Great Sphinx of Giza Timeline

(c. 2500 BCE - Present)

The Great Sphinx of Giza is a colossal limestone statue with the body of a lion and the head of a human, believed to represent the pharaoh Khafre. Located on the Giza Plateau near Cairo, Egypt, it was carved from bedrock around 2500 BCE during the Old Kingdom and remains one of the largest and oldest monumental statues in the world. More Less

Go to: Timeline | Event List | Key Facts | Directory

Construction and Origins

Construction of the Great Sphinx

2600 BC

Archaeological evidence suggests the Great Sphinx was created by Egyptians of the Old Kingdom between 2600 and 2500 BC, for the king Khufu, builder of the Great Pyramid of Giza, or his son Khafre, builder of the second pyramid at Giza.

Image source: Great Sphinx of Giza

Reign of Khufu

2590 BC - 2566 BC

Khufu (c. 2590–2566 BC), builder of the Great Pyramid of Giza, is one of the pharaohs to whom archaeological evidence attributes the creation of the Great Sphinx.

Image source: Khufu

Reign of Khafre

2558 BC - 2532 BC

Khafre (c. 2558–2532 BC), builder of the second pyramid at Giza, is the other Old Kingdom pharaoh suggested by archaeological evidence as the creator of the Great Sphinx.

Image source: Khafre

Stadelmann attributes style to Khufu

1990

Rainer Stadelmann, former director of the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo, examined the distinct iconography of the nemes headdress and the now-detached beard of the Sphinx and concluded the style is more indicative of Khufu (2589–2566 BC), known to the Greeks as Cheops.

Dobrev suggests Djedefre as builder

2004

In 2004, Vassil Dobrev of the Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale announced new evidence suggesting the Great Sphinx may have been the work of Djedefre (2528–2520 BC), Khafre's half brother and son of Khufu. Others contend erosion could have occurred rapidly, suggesting a late Predynastic origin.

Image source: Great Sphinx of Giza

Ancient Worship and Excavation

Sphinx revered as Hor-em-akhet in New Kingdom

1550 BC

In the New Kingdom, the Sphinx was revered as the solar deity Hor-em-akhet ('Horus of the Horizon'; Hellenized: Harmachis), and the 14th century BC pharaoh Thutmose IV specifically refers to it as such in his Dream Stele.

Amenhotep II builds temple to the northeast

1427 BC

The Pharaoh Amenhotep II (1427–1401 or 1397 BC) built a temple to the northeast of the Sphinx nearly 1,000 years after its construction and dedicated it to the cult of Hor-em-akhet.

Image source: Amenhotep II

First documented excavation by Thutmose IV

1400 BC

The first documented attempt at an excavation dates to c. 1400 BC, when the young Thutmose IV (1401–1391 or 1397–1388 BC) gathered a team and managed to dig out the front paws, erecting a shrine housing the Dream Stele between them, possibly a repurposed door lintel from Khafre's temples.

Possible second excavation under Ramesses II

1279 BC

Later, Ramesses II the Great (1279–1213 BC) may have undertaken a second excavation of the Great Sphinx.

Image source: Ramesses II

Damage and Restoration

Arab authors report iconoclastic nose damage

900

The Sphinx's nose has been documented as damaged since at least the 10th century. Some 10th-century Arab authors claimed the damaged nose was the result of iconoclastic attacks, while others attributed it to the Mamluks in the 14th century.

Al-Maqrīzī blames Muhammad Sa'im al-Dahr

1378

Writing in the early 15th century, Arab historian al-Maqrīzī attributed the loss of the nose to Muhammad Sa'im al-Dahr, a Sufi Muslim from the khanqah of Sa'id al-Su'ada in 1378. Contrary to popular myth, the nose was not destroyed by Napoleon's troops during his 1798 campaign.

Mamluk desecration of sphinxes

1384

Other writers have attributed the damage to the Mamluks, including a ruler who died in 1384 who desecrated the sphinxes of 'Qanatir al-Siba'.

Baraize clears sand and seals tunnels

1926

In 1926, the Sphinx was cleared of sand under direction of Émile Baraize, revealing an opening to a tunnel at floor-level at the north side of the rump. Baraize sealed the fissure sides and roofed it with iron bars, limestone and cement, installed an iron trap door, and closed Helffrich's hole with a metal hatch.

Egyptian government repairs the head

1931

In 1931, engineers of the Egyptian government repaired the head of the Sphinx. Part of its headdress had fallen off in 1926 due to erosion, which had also cut deeply into its neck. Baraize dismantled the stairway during his 1931–32 excavations.

European Observations

European observers describe feminine features

1500 - 1900

From the 16th to the 19th centuries, European observers described the Sphinx having the face, neck and breast of a woman, including Johannes Helferich (1579), George Sandys (1615), Johann Michael Vansleb (1677), Benoît de Maillet (1735) and Elliot Warburton (1844).

Thévet describes the Sphinx in Cosmographie de Levant

1556

Seven years after visiting Giza, André Thévet described the Sphinx as 'the head of a colossus, caused to be made by Isis, daughter of Inachus, then so beloved of Jupiter'.

