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Published: 2011-05-26 19:54:29 +0000 UTC; Views: 305767; Favourites: 8256; Downloads: 8966
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Hi there guys! here comes a pic I´ve done in a stream several months ago, maybe you remember itbamboo/PSCS3/7 hours/Music: Therion - Seven secrets of the sphinx
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LET´S WIKIATTACK!
A sphinx (Ancient Greek: Σφίγξ /sphinx, Bœotian: Φίξ /Phix) is a mythical creature with a lion's body and a human head.
The sphinx, in Greek tradition, has the haunches of a lion, the wings of a great bird, and the face and breast of a woman. She is mythicised as treacherous and merciless. Those who cannot answer her riddle suffer a fate typical in such mythological stories, as they are gobbled up whole and eaten by this ravenous monster. Unlike the Greek sphinx which was a woman, the Egyptian sphinx is typically shown as a man (an androsphinx). In addition, the Egyptian sphinx was viewed as benevolent in contrast to the malevolent Greek version and was thought of as a guardian often flanking the entrances to temples.
In European decorative art, the sphinx enjoyed a major revival during the Renaissance. Later, the sphinx image, something very similar to the original Ancient Egyptian concept, was exported into many other cultures, albeit often interpreted quite differently due to translations of descriptions of the originals and the evolution of the concept in relation to other cultural traditions.
Generally the role of sphinxes is associated with architectural structures such as royal tombs or religious temples. The oldest known sphinx was found in Gobekli Tepe, Turkey and was dated to 9,500 BC.
There was a single sphinx in Greek mythology, a unique demon of destruction and bad luck. According to Hesiod, she was a daughter of Orthus and either Echidna or the Chimera, or perhaps even Ceto; according to others, she was a daughter of Echidna and Typhon. All of these are chthonic figures from the earliest of Greek myths, before the Olympians ruled the Greek pantheon. The Sphinx is called Phix (Φίξ) by Hesiod.
The Sphinx is said to have guarded the entrance to the Greek city of Thebes, and to have asked a riddle of travellers to allow them passage. The exact riddle asked by the Sphinx was not specified by early tellers of the stories, and was not standardized as the one given below until late in Greek history.
It was said in late lore that Hera or Ares sent the Sphinx from her Ethiopian homeland (the Greeks always remembered the foreign origin of the Sphinx) to Thebes in Greece where she asks all passersby the most famous riddle in history: "Which creature in the morning goes on four legs, at mid-day on two, and in the evening upon three, and the more legs it has, the weaker it be?" She strangled and devoured anyone unable to answer. Oedipus solved the riddle by answering: Man—who crawls on all fours as a baby, then walks on two feet as an adult, and then walks with a cane in old age. An allegorical interpretation is also the development of man from a primitive state (four-footed animal), to self-sustained (two-footed) and finally to stable and mature (see tripod). By some accounts (but much more rarely), there was a second riddle: "There are two sisters: one gives birth to the other and she, in turn, gives birth to the first." The answer is "day and night" (both words are feminine in Greek).
Bested at last, the tale continues, the Sphinx then threw herself from her high rock and died. An alternative version tells that she devoured herself. Thus Oedipus can be recognized as a "liminal" or threshold figure, helping effect the transition between the old religious practices, represented by the death of the Sphinx, and the rise of the new, Olympian gods.
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Comments: 303
shodowponysqq90 [2022-09-03 22:04:32 +0000 UTC]
👍: 1 ⏩: 0
PG1224 [2022-08-23 00:57:54 +0000 UTC]
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BStyle3 [2022-08-22 17:41:17 +0000 UTC]
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RascunhoVirtual [2022-08-20 20:31:56 +0000 UTC]
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eleonorarosa12 [2021-12-18 21:28:00 +0000 UTC]
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HammerinInkminer [2020-05-02 06:13:29 +0000 UTC]
...one of the better looking Sphinx images I've seen.
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Knowledge97 [2020-01-11 17:45:57 +0000 UTC]
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salyssong [2017-11-15 19:49:43 +0000 UTC]
Good thing Neon Genesis Evangelion didn't exist back then, nobodycould anwser her riddles.
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PG1224 In reply to DarkWithinLight2017 [2022-08-23 00:58:23 +0000 UTC]
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Dezharn [2016-10-24 16:39:34 +0000 UTC]
Awesome work dude... Can I use your image for a Web Page about mitology that i am doing? I would cite all your work in the credits and link back in the description, that's for sure!!
