Gardners Art through the Ages A Global History

the complex served not only as the king’s tomb and temple but also
as his palace in the afterlife.

GREAT SPHINXBeside the causeway and dominating the valley
temple of Khafre rises the Great Sphinx (FIG. 3-11). Carved from a
spur of rock in an ancient quarry, the colossal statue—the largest in
the ancient Near East—represents a pharaoh, probably Khafre (origi-

nally complete with the pharaoh’s ceremonial beard and uraeus head-

dress), although some scholars believe it portrays Khufu and was

carved before construction of Khafre’s complex began. Whoever it

portrays, the sphinx—a lion with a human head—was associated with

the sun god and therefore was an appropriate image for a pharaoh.

The composite form suggests that the pharaoh combines human intel-

ligence with the immense strength and authority of the king of beasts.

The Old Kingdom 61

3-10Model of the

Fourth Dynasty pyramid

complex, Gizeh, Egypt.

Harvard University

Semitic Museum,

Cambridge. 1) Pyramid

of Menkaure, 2) Pyramid

of Khafre, 3) mortuary

temple of Khafre,

4) causeway, 5) Great

Sphinx, 6) valley temple

of Khafre, 7) Pyramid of

Khufu, 8) pyramids of

the royal family and

mastabas of nobles.

Like Djoser’s pyramid

(FIG. 3-5), the Great

Pyramids were not

isolated tombs but parts

of funerary complexes

with a valley temple,

a covered causeway,

and a mortuary temple

adjoining the pyramid.

1

4

5

8

7

6

3

2

3-11Great Sphinx

(with Pyramid of Khafre

in the background at

left), Gizeh, Egypt,

Fourth Dynasty,

ca. 2520–2494 bce.

Sandstone, 65 240 .

Carved out of the

Gizeh stone quarry,

the Great Sphinx is the

largest statue in the

Near East. The sphinx is

associated with the sun

god, and joins the body

of a lion with the head

of a pharaoh.