spqiNx. 
705 
©ogs in the wheel of an engine, and adapted to excite terror rather 
than inspire confidence in the beliolder. Some of their idols were of 
stone, and many were constructed of a kind of wicker-work covered 
with red feathers . — Ellis s Tour, 
Sphinx, 
This is a monster that was of great fame among the ancients. It 
was represented as having the head and breasts of a woman, the 
wings of a bird, the claws of a lion, and the rest of the body like a 
dog. It was supposed to have been engendered by Typhon, and 
sent by Juno to be revenged on the Thebans. Its office, they say, 
was to propose dark and enigmatical questions to all who passed 
by, and to devour them if they failed to give a correct answer. On 
a mountain near Thebes it was said to commit the most horrible 
ravages, nor could it be destroyed until Qadipus had solved the follow'- 
ing riddle — What animal is it that in the morning w^alkson four legs, 
at noon on two, and at night on three ? The answer was, Man, 
Among the Egyptians, the sphinx was the symbol of religion, by 
reason of the obscurities of its mysteries ; and on a similar account, 
the Romans placed a sphinx in the pronaos or porch of their temples. 
With us it is an article of sculpture, and is chiefly used to ornament 
gardens, terraces, entrances at doors and porticoes, &c. &c. 
Sphinxes were also in repute among the Egyptians, being used to 
shew' the rising of the water in the Nile. With this view, as it had 
the head of a woman and the body of a lion, it signified that the 
Nile began to swell in the months of July and August, when the sun 
passes through the signs of Leo and Virgo. Under this representa- 
tion, it was an hieroglyphic, which taught the people the period of 
the most important event in the year, as the swelling and overflowing 
of the Nile gave fertility to Egypt. Accordingly, sphinxes were mul- 
tiplied almost without end, so that they were to be seen before all 
their temples, and associated with all their more remarkable monu- 
ments. 
Of these imaginary monsters several are still to be seen in Egypt, 
of varied dimensions, and connected with various remnants of anti- 
quity. One of the most remarkable is that of which we have given 
the accompanying engraving. It stands near the pyramids, facing 
the second pyramid on the eastern side, and is much spoken of by 
the ancients, as being of a prodigious size, and cut out of the solid 
rock. At present, nothing hut the head and neck appear, the rest 
of the body being hidden in the sand. The top of its back is some 
times visible : this is one hundred feet long. The whole is of one 
solid stone, making part of the rock, on which the pyramids are 
placed. The head rises about twenty-nine feet above the sand. 
This head, according to Thevenot, is twenty-six feet high, and fif- 
teen feet from the ear to the chin ; but Pliny assuresus that the head 
was no less than one hundred and two feet in circumference, and sixty- 
two feet high from the belly, and that the body was one hundred and 
forty-three feet long, and w as thought to he the sepulchre of Amasis. 
Some have suggested that the well of the great pyramid led to this 