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Omega-Sentry [2016-09-27 15:13:44 +0000 UTC]
Love it, only anthropologist are now saying that the sphinx was not a lion or cat. Originally the Sphinx is said to be a dog. Since it could have been a depiction of Anubis. Maybe make a version of said sphinx?
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frederickstan [2016-06-23 12:49:31 +0000 UTC]
great job on this Egyptian sphinx & love that you give the back grown story of her history
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Wolfsketch101 [2015-07-07 03:36:10 +0000 UTC]
I LOVE mythology stories like this but i always wondered: "Why did she hurl/eat herself to death for being bested?"
I'm assuming it was a psychological thing like one guy said she went mad from denying the fact that a mere mortal could solve her riddle, but that sounds just out of place and kind of stupid. What do you think?
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DragonZeras In reply to Wolfsketch101 [2016-01-25 15:51:14 +0000 UTC]
She threw herself off a cliff. It was because her riddle was the only real power she had over man. If her riddle could be solved, she felt no need to live any longer, and threw herself off the cliff in despair. Of course, Sophocles was the only man who could ever truly know exactly WHY the sphinx did as she did.
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bninja1994 [2015-05-21 09:56:09 +0000 UTC]
If I answer it's riddles can it granted me a wish?
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PrimPalver [2015-02-11 04:36:27 +0000 UTC]
¡Wow! La expresión en su rostro, es una suma de la majestuosidad de las bestias que la componen sumado a esa mirada de misterio y sabiduría llena de secretos. Es como la esfinge de Egipto, cuyo logro escultórico radica en que su placidez insinúa que sabe tanto y a la vez es sabia y serena, en ésta imágen, Genzo, has logrado tu propia versión de dicho semblante místico.
Te felicito de verdad. Me encanta tu trabajo. Muchas gracias por compartirlo.
Wow! The expression on her face, is the sum of the majestic beasts that compose it together with that look of mystery and wisdom full of secrets. It's like the Egiptian Sphinx, whose sculptural achievement is that its placidity look like that she knows so much and yet she is wise and serene, in this image, Genzo, you've achieved your own version of that mystical face.
I congratulate really. I love your work. Thank you very much for sharing.
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Rhuen1 [2015-01-22 06:37:32 +0000 UTC]
Nice to finally find where this image came from. Came across it online a few years back.
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SamariSaintsArt [2014-09-17 20:07:14 +0000 UTC]
She looks so amazing . I thought she was a lamassu ( because of the wings)
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ILuv2BSilly [2014-07-06 17:21:28 +0000 UTC]
she is amazing
can you look at my work and comment plz
iluv2bsilly.deviantart.com/gal…
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teeheeteepee [2014-07-02 10:48:23 +0000 UTC]
In old days her skin probably was pitch black, as was common for people from Nubia/Ethiopia.
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Gzo78 In reply to teeheeteepee [2014-09-03 03:37:01 +0000 UTC]
Actually tee you are correct. Most of the pantheonic culture/stories of Greece originated from their best minds traveling to Timbuktu and other "universities" to study in Northern Africa (Egypt {Kemet}, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq etc.) The nose of the Egyptian Sphinx was a full one and was shot of because of racial jealousy. STILL, this is a beautiful piece of art and I faved it because so.
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GreenPixieDust [2014-06-28 08:03:46 +0000 UTC]
Really guys? You can't just comment on the beauty of the picture, you have to just focus on her breasts? The picture is stunning.
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yarizui In reply to xXCamper61Xx [2014-06-11 17:35:04 +0000 UTC]
yup XD makes me like it a lot more ;D
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grazatt [2014-01-21 03:41:56 +0000 UTC]
"Ha ha! Hey Sphinxie, I got yer riddle right here: What's hard in the morning, soft most of the day, and hard again all night?"
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Skullkid42 [2013-11-16 03:14:46 +0000 UTC]
duuude the sphinx is one of my favorite mythical creatures. this is so awesome
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xbox432 [2013-11-11 23:39:39 +0000 UTC]
Beautifully crafted, the very image of a sphinx I was looking for.
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DeviantSlashLonghorn [2013-11-06 20:56:28 +0000 UTC]
That's an amazing work, man! Already in favs!
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Estowers [2013-09-27 12:36:38 +0000 UTC]
Excellent work of art. I have a request: please make an Egyptian version of the Sphinx myth.
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