Mythical Beasts (2018–…): Season 1, Episode 7 - Dark Secrets of the Sphinx - full transcript
New discoveries uncover the dark secrets of Egypt's strange half-man, half-lion beast, revealing why the pharaohs were so intent on transforming into this powerful and ferocious monster.
Narrator: THE SPHINX, A
MONSTROUS LIVING STATUE,
A TERRIFYING HUMAN-LION HYBRID.
THESE GREAT MYTHICAL BEASTS
INSPIRED BOTH AWE AND RESPECT
BUT ALSO FEAR.
Narrator: THEY BORE THE
FACES OF EGYPTIAN PHARAOHS
WHO BELIEVED THESE CREATURES
COULD GRANT THEM HUGE POWER.
THE BUILDINGS AND THE ARTWORKS
THAT THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS
CREATED HAD A MAGICAL FUNCTION.
Narrator: WHAT INSPIRED
THIS FORMIDABLE MUTANT?
WHY WAS IT CREATED,
AND WHAT RULE DID IT PLAY
IN THE PHARAOH'S QUEST FOR IMMORTALITY?
♪♪
TODAY, TEAMS OF EXPERTS
USE THE LATEST SCIENCE
AND ARCHAEOLOGY
TO UNCOVER THE TRUTH
ABOUT THIS INCREDIBLE BEAST...
...AND REVEAL HOW THE GREAT SPHINX
BECAME AS MIGHTY AS
THE PHARAOHS THEMSELVES.
♪♪
THE SPHINX... FOR OVER 2,000 YEARS,
THIS STRANGE AND TERRIFYING HYBRID CREATURE
HAS HELD US IN ITS THRALL.
THE SPHINX CAN BE SEEN IN REPRESENTATIONS
ACROSS CULTURES FROM EGYPT
TO GREECE TO INDIA TO ASIA.
♪♪
Narrator: THE GREEKS FEARED
IT AS A FEROCIOUS MAN-EATER.
THE ARABIC WORLD KNEW IT
AS THE FATHER OF TERROR.
♪♪
THE IMAGERY OF A SPHINX
WAS OBVIOUSLY VERY POWERFUL,
AND IT APPEARS IN MANY OTHER CULTURES
BUT OFTENTIMES VERY DIFFERENT.
IN GREECE, FOR EXAMPLE, IT CAME
OUT DOWNRIGHT NASTY AND MEAN.
♪♪
Narrator: BUT NOWHERE WAS
THE SPHINX MORE POWERFUL
AND REVERED THAN IN EGYPT.
♪♪
THE MOST FAMOUS SPHINX SITS
ALONGSIDE THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZA,
BUT COUNTLESS MORE ONCE
COVERED THIS DESERT KINGDOM.
EACH ONE BORE THE FACE OF A PHARAOH,
INCLUDING THE BOY-KING, TUTANKHAMUN.
THERE AREN'T MANY
CREATURES IN WORLD HISTORY
THAT HAVE SUCH A LASTING LEGACY
AS THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN SPHINX.
♪♪
Narrator: WHY DID THIS BIZARRE
MUTANT HAVE SUCH A STRONG
AND POWERFUL HOLD ON SO MANY CULTURES?
WHAT DID IT OFFER ITS DEVOTED FOLLOWERS?
EGYPTOLOGIST DR. CAMPBELL
PRICE IS ON A MISSION
TO UNCOVER THE TRUTH BEHIND
THIS BEAST AND HOW IT WAS CREATED.
♪♪
THE GREAT SPHINX HERE AT GIZA IS THE OLDEST
AND LARGEST COLOSSAL
STATUE FROM ANCIENT EGYPT.
WE KNOW REMARKABLY
LITTLE ABOUT WHY IT WAS BUILT
OR EVEN REALLY WHAT IT REPRESENTS.
♪♪
Narrator: CAMPBELL HAS DISCOVERED THAT
THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS
HAD A VERY DIFFERENT VIEW
OF STATUES THAN WE HAVE TODAY.
♪♪
THIS IS THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN
WORD, IN HIEROGLYPHS,
FOR SPHINX, SHESEP ANKH, OR LIVING IMAGE.
ALTHOUGH WE TEND TO THINK
OF SCULPTURES AS ARTWORKS,
IN ANCIENT EGYPT, STATUES
WERE POWERFUL, MAGICAL OBJECTS.
THEY HAD A LIFE OF THEIR OWN.
Narrator: IN THE AGE OF THE PHARAOHS,
THERE WAS NOTHING
MYTHICAL ABOUT THIS CREATURE.
THIS STATUE IS NOT A
REPRESENTATION OF THE SPHINX.
THIS IS THE SPHINX.
♪♪
BUT WHY DID THE PHARAOHS
WANT TO TRANSFORM THEMSELVES
INTO A LIVING STATUE OF
A HUMAN-ANIMAL MUTANT?
