The San Francisco call. [volume], April 30, 1911, Image 4

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

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Is-the-Sphinx-a-Mighty
Monument-to-Hate?
R. Y. Gilbert
TWENTY-THREE centuries ago
Herodotus the Greek stood before
the great Egyptian sphinx and
marveled at the awe inspiring bulk
a-d majestic lines of the uncouth giant.
the o records of the ancient his
torian and the notes of later geogra
phers and travelers It would appear that
the keeper of the pyramids was regard
ed as a granite incarnation of the mys
tery and majesty of the gods, but now,
In the light of an American's dlscov-
cries, it seems that the sphinx is noth-
..Ing more than a vast, gigantic carlca
iture of a despised ruler, who was so
■*oitt<?rly hated during ills life that his
people avoided the mention of his name
and threatened to scatter his bones over
the Libyan desert for the kites and
Prof. Reisner’s Discovery
That the Sphinx Is Kephren
Raises the Question, Did a
Whole People Labor Years
In Building the “Riddle of
The Ages” to Revile Forever
The King Who Oppressed
Egypt 5000 Years Ago?
Jackals if he were burled In the pyra
mid, which had cost the Nile peoples 50
years of unremitting slavery.
Dr. George A. Relsner, a former Cali
fornian, the Egyptologist, who has been
working in that portion of the Necropo
lis of Ghlzeh assigned to the American
archaeologists, recently announced that
!n the course of his excavations h«
found conclusive proof that the sphinx
was not a prehistoric monument erect
ed by the followers of the mythical
Horus, b.ut simply a portrait statue of
Khephren,,a Pharaoh of the fourth dy
nasty, son of Cheops, one of the crudest
tyrants and greatest oppressors that the
traditionally oppressed valley of the
Nile had ever known. Professor Relsner
found portrait statues of the monarch
bearing the sphinx features, wearing
the sphinx headdress and ornamented
with the same blood red paint which
may still be traced on the head of the
baffling: monster. £38
In Itself this solution of the mystery
of the monument Is sufficiently start
;ling, , but' when ; one considers ,; that '» the
sphinx traditions of the ancient Greeks,
,whos borrowed k the symbol from the
Egyptians' all have to ldo ' with malig
nant creatures with the ; brutal powers
of the beast and-;the cunning> of ; man,
and that the ** memory of " Khephren,
whose : cruel, 1 cynical ; features" are «said
to surmount the lion body, was for gen
erations detested and r even ' held ' In hor
ror by his own son, the , statue appears
In 1 the astounding light of. an imperish
able memorial to the hatred and,vindic
tive spirit of a whole people. : Conceive:
of a race of men that could so Intensely
TTate a ruler that they would unl^e'theirj
strength and artistic cunning and labor ■
for years on a symbol of their detesta
tion, and; you ', have? some j appreciation
of the significance of the monster which
,hu baffled travelers for 4,000 yeart or
• more. ?
Cheops and Khephren are given scant
mention in the documents of ancient
Egypt and were It not for the two
great pyramids that are knoVn to hive
been erected by them they would
doubtless have been lost in the oblivion
which has swallowed up the names and
records of scores of other Pharaohs,
Moreover, had It not been for the per
verted ambition which prompted these
men to rob Egypt of a hundred years
of her natural growth and to enslave
every available artisan that their
tombs might rise up like mountains
out of the desert and overshadow the
graves of their predecessors, the great
mockery of their iabors, the Sphinx,
might never have been carved from
gTanite, more lasting than the piles
they erected, to mock them In their
graves.
Three world conquerors, Alexander,
Oaesar and Napoleon, stood before the
Sphinx, and no doubt each secretly cn 7
vied the power that had carved such
a monument and hoped that, lie, too,
might have such unlimited sway over
the peoples of the earth that he could
\>\A them erect such monuments to his
memory. Little did they suspect that
they were looking upon a symbol of a
nation's revolt against .lust such un
limited tyranny as they hoped for.
According to Professor Relsner's es
timate the pyramid kings reigned In
Egypt about 47 centuries ago. Th*
only records which hava come down
to us are the stories of Herodotus, who
was In Egypt about 45<#B. ('., and the
records of later travelers and histo
rians. ' The royal monograms or car
touche of the rulers, of course, appear
upon all their works and many atatues
of both Cheops and Khephren have
been found In the vicinity of the an
cient city of Memphis.
