HEAD OF THE GREAT SPHINX, PYRAMIDS OF GEEZEH. 
No monument in existence strikes the observer with a greater impression of vastness 
than the Sphinx near the Pyramids of Geezeh, when, brought by the judgment of 
an observer into comparison with the human head, which it represents (for this part 
alone of the figure appears above the level of the rock, out of which it rises), it 
overwhelms by its immensity all other colossal imitations. If the head of a man be 
taken at a length of ten inches from the top to the chin, it is here sculptured of the 
enormous length of twenty-eight feet six inches, which presents a bulk nearly 40,000 
times greater than that which it represents. 
This marvellous figure is cut out of the solid rock, from a mass that projects 
above the general level of the bed of a rather soft greyish-wliite limestone, upon 
which the Pyramids are built, which extends up the valley of the Nile at a general 
elevation of about one hundred and fifty feet above the level of the river, and in 
some places one hundred and twenty feet above the sandy plain around it. 
It is remarkable that Herodotus, who has furnished us with the details of the 
Pyramids, has been altogether silent on the Great Sphinx: that it was in existence 
when he was in Egypt there cannot be a doubt. On its breast a granite tablet was 
found, bearing the cartouche of Thothmes IV., in the date of whose reign, 1561 B.c., 
chronologists agree; but they differ widely upon that of Supliis or Cheops, whose 
cartouche, found within the Great Pyramid, confirms the statement of Herodotus that 
he was its founder. Wathen, by close and powerful argument, places the reign of 
Cheops in 941 b.c., 620 years later than the age of the Sphinx; but Wilkinson, who 
is profound in the subject, carries it back to 2123 B.C., thus making the Pyramids 
562 years older than the Sphinx. As, however, this stupendous figure existed 1100 
years before the visit of the Greek historian to Egypt, 470 B.c., the omission of all 
mention of the Sphinx by him may, perhaps, be accounted for by the probability 
that the text of Herodotus is imperfect. It is known that Aristotle refers to passages 
in this author which are not to be found in the text which has descended to us. 
About twenty years ago M. Caviglia succeeded in accomplishing what the French 
attempted but did not complete, the laying open of the whole front of the Sphinx. 
When the sand, after immense labour, was removed, this stupendous figure was disclosed 
in all its height from the top of the head to the floor of the Temple between its paws, 
above one hundred feet: its total length is one hundred and forty-six feet; the breadth 
across the shoulders thirty-four feet; height to the top from the sand in front forty-four 
feet six inches ; height from the back of the shoulders to the top of the head twenty- seven 
feet. The whole is cut from the solid rock, except the forelegs, or paws, which are 
of masonry, and project fifty feet from the breast of the figure; between them lies a 
small Temple. By these excavations an approach from the rocky plain above was 
laid open before the figure, nearly three hundred feet in length, first by a long and 
gradual incline, and then by two descending flights of steps to the platform of the 
