A Sphinx is an iconic image of a recumbent lion with a human head, invented by the Egyptians of the Old Kingdom, but a cultural import in archaic Greek mythology, where it received its name (Greek Σφινξ, "strangler"). The best known is the Great Sphinx of Giza. Sphinx - Egyptian sphinx. The Egyptian sphinx is an ancient iconic mythical creature usually comprised of a recumbent lion – an animal with sacred solar associations – with a human head, usually that of a pharaoh. Main ...

Including:

• Sphinx - Egyptian sphinx
• Sphinx - Greek Sphinx
• Sphinx - Similar creatures
• Sphinx - Mannerist Sphinx
• Sphinx - 19th century and symbolism

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Not all human-headed animals of antiquity are sphinxes. In ancient Assyria, for example, bas-reliefs of bulls with the crowned bearded heads of kings guarded the entrances to temples. In the classical Olympian mythology of Greece, all the deities had human form, though they could assume their animal natures as well. All the creatures of Greek myth that combine human and animal form are survivals of the pre-Olympian religion: centaurs, Typhon, Medusa, Lamia. In Hindu tradition, one of the Avatars of Vishnu was the Narasimha which means 'man-lion'. The Avatar had a human body and the h ...

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Sphinx, Sphinx - Egyptian sphinx, Sphinx - Greek Sphinx, Sphinx - Similar creatures, Sphinx - Mannerist Sphinx, Sphinx - 19th century and symbolism

Read more here: » Sphinx: Encyclopedia II - Sphinx - Similar creatures

The Egyptian sphinx is an ancient iconic mythical creature usually comprised of a recumbent lion – an animal with sacred solar associations – with a human head, usually that of a pharaoh. Main article:Great Sphinx of Giza. The largest and most famous is the Great Sphinx of Giza , sited on the Giza Plateau on the west bank of the Nile River, facing due east, with a small temple between its paws. The face of the Great Sphinx is believed to be the head of the pharaoh Khafra (often known by the Hellen ...

See also:

Sphinx, Sphinx - Egyptian sphinx, Sphinx - Greek Sphinx, Sphinx - Similar creatures, Sphinx - Mannerist Sphinx, Sphinx - 19th century and symbolism

Read more here: » Sphinx: Encyclopedia II - Sphinx - Egyptian sphinx

There was a single Sphinx in Greek mythology, a unique demon of destruction and bad luck, according to Hesiod a daughter of the Chimaera and Orthrus, or, according to others, of Typhon and Echidna— all of these chthonic figures. She was represented in vase-painting and bas-reliefs most often seated upright rather than recumbent, as a winged lion with a woman's head; or she was a woman with the paws, claws and breasts of a lion, a serpent's tail and birdlike wings. Hera or Ares sent the Sphinx from her Ethiopian homeland (for the Gre ...

See also:

Sphinx, Sphinx - Egyptian sphinx, Sphinx - Greek Sphinx, Sphinx - Similar creatures, Sphinx - Mannerist Sphinx, Sphinx - 19th century and symbolism

Read more here: » Sphinx: Encyclopedia II - Sphinx - Greek Sphinx