Dear Friends of ancient mythology! Today I want to write something about the Sphinxes.The first part deals with the Egyptian Sphinx, the second part with the Greek Sphinx. I hope this is of interest for you! Part one: The Egyptian Sphinx The Coin: Egypt, Alexandria, Hadrian, AD 117-138 AE - Drachm, 35.3g, 20.22g Alexandria, AD 117/118 (RY 2) obv. AVT KAIC TPAIANOC AΔPIANOC Bust, draped, laureate, r. rev. Euthenia, in the robe of Isis (in Chiton and Peplos with the typical knot before the breast), on top of the head the Uraeus crown and grain(?), leaning l., resting with l. arm on small Sphinx, which lies r. and holds in the raised right hand grain-ears, poppy seeds and Lotus flower(?). in field LB (= year 2) Ref: Milne 844; BMC - VF, brown patina Note: Hadrian's portrait looks unusual, reminiscent of Caligula! Although by Sphinx we usually mean the Great Sphinx on the plateau of Giza, in ancient Egypt, as in the rest of the ancient world, there were a number of different types of sphinxes. The Great Sphinx of Giza guarded the Great Pyramid of Giza (Cheopsyramid) and was rediscovered during Napoleon's campaign in Egypt, 1798-1801. It had been almost completely covered by desert sand. It is assumed that the head of the great sphinx was modelled after the Pharaoh Chefren. Its body is that of a lion, and it is assumed that it was created around 2500 B.C., at the same time as the construction of the pyramid of Cheops. There are 3 different types of Sphinx: (1) The Androsphinx, this is the typical lion with human head. (2) The Kriosphinx, a lion with a ram's head (3) The Hierakosphinx, a lion with the head of a falcon. The Egyptian sphinx was rarely represented as a female. If so, it symbolized Isis or the ruling queen. In Egypt her mental abilities refined the animal qualities in the physical appearance of this creature. In Greek mythology, however, animal nature distorted the mind and spirit of this creature and it was depicted as an unfortunate monster, a symbol of the 'terrible mother'. This monster of death brought misfortune and was a perversion of mind, femininity and power. The Greek Sphinx had the upper body and head of a woman, the wings of an eagle, the body and feet of a lion, and the tail of a snake or dragon. Like many other mythological animals, the Greeks believed that she lived in the Ethiopian mountains. Origin: The Sphinx originally came from Egypt and spread from there with many modifications all over the ancient world. Its name comes from the Egyptian ssp-'ng, which means 'living image' (not from Greek 'sphingo' = 'strangle, strangle', which is sometimes read). It is therefore the image with which the Egyptians wanted to express the essence of their ruler. Meaning: The Egyptian Androsphinx guarded pyramids, graves and holy streets. The Phoenicians and Syrians linked the Sphinx with their protective spirit Lamassu and made it a symbol of their rule and protector of temples and palaces. Symbol: The Egyptian Androsphinx is a symbol of abundance, power, wisdom, mystery, riddles, truth, unity and secrets. Sometimes a pair of sphinxes is depicted together with the tree of life as a symbol of fertility and conception. As a sun symbol, the sphinx is often associated with the sun god Ra, Horus and Harmakhis, the Lord of the two horizons representing sunrise and sunset, rebirth and resurrection. The Androsphinx usually wears the face of the Pharaoh who ordered its construction, symbolizing the divine power and wisdom he needed to rule and protect his people. Often the king's head wears the king's headscarf, sometimes the double crown. Since its form consists of human and animal parts, the sphinx usually symbolizes the unity of mind and body or intellectual, spiritual and physical forces. If it is composed of four different animals, it can also be a symbol for the 4 elements - earth, wind, fire and water. The Celtic druids counted a multi-faced sphinx among their fertility and mother symbols. As Lord of the two horizons, the dual nature of the Androsphinx could later represent the dual nature of Christ, who was both human and divine. Like many other sun symbols, the Androsphinx was placed on or next to early Christian tombs as a symbol of the divine light of the world. A sphinx composed of a human upper body and head, eagle wings, the hind body of a bull and the front of a lion became the symbol of the biblical tetramorph and the 4 living creatures of Revelation (Ezek. 1:5-14; Rev. 4:6-8). On the other hand, they also represent the cherubim, the 4 evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) and their gospels, then the 4 kings of the living world - the lion as king of the jungle, the eagle as king of the air, the bull as king of the land and man as ruler over creation, and according to Saint Jerome, the incarnation of Christ (man), his passion (bull), his resurrection (lion) and his ascension (eagle). I did without a picture of the Great Sphinx from Gizeh, because everybody knows it. Instead, I have added the picture of Androsphingen in the Sphingenallee of the Luxor Temple (Arnold, D., Lexikon der ägyptischen Baukunst, Düsseldorf 1994). Sources: (1) Der Kleine Pauly (2) www.coinsofromanegypt.org/html/l...pter_I.htm (3) www.coinsofromanegypt.org/html/l---tokens.htm (4) //scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ElA...enson.html (5) www.eternalegypt.org/EternalEgyp...guage_id=1 Part two: The Greek Sphinx The myth of the Greek Sphinx belongs to the best-known of the Greek mythology. All the more I hope to present something yet unknown to you! 1st Coin: Troas, Gergis, quasi-autonomous, 400-241 BC AE 9, 0.98g, 225° obv. Bust of Sibyll Herophile, looking frontally, laureate, decorated with two longish ear-pendants and a pearl necklace rev. Female Sphinx, winged, std. r. in r. field ΓEP ref. SNG von Aulock 1513; BMC 2-4 Rare, F+/about VF Often a Sphinx is used as decoration as on the next coin: 2nd Coin: Moesia inferior, Marcianopolis, Macrinus&Diadumenian, AD 217-218 AE 28, 13.42g, 28.01mm, 0° struck under governor Furius Pontinianus obv. AVT K OΠEΛ CEVH MAKPEINOC K M OΠEΛΛ ANTΩNEINOC Confronted heads of Macrinus, laureate, r., and Diadumenian, bare-headed, l. rev. VΠ ΠONTIANOV MAPKI - ANOΠOΛEITΩN (ΩN ligate) Athena, wearing Korinthian helmet, in long high-girded chiton with aegis, std. l., resting with l. arm on arm of throne, feeding snake which coiled around olive-tree in front of her; side of throne decorated with a winged Sphinx, std. l.; r.behind her, shield, seen from inside, on the edge owl std. l. ref. a) AMNG I/1, 736, pl. XV, 28 (1 ex., Weiss, same dies) b) Varbanov (engl.) 1174 c) Hristova/Jekov (2013) No.6.24.4.3 (plate coin) very rare, good VF, beautiful brown patina with a hint of green, exceptional rev., the nicest of this city! Mythology: The best-known story of the Thebanian Sphinx is told as follows: Hera was in anger with the Thebans because king Laios - seen as inventor of homosexuality (by others it was Orpheus) - has abducted Chrysippos, son of Pelops and nymph Astyoche - during the Nemean Games because of his beauty. Therefore she sent the Sphinx like an Angel of Death to punish them (according to others it was Dionysos who sent the Sphinx). The Sphinx was the daughter of Typhon and Echidna, who has brought to world several monsters: the Kerberos, the Hydra, the Nemean Lion, the Chimaira, Skylla and Gorgo and some more. From the furthest parts of Ethopia the Sphinx came flown to Thebens and set down on the Phikion mountain near Thebens and harassed the people heavily. After having learned many riddles by the Muses she asked the Thebans the following: What's that which has only one name and became four-footed, two-footed and three-footed? The oracle has told the Thebans that they were freed from the plague not before they have solved the riddle. So many Thebans went to the Sphinx and tried to solve it. But because they didn't succeed the Sphinx catched them, tore them to pieces and devoured them. Yes, she went to Thebens herself and asked the Thebans in the streets and on the places, and gorged the unlucky people here as well. Meanwhile Laios was killed - without being recognized - by his son Oidipus, and his brother Kreon has come to the throne of Thebens. When now even his own son Haimon was killed by the Sphinx and she threatened Kreon himself he proclaimed publicly that any who could solve the riddle should have his sister Iokaste (sometimes called Epikaste) as wife and the kingdom as well. In this moment came Oidipus and solved the riddle: It is man, borne four-footed, grown up he is two-footed and aged he took a staff as third foot. Hearing that the Sphinx jumped down from her rock to death. And Oidipus got the promised price. The seer Teiresias however charged him in Sophokles' drama 'Oidipous Tyrannos', that he indeed was able to solve the riddle of the Sphinx, but not the riddle of his own existence: "You look around and don't see, how you stand in the malady, not where you live, and not with whom you live. Do you know, from whom you are?" There are other versions too of this mythology. Pausanias e.g. reports: The Sphinx has been a natural daughter of king Laios. Because of his love to her he has told her the solution of the riddle. Once it was communicated to Kadmos and only the kings themselves have known it. This knowledge then passed over to Iokaste and her children. Now Laios had several sons by his concubines. Every time, when one of them came to Sphinx and claimed his right for the kingdom, she told him that if he was the legitime successor to the throne he would be able to solve the riddle. If not he would lose his life because he wanted to capture the kingdom unauthorizedly. Finally came Oidipus who was told the oracle in a dream. Background: Naturally the Greek Sphinx is originated from the Egyptian Sphinx. She came to Greece by mediation of the Cretan-Mycenian culture, but was taken over in a free form. She has made a change of meaning by mixing up with creatures of the old people's mythology: Empusas, Lamias, Harpyias, Sirens and other weird spooky shapes. The Sphinges were demons of death and used as apotropaion, heraldic animal, at sanctuaries and on graves, or only ornamentically. The Thebanian Sphinx stick up from them as individualized figure. Homer didn't know her. She was first mentioned