Discovered by a team of Egyptian archaeologists during routine excavation work near the valley temple of the Fourth Dynasty King Khafre, the structures are part of a wall that once protected the Sphinx from the desert winds.
According to ancient Egyptian texts, the wall was built following a dream which King Thuthmose IV (1400-1390 B.C.) had after a long hunting trip in Wadi El-Ghezlan (Deer Valley), an area next to the Sphinx.
In the dream, the mythical beast with the head of a man and the body of a lion complained that it was being choked by the desert sand. As a result, the king removed the sand that had partially buried the great limestone figure and built an enclosure wall to preserve it.
Stretching for 132 meters (433 feet) in total, the wall is part of a larger structure previously found to the north of the Sphinx.
It consists of two sections. The first part, which is 75 centimeters (29.52 inches) tall and 86 meters (282.2 feet) long, runs from North to South along the eastern side of Khafre’s valley temple and the Sphinx. The second part, which is 90 centimeters (35.4 inches) tall and 46 meters (150.9 feet) long, stretches from East to West along the perimeter of the valley temple area.
Read more at Discovery News
No comments:
Post a Comment