman?
1867
Jean Leon
Gerome's painting of Napoleon in front of the Sphinx of Giza,
1867
Yes, the nose is definitely gone.
Is it the depiction of a man or a woman?
1867 No question. The nose is
definitely gone. (A man is standing just beneath
the Sphinx's ear.)
Is it the Sphinx depicting a man or a woman?
1880s
Albumen print of
the Great Sphinx by G. Lékègian & Co., circa 1880s. The face is
definitely damaged. Is it the depiction of a man
or woman?
1887
Photograph of
Sphinx of Giza by Henri Bechard, 1887
No question. The nose and lips are
definitely damaged. Is it the depiction of a man?
1929
2000 Does this look like an African to
you?
Is it the depiction of a man or a woman?
____________________________________
COMPARE
When visiting Egypt today,
this is
what we see of The Sphinx of Giza.
This is what Vivant Denon
saw in 1798.
You be the judge.
Y O U
B E T H E J U D G E
Who damaged the Sphinx's nose & lips?
Arab
Conquerors (639)? ---------
A Sufi (1079)? ----------------------
Turks? --------------------------------
Mamelukes? ------------------------
French soldiers? -------------------
British soldiers? --------------------
German Soldiers? -----------------
Wind, sand, & erosion? -----------
Not enough
conclusive evidence
Not enough conclusive evidence
Not enough conclusive evidence
Not enough conclusive evidence
Not enough conclusive evidence
Damaged before they arrived
Damaged before they arrived
Perhaps a factor....not conclusive
i
And when was its face damaged?
..................BOTTOM
LINE..................
Anyone who claims to have a matter-of-fact, conclusive
answer to
these two questions is
wrong!
It's fun to conjecture, but no one really knows for sure.
Period.
Theories are not facts.
There are still questions.
It is what it is. Inconclusive.
And that's all a part of
TruthCentrism.
Admitting that no one knows for sure.
Please
email me with any more images
or conclusive information
about the Sphinx of Giza that can provide greater clarity to
what
you have read and seen above. Thanks, Joel Freeman
_________________________________________________
///////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
FOR SALE
//////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ 82 Plates/Prints (from "Description de l'Egypte)
from the Napoleonic Egyptian Campaign -- circa 1820
--
FOR MORE INFO: Dr. Freeman owns (and is willing to sell one at a
time) 82 extremely rareoriginal plates/prints ( from "Description
de l'Égypte"
from the Napoleonic Egyptian Campaign, circa 1820.
These
official
plates/prints came from a huge lot sold in an auction in
2001, Paris -- the seller was the
French Government
-- from the
cellars of the French Government
Publications Office.
Each one has the official "EGYPTE
ANCIENNE ET MODERNE"
watermark. Average plate/print size is 29 inches x 22
inches. Some of the plates in this collection are 56 inches
long!
BACKGROUND:
In
1798, Napoleon Bonaparte launched an expedition of 35,000 soldiers to
conquer Egypt. The campaign revealed the splendor of a mysterious and
forgotten civilization, for Napoleon's ships also carried scholars,
scientists and artists whose task it was to study the country and its
customs and document their findings for Napoleon.
(Description de l'Égypte was the result of the collaboration
of these prominent scholars, several famous European scientists,
cartographers, topographers, and more than 160 artists and
technicians. They accompanied Napoleon's army during
Napoleon's expedition to Egypt in 1798. Their goal was to
methodically collect information in areas as widely varied
as architecture, geography, botany and the humanities.
Description de l'Égypte was published in
23
volumes from 1809 to 1828 and includes 900+ plates.) They
were the biggest books ever produced in their day, and were made on a
specially constructed press. The first volumes of engravings were
presented to Napoleon in 1808.
The beauty of
engravings, and their very large formats makes Description
de l'Égypte an exceptional work. The low number of copies
made (~1000), its extremely high price, and very large
physical size made the work accessible only to the very
elite of society at that time. Even today, finding a
complete copy is not easy. Only major libraries or state
libraries are in the possession of such.
Regions depicted/represented by the official plates in Dr.
Freeman's
collection are: Thebes, Karnak,
El Kab, Medynet-Abou, Hypogees, Elethyia, Heptanomide,
Beny-Hasan, Tentyris, Memnonium, Byban El Molouk, Latopolis,
Ile de Philae, Edfou, Louqsor and much, much more...
The White House Communications staff (WHCA)
Association of International Schools in Africa (AISA)
Maryland Association of Mental Health Counselors
European Council of International Schools (ECIS)
Blacks In Government
National Security Agency
National Science Foundation
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Defense Threat Reduction Agency
Baltimore City Community College
Mountain States Health Alliance
Wright Patterson Air Force Base
Frostburg State University
DLA Troops Support
Tri Association (South / Central America & Caribbean)
Federal Executive Board,
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)
Association for the Study of African American Life & History (ASALH)
Montgomery County Community College, Howard County
Community College
CONTACT INFORMATION IS BELOW
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