[ BIRDS CALLING ]
CAMPBELL THINKS THE ANSWER COULD LIE
IN THE ONE ELEMENT OF THE SPHINX
THAT REMAINS CONSTANT ACROSS CULTURES...
THE LION'S BODY.
HE EXAMINES A 500-YEAR-OLD
CARVING TO INVESTIGATE
HOW EGYPT'S RULERS FIRST
DEPICTED THEMSELVES AS LIONS.
♪♪
IT'S A SCENE OF TOTAL CARNAGE.
IN THE CENTER AMIDST PRISONERS BOUND UP
AND PRISONERS BEING MAULED
IS A GIANT DEPICTION OF A LION.
THIS ISN'T JUST ANY LION.
THIS IS A DEPICTION OF THE PHARAOH HIMSELF,
IN CONTROL, BATTLING EGYPT'S ENEMIES,
AND MEETING OUT VENGEANCE
TO ANYONE WHO OPPOSES HIM.
♪♪
THE LION IS ALWAYS IN EVERY CULTURE
CONSIDERED THE KING OF THE BEASTS.
IT'S A KILLING MACHINE.
THROUGHOUT TIME AND
WITHIN SPECIFIC CULTURES,
YOU CAN TYPICALLY FIND THAT
THE MOST DOMINANT BEAST,
SO THE LARGEST WILD
ANIMAL, THE MOST POWERFUL,
THE STRONGEST, COMES
TO REPRESENT THE ROYALTY,
THE NOBLES, THE LEADERS IN THAT SOCIETY.
Narrator: BUT IF THESE
BEASTS WERE SO POWERFUL,
WHY DIDN'T THE PHARAOHS CONTINUE
DEPICTING THEMSELVES SIMPLY AS LIONS?
WHY DID A PHARAOH DECIDE
TO BECOME THE SPHINX?
THE ANSWER COULD LIE IN HOW GODS
WERE REPRESENTED IN
EGYPT'S GREATEST TEMPLE.
♪♪
THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN GODS
WERE SUPER HUMAN BEINGS,
AND THE BEST WAY TO
DEPICT SUPER HUMAN BEINGS
WAS TO GIVE THEM THE POWERS OF ANIMALS.
♪♪
Narrator: THE TEMPLE OF KARNAK AT LUXOR
IS COVERED IN HUMAN-ANIMAL HYBRIDS.
EVEN TODAY, EGYPTIAN GODS
ARE RECOGNIZABLE BY THEIR ANIMAL HEADS,
AND IN ANCIENT EGYPT, THIS
WOULD BE THE HALLMARK OF A GOD...
ANIMAL HEAD, HUMAN BODY.
Narrator: SIMILAR TO MODERN DAY
SUPERHEROES LIKE WOLVERINE
OR SPIDER-MAN, EACH GOD'S ANIMAL
REPRESENTED THEIR NATURE AND FUNCTION.
HECATE, THE GODDESS OF
CHILDBIRTH AND FERTILITY,
HAS THE HEAD OF A FROG.
WHEN THE NILE FLOODS, TADPOLES
APPEAR IN THEIR THOUSANDS,
WHICH IS WHY THE TADPOLE IS THE HIEROGLYPH
FOR THE NUMBER 100,000.
ANUBIS IS THE JACKAL-HEADED
GOD OF THE DEAD.
JACKALS OFTEN SCAVENGE AROUND CEMETERIES,
SO ANCIENT EGYPTIANS
CONNECT THEM WITH DEATH,
AND KHEPRI, THE CREATOR
GOD, HAS A SCARAB-BEETLE HEAD.
SCARABS LAY THEIR EGGS IN DUNG BALLS,
SO THEIR YOUNG SEEM TO EMERGE FROM NOTHING,
A FITTING TRAIT FOR THE GOD OF CREATION.
IT'S OFTEN DIFFICULT FOR
US TO GRASP IN A SOCIETY
WHERE WE'RE USED TO ONE
GOD, BUT IN THOSE SOCIETIES,
THE DIVINE WOULD TAKE ON THE SHAPE
THAT WAS MOST APPROPRIATE
TO GET THE JOB DONE.
Narrator: IF YOU HAD THE
BODY OF A LION, AS A GOD,
THIS GAVE YOU STRENGTH,
MIGHT, AND FEROCITY.
♪♪
ACCORDING TO MYTH, THE SUN GOD,
RA, SENDS HIS DAUGHTER, SEKHMET,
DOWN TO EARTH
TO PUNISH HUMANS WHO DESERTED HIM.
THE GODDESS OF WAR, SEKHMET,
DOESN'T TAKE ANY PRISONERS.
SHE GOES ON A KILLING SPREE
THAT THREATENS TO WIPE OUT HUMANITY.
TO STOP THE BLOODSHED,
RA TRICKS HIS DAUGHTER,
FLOODING THE EARTH WITH
BEER AND POMEGRANATE JUICE.
