The large stone statue with a lion’s body and a human head at Giza is the Great Sphinx.
Carved directly from limestone bedrock on the Giza Plateau, the monument is a reclining sphinx facing east. Archaeologists generally date it to about 2600–2500 BC, during Egypt’s Old Kingdom, though debate continues over whether it was commissioned under Khufu or his son Khafre. Most theories connect the human face with a pharaoh’s royal image and the lion’s body with strength and kingship.
The name “Sphinx” is Greek and was applied long after the statue was built. Ancient Egyptian sphinxes were typically male, unwinged royal guardians, unlike the winged female monster of Greek mythology. The monument’s original Egyptian name is uncertain, but in the New Kingdom it was associated with the solar deity Hor-em-akhet.
It is often simply called “the Sphinx,” but “Great Sphinx” distinguishes it from the many smaller sphinx statues found across Egypt.