In Egyptian annals frequent mention
la made of a semidlvine ruler of the
Nile empire named Snofrul, whose
goodness and charity are extolled at
length. He cared for the Interests of
the people and ruled moderately and
wiMiy throughout hlu career. Under
his management Egypt prospered and
extended her boundaries until the em
pire became Immensely rich. Then at
Ms death came Cheops, born to a posi
tion of power and grandeur which
evidently stimulated his Imagination
and ambition and did away with what
ever moderation he was naturally pos
sessed of.
It was lie who closed the temples,
waged foreign wars, built himself huge
etatues and finally conceived the gi
gantic schema of erecting a mountain
of atone as a tomb and a lasting mark
of his splendor. The people had al
ready begun to worship the memory
of Snofrul, so Cheops became Impatient
and Instituted a worship of himself
before he died. Minor extravagances,
Asiatic wars which drained the treas
uries and took the most useful men
Into the field were regarded as Indul
gences befitting a Pharaoh, but when tho
pyramid building began the people
groaned under the weight of their bur
dens and they continued to groan and
curse for a hundred years. Witness
the Sphinx as the final embodiment of
the waitings and hatred of four gen
erations.
Herodotus was In Egypt 24 "centuries
after the great pyramids had been
completed, but he found the details of
the work still fresh In the popular
mind. In the erection of his monument
Cheops employed 100,000 men tor 30
years. During the first 10 years they
were engaged In the construction of a
stone causeway over which the slabs
from the quarries could be transported,
and the following 20 years were de
voted to the actual construction of the
tomb. Every three months the force
was changed and another 100,000 was
set to work. So enthusiastic did Cheops
become ovsr his giant plaything as the
tiers of stone arose In position that
he Is said to have offered his daugh
ter Honitsome for sale to the highest
bidder at a tlm» when money was no
longer available. From the proceeds, of
this sale the daughter herself saved
enough to build a small pyramid, the
middle one of the three smaller In the
Ohlzeh group, sv It would seem that a
veritable building madness had seized
upon the royalty of the time.
Cheops finally died, doubtless amid re
joicings, and his still more tyrannical
eon and heir came to the throne; and
promptly started the second pyramid.
Unaer Cheops the people had been
worked to exasperation and Egypt
was full of the spirit of revolt, but
the hand of the monarch Ivhephren
was heavy and ho ruled severely and
cruelly. It Is Bald <by Egyptologists
that the statues of this monarch can
be recognized, even when the car
'.ouche at the base has been chipped
away, by the assured and austere
position of the figure and the half
cynical expression of the features.
Undoubtedly he was a prince of ty
rants and as much obsessed by the
craze for unlimited display as his
father. He, too, closed the temples, was
guilty of sacrileges and sacrificed his
prisoners and enemies before the
jackal Amabis and the lbls-headed
Thot. He paid hjs workmen In turnips,
onions and garlic and the stone sheds
about the second pyramid where the
laborers were housed are still trace-
able.
When b.p finally died he was probably
' Interred secretly in the hidden chamber
of the second pyramid by the priests.
The only opening- to his tomb was
concealed by a stone which revolved*
on a pivot and closed in such a fashion
that no evidence of a doorway was
visible. This avenue was discovered by
Belzonl a hundred years ago and when
he came to search the apartment and
to examine the sarcophagus which he
found there he discovered an Inscrip
tion in Cuflc relating 1 that in 1195
Caliph Alaziz Othman Ben-Tusuf had
superintended the opening .of the tomb,
and in the Investigation of the con
tents Belzonl, needless to say, found
nothing with the exception of the
body of a bull. It is possible that
the workmen carried out their threat
and emptied the tomb, scattering the
remains abroad 3.000 years before the
Arab found lila way Into the hidden
apartment, for certainly their frenzy
of hatred would not have stopped at
the sepulchre •van in that age when
the respect for the dead surpassed
all other forms of reverence.
As a result of a century of slavery
and oppression it Is more than possible
that after Khephren's death the army
of workmen who had labored for so
many years to the detriment of Egypt
under his cruel taskmasters rose up
and turned all their energies and craft
into one channel to rear a lasting
taunt and mockery before Khephren's
tomb, and bo we have the Sphinx.
