Главный египтолог об храме Сфинкса.
THE PYRAMIDS AND TEMPLES OF EGYPT
AN UPDATE
DR. ZAHI HAWASS
Director General of Giza and Saqqara
More evidence showing that the Sphinx should be dated to Khafra is
cited by Lehner. He states that: " . . . the Khafra causeway is founded upon
a bridge of bedrock separating this quarry from the quarry in the west part
of the central field. It seems unlikely that Khufu would have reserved this
rock for his successor's causeway, and so the more northerly quarry may
have been exploited by Khafra."138
Fakhry points to similarities between the face of the Sphinx and the
faces of statues of Khafra.139 Also corroborating the dating of the Sphinx to
the time of Khafra is the Old Kingdom quarry in which it stands, and the
one most likely used by Khafra. The quarry would not have been used by
Khufu since he used the quarry located north of the Great Pyramid and east
of Khafra's pyramid. The existence of the tomb of Kahmerernebti I, one of
Khafra's queens, proves that the quarry was used by the end of Khafra's
reign; therefore, Khafra is the most likely king to have used it.
ZAHI HAWASS, Cairo
The Great Sphinx at Giza: Date and Function
Function of the Sphinx
The earliest Egyptian sphinx dates to the reign of Khufu's son and Khafra's
predecessor, Djedefra. The quartzite head and neck, found at Abu Roash and
now in the Louvre, represents the King 52. In -periods after the Old Kingdom,
sphinxes were clearly guardians, often set up along processional ways or at the
entrances to temples. Edwards and others, based on texts, dates to the Late Period
the Heliopolitan belief that the king becomes Ra after his death, suggesting that
the Sphinx represented Khafra as Ra and acted as the guardian of the Giza
necropolis 53 .
Finally, I propose another function for the Sphinx in the Old Kingdom which
could explain:
1. Why Khafra chose this location for the Sphinx.
2. Why the monument and its temple are unique and not repeated in the Old
Kingdom pyramid complex or in the architectural program of the Old Kingdom.
It is likely that the Sphinx represents Khafra as Horus giving offerings to his
father Khufu, the incarnation of Ra who rises and sets in the temple. The temple
is located to the north of Khafra's Lower Temple, in line with it and separated
from it by a narrow passage 67
• The main axis of the Sphinx Temple runs eastwest
and has two entrances, on the north and the south 68
• Ricke believes that the
eastern set of central stepped recesses are for a ritual to the rising sun and that
the western recesses are for the setting sun. He thinks the twenty four pillars around
the hall (six on each of the four sides) represent the twelve hours of the day and
the twelve hours of the night and that the two pillars in front of each of the two
sanctuaries represent the arms and the legs of the goddess Nut. The open court
is connected with the solar cult 69.
Stadelmann suggested that in the minds of the 4th Dynasty Egyptians, Khufu
became Ra himself, because in his opinion the name of Khufu's pyramid AkhetKhuju,
"The Horizon of Khufu", indicates that Khufu was equivalent to Ra, who
sets and rises each day on the horizon.
Furthermore, he notes that Djedefra and Khafra, the sons and immediate successors
of Khufu, were the first kings to bear the title S~ R C
, "Son of Ra", i.e.
their father, Khufu, was Ra. 70 I believe this theory is correct. There are additional
observations that I have developed to support this, which are:
I. The enlargement of the Upper Temple of Khufu and the abandonment of
Khufu's ritual pyramid 71.
(сноска про архитектора храма Сфинкса и верхнего храма Хуфу
http://www.gizapyramids.org/pdf%20libra ... _ice_6.pdf)
Khufu originally planned a cult pyramid where the
upper temple finally stood. The architect had excavated the substructure of the
cult pyramid (known as the trail passage) 72 from the rock surface east of Khufu's
Pyramid. Khufu changed his cult in year 5, therefore the Upper Temple was
enlarged and the angle of the causeway from the Upper Temple was changed. This
is why the "trial passage" was left without a superstructure. The Upper Temple
may have been modified to include the function of the cult pyramid. The new
cult that occured during Khufu's reign may have dispensed with the need for a
cult pyramid.
II. Most of the kings of the Old Kingdom who had a pyramid were buried
beneath it, with the exception of Khufu, who was buried higher up within it. The
186
pyramid shape is clearly related to the ben-ben, the pyramidal symbol of the sun
god at Heliopolis. The ben-ben was thought to be the true pyramid and the normal
burial chamber was placed under the pyramid as ben-ben since the 3rd Dynasty,
except for Khufu and Sneferu. A burial chamber within the ben-ben would identify
the king with Ra because the king then is actually Ra rising above the
horizon73.