by Hesiod. In his Boiotian dialect she was called Phix. Therefore the mountain near Thebens is named Phikion = the Sphingian mountain. Only later this became Sphix and then Sphinx, possibly to connect it with sphingein = to strangle. A proper name for a monster, however she didn't strangle her victims, but tore and gorged them. In 'Der Kleine Pauly' this derivation is called only little plausible, because the S as initial sound seems to be the primary; cf. Egyptian ssp-'nh. As female being she occured first in c.750 BC and the first depiction we find on an Attic black-figured Vase of Archikles and Glauketes in 550 BC. Here she is named explicitly ΣΦIΞΣ. Appolodor describes her as a winged lion with the head of a human wife. In the first time she had sickle-shaped wings, later on bird's wings, sometimes with a serpent's tail. The famous Riddle of the Sphinx actually is a typical motive of fairy tales, known about the whole world: Achieving the bride by conquering a monster and its following self-destruction. The Greeks - loving riddles (ainigmata, from here the name Enigma) passionately - called this kind of riddles a griphon. It is first mentioned on a vase of 470-460 BC in the form of an hexameter. So possibly from the 'Oidipodia', a lost work, from which remnants still can be found at Sophokles and others. Recorded it is in two fragments of Euripides' 'Oidipus', also a lost work. The same riddle is known from Zakynthos and on Lesbos. A second riddle is reported too: "Who are the two sisters, who create themselves alternately?" The answer is: Day and Night! I have found a nice explanation of the myth at Palaiphatos which I want to share. Palaiphatos - about whom we don't know much - lived at the time of Alexander the Great and has explained in his work 'Peri apiston istorion' (= unbelievable stories) the old myths rationalistically. Just of the myth of the Sphinx he made fun. So he asks: Why the Thebans have not easily shot the Spinx instead of looking how many fellows she gorged? Or: Why it was possible to fall to death when she had wings? In reality the story was so: When Kadmos came to Thebens and settled there he has an Amazon as wife named Sphinx. But when he married Harmonia, Sphinx out of jealousy has gathered a troop of Kadmeans and went with them to the Sphinx mountain to fight Kadmos. The Greek word for riddle (ainigma) in Boiotian language means 'ambush'. The insidious attacks of the Sphinx by this misunderstanding have generated the myth of the riddle. Finally the Sphinx was overwhelmed at night by Oidipus because Kadmos has allured him with rich promises. Later erotic moments slipped into the image of the Sphinx. Especially at the Symbolists of the 19th century. For the psychoanalysts she sometimes stands for the erotically attracting, intellectual superior - but cruel too - personification of the female nature, terrifying man. I have added: (1) the pic of a red-figured Attic Kylix from Vulci, 480-470 BC, ascribed to the Oidipus painter, Vatican, Museo Gregoriano Etrusco. It shows Oidipus as traveller with petasos in front of the Sphinx seated on a column, when he listens to her riddle. (2) a pic of the oil painting 'Oedipus et Sphinx', AD 1808, from Jean Auguste Dominiques Ingres (1780-1867), the great French painter, Louvre/Paris. Here we see the same scene from the viewpoint of a classicist. (3) a pic of the painting 'The Sphinx or The Caresses', 1896, from the Belgian symbolist Fernand Khnopff (1858-1921), today in the Musee Royaux des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. Sources: (1) Der Kleine Pauly (2) Benjamin Hederich, Gründliches mythologisches Lexikon (3) Roscher, Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie (4) Sophokles, Oidipous Tyrannos (5) Aghion/Barbillon/Lissarrague, Lexikon der antiken Götter und Heroen in der Kunst (6) http://www.theoi.com/Gallery/M18.3.html (7) http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~loxias/sphinx.htm (8) Palaiphatos, Unglaubliche Geschichten, in: Brodersen, Die Wahrheit über die griechischen Mythen Best regards
Very nice! Are there any ancient coins showing a kriosphinx or hierakosphinx? My sphinxes (alt. plural: sphinges, but that sounds so weird ): EGYPT, Alexandria. Marcus Aurelius as Caesar AE obol, 20.5 mm, 6.0 gm. Alexandria. Year 15 (CE 151/2) Obv: MAVPHΛICKAICAP; bust right, bare head Rev: Sphinx reclining right; LIE (date) above in left field Ref: Emmett 1919.15, R5; Dattari 3221; RPC IV online 15684 EGYPT, Alexandria. Antoninus Pius year 20, CE 156/7 AE obol, 18 mm, 4.36 gm Obv: laureate head right Rev: sphinx crouched/reclining left; L K above Ref: Emmett 1782.20 (unlisted reverse for year 20); unlisted in Geissen and Dattari
Wonderful post! I've always chosen an even less correct but fun "sphinxen" My favorite is on Augustus' cistophorii: From Alexandria on an obol of Domitian: And Hadrian reclining on a sphinx on a Nilus aureus logically likely refers to the Giza sphinx:
Wonderful write-up @Jochen , and great coins. I only have a couple sphinx (sphinges) Iberia Castulo Late 2nd C BC AE As 25mm Bust Nose Hand Sphinx Egypt SCARAB Middle Kingdom 2065-1650 BCE Scarabaeus Sphinx