At some remote period the Greeks im
ported the Egyptian sphinxes and the
traditions associated with them and in
corporated them bodily in their own
myths. It will be remembered that the
Greek sphinx, moreover, was a monster
of implacable cruelty, animal in its
power and vigor and human In its mall
clous intelligence. The lion is a crea
ture of noble mien and kingly traits to
none but those who do not dally walk
in the same paths with him. To the
Nubian and Libyan shepherd the stealthy
cattle thief who devours their flocks and
slaughters their children is in no sense
majestic or kingly. His power Is a
malevolent power, and the mystery of
his movements is not a fascinating mys.
ter.y, but a despicable craft. It is
scarcely possible that the Egyptians
who lived on the edge of the deserts
would carve a great stone figure with
the powerful head of the destructive
beast and the cruel, brutal face of a
man wearing a sinister smile as a mon
ument to his greatness and benevolent
power, and it is still less likely that
Khephren would have perpetuated his
Image In this form.
Though the wind and sand of 47 cen
turies have defaced the features and the
cannon balls of the half crazed Mama
lukes have torn away the beard and the
lower portion of the headdress, the cru
elty of the lips, full and sensuous, the
massive protruding jaw, the low brutal
forehead and, over all, the cold, cynical
e-nile, still testify to the art of the
craftsmen who labored to portray in
that giant face all the implacable cruel
ty and malevolence of their subject.
Among the other traditions of the
pyramid kings that have survived la
a story of the Impiety of Mykerinos,
the son of Khephren. This fable Is
peculiarly Interesting In connection
with the identification of the Sphinx,
because Mykerinos' crime is vaguely
referred to as some sort of disrespect
for his fl«ad father. Maspero, the
Egyptologist, discovered and translated
Inscriptions which led him to believe
that Mykerinos was not the chosen son
The San Francisco Sunday Call
Edmund Mitchell,
TO MOST travelers a first view of the Egyptian sphinx is somewhat
disappointing. The sublimity of its setting is in a measure
marred by the incongruities of the scene. After elbowing one's
way through the jostling crowd on the bridge of Cairo, where the
carriage of the rich pasha or the automobile of the European has to
take its turn, perhaps, with a donkey ridden by a heavily veiled Egyp
tian woman or a camel laden with a veritable mountain of green fodder
—after emerging from a throng of variegated humanity clad in every
manner of costume, from the brown of the native laborer's skin to
the daintiest gown from Paris—one boards an electric car and to the
sharp clang of its gong starts for the pyramids of Gizeh. Hitherto the
very name has been enshrined in the atmosphere of antiquity and
mystery, but here at every turn is the new rubbing shoulders with the
old—assertive modesty treading under foot the things of prehistoric
ages. And it is to see the latter that one has come into the desert—on
an American trolley car!
At the end of a seven mile run along a noble avenue of shade
trees, the conductor calls, "Menu house," and we cast our eyes to the
right, to behold a palatial modern hotel, with gardens, golf course and
polo grounds. But descending on the left of the car we are face to
face with the three pyramids 1 of Gizeh, and, crouched below them,
with the sphinx, sculptured from living rock, the riddle of the ages.
And our right of way is disputed by a hotel runner and a shoeblack.
Then, when we have mastered this first sense of incongruity and
desecration, there comes yet another disappointment. Everything is
much smaller than according to the scale of our preconceived notions.
But wait awhile. Get away from the crowd of guides, beggars and
tourists, and choose a lone spot for contemplation. Straightway we
come to realize that these little antlike specks, crawling far up over
the face of the great pyramid of Cheops, are human beings. Then
the mightiness of the structure bursts upon us. Beneath is the sphinx,
with more human ants clambering about its base. In the end the
impression is one of appalling stupefaction.
Grand and noble in its ineffable calm is the face of trie sphinx.
Although the lines of the carving may be somewhat worn by time,
this is no featureless being, but a speaking, distinctive face that re
mains engraven forever upon the tablets of memory. It is not for
me to break in where archaeological angels fear to tread, but speak
not to me of the sphinx as a battered piece of rock. Closing my eyes,
I can see it again today at a distance of 10,000 mile 3, and after an
interval/of a decade, every feature as clearly limned as are the fea
tures of those closest and dearest to me—a thing of stone, it is' true,
but rendered animate by the soul of the sublime artist who gave it
conception.
But to see the sphinx aright, to absorb the spirit of the sphinx and
of the pyramids, steal into the desert, where, in the silent watches of
the night, when importunate baksheesh hunters have ceased from
troubling and the wearisome dragoman is at rest. Await the rising of
the full moon, and then, in its silvery sheen, gaze upon the mighty
tombs and their crouching guardian. You will be held there as by a
spell till the breaking of the dawn, and when you take the pilgrim way
again will thank God for that night of contemplation and self-com
munion.
and heir of Khephren, but a younger
son set up In place of the heir on ac
count of his tolerance and modesty.