III. In the wall reliefs that were found around the pyramid complex of Khufu
and decorated blocks probably from Khufu's complex that were found within the
Amenemhet I Pyramid at Lisht 74, there are no reliefs that show Khufu giving
offerings to the gods. The lack of this type of relief, may be due to the fact that
the new cult of Khufu and Ra would have equated the king with the god.
IV. Khufu's pyramid and that of Khafra are the only two pyramids which
have the so called air channels. Also there are five boat pits around the south side
and east side of the Great Pyramid, and Khafra has five boat pits around his Upper
Temple. These are unique and also are not part of the architectural program of
the Old Kingdom pyramid complex. The two southern boat pits are separated by
a wall of bedrock which is on the north-south axis of the Great Pyramid. One
of the two so-called air shafts is located on the central axis of the southern face
of the pyramid and is at right angles to the east-west axis of the two boats. The
so-called air channels and the five boat pits are likely to be connected with the
new cult of Ra75.
V. There are no temples built by Khufu for other gods. The statuette of Khufu
that was found at Abydos was not connected with a 4th Dynasty temple. The
statuette was found in building K which was constructed against a 6th Dynasty
gateway76.
VI. The Egyptians in the Late Period remembered Khufu from such Middle
Kingdom texts as the Westcar Papyrus and later the words of Herodotus. In the
26th Dynasty, Khufu's cult was renewed and his pyramid re-opened. In that time
this cult was so important as to warrant priests and his name being engraved upon
countless scarabs and amulets.
VII. Khufu's new cult may have been the first religious revolution in ancient
Egypt. There are also suggestions that the king dismissed the priests of Heliopolis
and organized his own cult at Giza. Khafra worshiped his father, Khufu, as Ra.
Not long afterward, perhaps in the First Intermediate Period the Egyptians a!~ost
destroyed his temples. Likewise the statues of Khafra found inside his lower temple
were smashed. This is a sign of revenge more than just theft. The destruction
may have been a reaction to the religious changes of Khufu and Khafra.
VIII. There are few private statues found in the reign of Khufu. The reserve
heads occur mainly in the time of Khufu. They may have functioned as substitutes
for the heads of the deceased, as sculptors models. In any case they are another
indication of changes during the reign of Khufu, perhaps to accommodate his new
cult 77.
IX. Khufu's Upper temple is the first to contain the five niches, according
to one reconstruction of the badly destroyed sanctuary. A suggestion is that four
niches were to house Khufu's four statues representing him as Ra and Horus and
the last niche was for a cult statue for Hathor. The Upper Temple of Khafra also
had five niches. Perhaps three of the statues represented Khafra as King; the other
two niches were perhaps for statues of Khufu as Ra, and of Hathor. Khafra may
have accepted his father Khufu as a god and worshiped him as Ra in his pyramid
complex.
X. Although Khufu designed his pyramid with a burial chamber beneath the
pyramid, this chamber was left unfinished. This change may have been made in
Khufu's Year 5 to accommodate the new cult by planning a chamber higher up
in the pyramid.
XI. Djedefra, the son who succeded Khufu, built his pyramid at Abu-Roash.
He ruled only 8 years. I suggest that the reason he did not build his pyramid next
to his father at Giza was that he did not accept his father's new cult.
XII. Khafra carved the Sphinx to present himself as Horus, Son of Ra, to
worship his father Ra in the Sphinx Temple. The layout of the Sphinx was designed
to be connected with the temple. It shows the sphinx (Khafra) giving offerings
in the temple to Ra (Khufu).
Khafra planned carefully for the location of the Great Sphinx. The main function
of the Sphinx and its temple was to accommodate the new cult initiated under
Khufu. The Sphinx represents Khafra as Horus giving offerings to his father Khufu,
the incarnation of Ra who rises and sets in the temple. Since Khafra was the son
of Khufu and Horus was the son of Ra, it seems reasonable to equate Khafra
with Horus and thus to identify Khafra with the Sphinx. Finally, the term AkhetKhufu
was the name of Khufu's pyramid. Thus the later name of the Sphinx
"Hor-em-akhet" could have recalled, for the New Kingdom Egyptians, the name
of the Khufu Pyramid. The Sphinx was "Horus in the Horizon of Khufu".
