Archaeologists have unearthed a Roman-era Sphinx statue in a Temple of Horus in Upper Egypt. According to the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, the facial features of this human-headed lion statue bear a close resemblance to those of the Roman Emperor Claudius. During his reign he was also the ruler of what was then the Roman province of Egypt. Whether the statue actually represented the emperor and how it came to be in the temple may be revealed by a tablet of characters found near the Sphinx.
In Egyptian art and mythology, sphinxes were seen as semi-divine protective and guardian figures. The Egyptian term "Hu" for these hybrid creatures of lion's body and human head stands for "mental faculty" and could indicate the superior combination of animal power and human or divine spirit. Egyptian pharaohs were often portrayed as sphinxes to emphasize their special relationship with the gods.
Smiling sphinx in the temple basin
A sphinx with a possibly unusual face has now been discovered by archaeologists led by Mamdouh El-Damaty of Ain Shams University in Upper Egypt. The team had been conducting radar surveys and excavations at the Dendera Temple, about 55 kilometers north of Luxor. This temple complex was already built in predynastic times and was an important sanctuary up to the Greco-Roman era of Egypt. The main temple built in antiquity was dedicated to the goddess Hathor, an outbuilding was a birth temple of the goddess Isis.
Exploring east of the main temple, El-Damaty and his team uncovered the remains of a late Egyptian temple to Horus. This building, probably from the Byzantine period, consisted of two levels with a foundation and sloping floors, according to archaeologists. In a limestone walled water basin of this temple they discovered the statue of a sphinx made of limestone. Her head is wrapped in a nemes headscarf, which was part of the regalia of the Egyptian pharaohs. As reported by El-Damaty, the Sphinx's face shows a slightly smiling expression with dimples on either side of the mouth. Remains of yellow and red paint indicate that the face was once painted.
Facial features of the Roman Emperor Claudius
However, the facial features of this sphinx are particularly interesting: according to archaeologists, the face of the sphinx resembles the features of the Roman emperor Claudius. They determined this by comparing faces with various rulers of the Roman era. Claudius ruled over the Roman Empire from 41 to 54 and thus also ruled over the then Roman province of Egypt. The Sphinx's face and regalia may indicate that this statue was intended to honor the emperor as an Egyptian pharaoh. Such a rededication was by no means uncommon in ancient Egypt: archaeologists have found a number of depictions of Roman emperors as pharaohs, including a sphinx with the face of Vespasian and a relief in the Temple of Isis at Shenhur showing Claudius as pharaoh.
However, it has not yet been clearly confirmed whether the sphinx that has now been discovered actually bears the face of Emperor Claudius. A tablet bearing hieroglyphs and Demotic characters could provide possible clues to the identity of the sitter and the background of the Sphinx statue. According to the Ministry of Antiquities, the deciphering of the inscriptions is still in progress.
Source: Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Facebook message