Now the only charge of filial Impiety
entered against the tyrant's successor
was that he was not as bad as his
father, that he did not oppress the
people and Impoverish the land by
building: himself a giant pyramid, but
contented himself with a much smaller
and less costly structure. It la in
geniously explained that inasmuch as
Mykerlnos had held his father's works
in horror and desisted from the policy
of oppression which had become tradi
tional In the family, he had failed to
fulfill the destinies which the gods had
mapped out for Egypt—that Is, that the
people shojuld be mercilessly oppressed
for 150 years. Cheops and Khephren
had done tLelr share and done it well
during the first century of this period,
while the grandson of the ofd pyramid
builder had fallen oft* in his duties and
In this fashion shown disrespect for
ancestral precedent.
The true origin of this legend very
possibly lies in the fact that Mykerinos
permitted the people to dethrone the
heir his father had chosen and, per
haps, was even accessory to the carving
of the grotesque caricature of the un
worthy parent. ,
According to the tradition ,as we have
it, the soothsayers came toT Mykerinos
after he had ascended the throne and
had evinced his intention of conducting
himself as a wise and provident ruler
and Informed him that the gods had
decided that for his breach of tradition
and open disapproval of his fathers
methods his life and reign were to be
limited to six years. Pharaoh was nat
urally much perturbed and wanted to
know why his villainous ancestors had
been allowed to tyrannize and oppress
for 60 years each during which time
they- had been most contemptuous of the
gods and had closed the temples
throughout the land, while he who was
setting things in order and attempting
to alleviate the poverty of the people
who had been pauperized by his fath
er's extravagance, was to be cut off at
the height of his usefulness. The ex
planation was the violation of the di
vine destiny and his breach of Mtal
piety. Whereupon Pharaoh set about
cheating the gods. He had been grant
ed six years of life, but during those
six years he never ceased enjoying life
night nor day, nor did he stop his work
when darkness had set In, so when the
six years expired he triumphantly an
nounced that he had turned the nights
into days and had enjoyed 12 years of
life instead of six.
In recent years the vast graveyard
or "City of the Dead" at Ghlzeh has
been a rich field for archaeologists of
Author and Traveler
all nations. When the Egyptian gov
ernment gave Germany, Italy and
America permission to make excava
tions in the vicinity of the Sphinx and
pyramids, the territory was divided
Into three strips and each allotted to
a nation. That assigned to the Amer
icans was supposed to be the least
fruitful, but it was there, while con
ducting Investigations for Harvard
university, that Prof. George Reisner
made the discoveries of the statues of
Khephren and Mykerlnos, which con
firmed him In his belief that the
Sphinx was no older than the pyra
mids and that It was indeed a mere
portrait statue of old Khephren him
self. ,
Until the sands about the Sphinx
were dug away the head alone pro
truded 'above the dunes and the im
mensity of the figure was not re
vealed. As it now stands the carica
ture of Khephren immediately in front
of his pyramid measures 190 feet from
the outstretched paws to the end of the
body and stands 65 feet In height. The
proportions of the body and of the
face, which in itself is 19 4eet from
chin to forehead, are perfect, and when
fresh from the chisels of its numerous
sculptors doubtless presented a most
realistic and at the same time a most
sinister aspect. Marietta- Bey and
Maspero were both convinced that it
was the product of a civilization lost in
the most remote past and that the
graves and pyramids of later genera
tions had been clustered about it with
a superstitious revwence which re
garded It as the giant guard and
keeper of the dead.
If Doctor Relsner can maintain his
claim these theories will be found base
less and much of the mystery that has
gathered about the old knob of granite
will be as effectually scattered as the
sand that once covered It.
It Is as though the populace of France
had painted cartoons of Napoleon upon
his triumphal arch and his tomb in
the Pantheon, only 10 times more ef
fective and enduring. It Is the greatest
monument to the hatred of a nation
and the spirit of. protest against op
pression the world has ever known. If
the true significance of the monster
Is one of derision and contempt for
the works of the man whom It cari
catures, it could doubtless give satis
faction to the thousands of forgotten
builders and slaves of old Egypt to
know that after a lapse of 47 centuries
during which the significance of their
monument of protest had been lost and
forgotten, the old story of their wrongs
end unique triumph had once more been
brought to light and the exquisite satire
of their master achievement once more
appreciated.