THE FUNERARY ESTABLISHMENTS OF KHUFU, KHAFRA AND MENKAURA
DURING THE OLD KINGDOM
ZAHI A. HAWASS
The temple and the area surrounding it were
called Setepet, translated by Hassan as "the elect"
(plan: 13, 14).11
The Sphinx Temple lies to the north of Khafra's
lower temple, in line with it and separated from it, by a
narrow passage.12 It is located directly in front of the
Sphinx.13 The temple was built of local limestone and
cased on the inside with Tureh limestone, granite, and
alabaster. On the exterior, only the portals were lined
with granite.14 The temple was never completed S a core
block in situ in the north wall, which is abutted by Old
Kingdom debris, had not yet been dressed to receive the
granite sheathing which would have covered the wall had
the temple been completed.!5 The main axis of the temple
runs east-west.^
The temple has two entrances on the east, one
entrance on the north and the other on the south.
These may represent doorways for Upper and Lower Egypt.10
Although there were no traces of hinges found,
Maraglogllo and Rinaldi have suggested that the doorways
were closed with two-leaved doors
The northern rooms are lined with granite,
the southern rooms with alabaster.27 These rooms could
be interpreted aa magazines built to hold precious
objocts needed for the temple cult.
Against the masonry bounding the central court,
between the openings leading to the peripteral corridor,
are a series of rectangular depressions cut into the rock
floor. These may have held statues representing the
king who built the temple,28 small sphinxes,29 or
piliars.30 Abundant fragments of alabaster indicate that
the courtyard was paved with this material.31
Ricke and Schott, who studied the function of the
temple, believe that the eastern set of stepped recesses
are for a ritual to the rising sun, and that the western
recesses are for the setting sun. They think that the
twenty-four pillars around the hall (six on each side)
represent the twelve hours of the day and the twelve
hours of the night, and that the four pillars in front of
the two innermost recesses represent the arms and legs of
the goddess Nut. They believe that the open court is
connected with a solar cult32 or a temple to Ra. This
open court is similar to the courts of the upper temple
of Khufu and Khafra. Ricke interpreted this temple as
the temple of Hor-em-Akhet.33
A long narrow trench runs under the south wall of
the temple near its eastern end; it has been suggested
that this represents a drain that served the lower
terrace before the building of the temple.34 Lehner
suggests alternatively that it could represent a trench
used during quarrying operations as a "lead" for dropping
a reference point.35 This suggests that the 4th Dynasty
Egyptians worked with an economy of labor and material by
using large core blocks extracted during the cutting of
the sphinx sanctuary to build the Sphinx Temple
immediately to the east.36
The location of this temple in front of the Sphinx's
paws and its anomalous layout suggest that it was not a
temple dedicated to the funerary cult of one of the kings
buried at Giza, but was instead built to house the cult
connected with the Sphinx.37 xt has also been suggested
that it is a sun temple.38
The Sphinx and its temple were abandoned and robbed
in the First Intermediate Period or Middle Kingdom.39
The only Middle Kingdom artefact found in the area of the
Sphinx sanctuary was a faience scarab inscribed with the
title jmj-r3 ms(: "general ."40
The first known 4th Dynasty sphinx shape dates from
the reign of Khufu's son and Khafra's predecessor
Djedefra. The quartzite head and neck represents the
king, but otherwise its function is unknown.77 After the
Sphinxes in general are closely
associated with the sun god, as can be seen in
representations of sphinxes in the sacred boat of Ra from
the New Kingdom.*95 The connection between Khafra and
Horus can be seen in the diorite statue of the king which
shows the hawk behind his head and shoulders and the
generally accepted identification of all Egyptian kings
with Horus, as shown by their titularies.g6
Since Khafra was the son of Khufu and Horus was the
son of Ra, it seems reasonable, once we have equated
Khufu with Ra, to equate Khafra with Horus, and thus to
identify Khafra with the Sphinx. Finally, the term 3ht-
Hwfw was the name of Khufu's complex.9? Thus the later
name of the Sphinx, "Hor-em-akhet," can be interpreted as
Horus in the horizon of Khufu.
DR. ZAHI HAWASS
The Secrets
of the Sphinx
In addition, new evidence that has surfaced
independently of the conservation efforts contributes to our understanding of when the
Sphinx was abandoned and plundered. The new evidence confirms that a) Khafre build
the Sphinx in the Fourth Dynasty (ca. 2600 BC) for cultic purposes, and b) the Sphinx:
was not abandoned in the Middle Kingdom as some scholars have maintained, but
rather at the end of the Old Kingdom, and plundered thereafter during the First
Intermediate period (ca. 2150-2040 BC).