Image source: André Thevet

Helffrich visits the speaking Sphinx

1565 - 1566

During his travels between 1565 and 1566, Johann Helffrich visited the Sphinx and described how a priest entered the head of the Sphinx, and when the priest spoke, it was as if the Sphinx itself was speaking.

Kircher depicts Sphinx as Roman statue

1679

Athanasius Kircher, who never visited Egypt, depicted the Sphinx as a Roman statue in his work Turris Babel (1679).

Image source: Athanasius Kircher

De Bruijn's drawing of the Sphinx

1698

Richard Pococke's later Sphinx was an adaptation of Cornelis de Bruijn's drawing of 1698, featuring only minor changes, but is closer to the actual appearance of the Sphinx than anything previous.

Image source: Cornelis de Bruijn

Norden draws the noseless Sphinx

1737

Drawings made by Frederic Louis Norden in 1737 show the Sphinx's nose missing. The print versions of Norden's drawings for his Voyage d'Egypte et de Nubie, published in 1755, clearly show the missing nose.

Image source: Frederic Louis Norden

Modern Archaeology

Caviglia uncovers the Sphinx's chest

1817

In 1817, the first modern archaeological dig, supervised by the Italian Giovanni Battista Caviglia, uncovered the Sphinx's chest completely.

Image source: Giovanni Battista Caviglia

Vyse drills tunnel behind the head

1837

Howard Vyse directed John Shae Perring in 1837 to drill a tunnel in the back of the Sphinx, just behind the head. Vyse also noted in his diary that he was 'boring' near the tail, indicating him as the creator of the rump passage.

Image source: Howard Vyse

Mariette excavates the natural fissure

1853

A major natural fissure in the bedrock cuts through the waist of the Sphinx, first excavated by Auguste Mariette in 1853.

Image source: Auguste Mariette

Mariette unearths the Inventory Stela

1857

In 1857, Auguste Mariette, founder of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, unearthed the much later Inventory Stela, estimated to be from the Twenty-sixth Dynasty.

Image source: Inventory Stela

Petrie questions the age of the Valley Temple

1883

In 1883, Flinders Petrie wrote regarding the state of opinion on the age of the Khafre Valley Temple, and by extension the Sphinx: 'Recent discoveries, however, strongly show that it was really not built before the reign of Khafre, in the fourth dynasty.'

Image source: Flinders Petrie

Maspero surveys the Sphinx

1886

Gaston Maspero, French Egyptologist and second director of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, conducted a survey of the Sphinx in 1886. He concluded that because the Dream Stele showed the cartouche of Khafre in line 13, the Sphinx must predate Khafre—possibly Fourth Dynasty, c. 2575–2467 BC.

Image source: Gaston Maspero

Chest, paws and plateau fully visible

1887

At the beginning of the year 1887, the chest, the paws, the altar, and plateau were all made visible.

Budge dates the Sphinx before Khafre

1904

Wallis Budge agreed the Sphinx predated Khafre's reign, writing in The Gods of the Egyptians (1904): 'This marvelous object was in existence in the days of Khafre... and it is probable that it dates from the end of the archaic period [c. 2686 BC].'

Image source: E. A. Wallis Budge

Dream Stele re-excavated; Khaf lines destroyed

1925

When the Dream Stele was re-excavated in 1925, the lines of text referring to Khaf had flaked off and were destroyed. A photograph from 1925 shows a man standing below floor level in a niche in the Sphinx's core body, which was closed during the 1925–1926 restorations.

Image source: Dream Stele

Cayce predicts Hall of Records

1930

In the 1930s, Edgar Cayce specifically predicted a 'Hall of Records' containing knowledge from Atlantis would be discovered under the Sphinx in 1998.

Image source: Edgar Cayce

Rump tunnel cleared by Hawass

1978

The hole drilled by Vyse behind the head was cleared in 1978 during excavation by Hawass, along with a niche measuring 1.42 by 1.06 metres and about 2 metres deep.

Image source: Zahi Hawass

Rump passage rediscovered and excavated

1980

The clearing of sand by Baraize in 1926 led to the rediscovery and excavation of the rump passage in 1980.

Key Facts

The Great Sphinx is believed to have been built around 2500 BCE during the reign of Pharaoh Khafre of Egypt's Fourth Dynasty.
It measures approximately 73 meters (240 feet) long and 20 meters (66 feet) high, making it one of the largest monolithic statues in the world.
The statue was carved directly out of a single mass of limestone bedrock on the Giza Plateau.
The Sphinx's nose was famously damaged, with popular legend attributing this to Napoleon's troops, though earlier accounts blame iconoclastic acts in the 14th century CE.
Major restoration projects began in the 20th century and continue today to protect the monument from erosion and weathering.

Source

This Great Sphinx of Giza timeline was generated with the help of AI, using information found on the internet.

We work hard to keep these timelines accurate, but mistakes do get through. If you spot one, email us at [email protected] and we'll fix it for future visitors.

Want a timeline like this one?

Generate yours with AI or build it from scratch, for free.

Try It for Free