THINKING IT'S THE BLOOD OF HER VICTIMS,
SEKHMET DRINKS RA'S COCKTAIL.
SHE PASSES OUT FOR THREE DAYS.
WHEN SHE AWAKES, HER RAGE HAS GONE.
♪♪
THE MESSAGE IS CLEAR.
ONLY A GOD CAN HARNESS THE POWER OF A LION.
♪♪
BY MERGING THEMSELVES WITH THIS ANIMAL,
THE PHARAOHS WANTED TO
PROCLAIM THEIR DIVINE STATUS.
Szpakowska: THE PHARAOHS
WOULD REPRESENT THEMSELVES
AS HAVING HEADS OR
DIFFERENT PARTS OF ANIMALS.
THIS WASN'T SOMETHING THAT
AN ORDINARY PERSON LIKE YOU
OR ME COULD DO.
Narrator: THERE'S A MYSTERY.
MOST EGYPTIAN HYBRID BEASTS
HAVE ANIMAL HEADS AND HUMAN BODIES.
♪♪
WHY IS THE SPHINX THE OTHER WAY AROUND?
WE KNOW WE HAVE THIS
VERY WISE AND ADVANCED MIND,
BUT WHEN IT COMES TO OUR PHYSICAL BODY,
WE REALLY DON'T MATCH UP
AGAINST A LOT OF WILD ANIMALS.
SO BEING ABLE TO CREATE A BEAST
THAT IS THE COMBINATION
OF OUR BEST TRAIT, OUR MIND,
AND THE BEST TRAIT OF
THE WILD ANIMAL KINGDOM
MAKES A LOT OF SENSE.
Narrator: THE SPHINX WAS
THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS.
♪♪
BUT WHO FIRST DECIDED TO TRANSFORM HIMSELF
INTO THIS MYTHICAL MONSTER AND WHY?
♪♪
♪♪
THE SPHINX... THE ULTIMATE STATUS SYMBOL
OF A GODLY EGYPTIAN PHARAOH.
♪♪
THE SPHINX OF GIZA
IS THE OLDEST MONUMENTAL
SCULPTURE IN EGYPT.
BY HAVING THIS CARVED
WITH HIS REPRESENTATION,
HE WAS MAKING A STATEMENT TO THE POPULACE,
WHO WOULD'VE BEEN IN AWE
OF THE POWER OF THE KING.
Narrator: BUT WHICH RULER WAS BOLD ENOUGH
TO FIRST TURN HIMSELF
INTO A GIANT LIVING STATUE?
♪♪
THERE ARE NO RECORDS AS TO WHY
OR HOW THIS MYTHICAL BEAST WAS CREATED.
Narrator: EGYPTOLOGIST DR. CAMPBELL PRICE
THINKS ANSWERS MAY LIE HERE,
IN THE LAYER OF EGYPT'S VERY FIRST SPHINX.
♪♪
SO HERE, WE CAN SEE ON OUR
VIEW OF THE GIZA NECROPOLIS,
WE'VE GOT THE GREAT SPHINX DOWN HERE
AND THE PYRAMID OF KHAFRE UP AT THE TOP,
AND IT SEEMS VERY
PARTICULARLY CLEAR ON THIS IMAGE
THAT THE TWO OF THESE ARE ASSOCIATED.
THEY'RE CONNECTED TOGETHER.
SO IT SEEMS SAFE TO
ASSUME THAT KHAFRE BUILT
BOTH THE PYRAMID AND THE GREAT SPHINX.
Narrator: KING KHAFRE RULED
EGYPT AROUND 2500 B.C.
♪♪
HE'S FAMOUS FOR BUILDING ONE
OF THE THREE GREAT PYRAMIDS,
YET HE REMAINS A MYSTERIOUS FIGURE.
WE KNOW ALMOST NOTHING
ABOUT KHAFRE THE MAN,
BUT WE DO HAVE AN ACCOUNT FROM
THE GREEK HISTORIAN HERODOTUS
WHO WROTE IN THE 5th CENTURY B.C.,
SO CENTURIES AFTER KHAFRE HAD DIED,
AND HERODOTUS SAID THAT
KHAFRE, LIKE HIS FATHER KHUFU,
WERE DETESTED.
THEY WERE DESPOTIC RULERS
WHO FORCED THE PEOPLE TO BUILD
THE GREAT PYRAMIDS.
SO THE ONLY ACCOUNT WE
HAVE OF KHAFRE HIMSELF
MAKES HIM OUT TO BE A MEGALOMANIAC.
♪♪
Narrator: KHAFRE NEEDED A MONUMENTAL EFFORT
TO CREATE THE MIGHTY SPHINX.
♪♪
FOUR AND A HALF THOUSAND YEARS AGO,
IN THE SHADOW OF THE PYRAMIDS,
WORKERS RIPPED THOUSANDS OF
TONS OF ROCK FROM THE GROUND
TO CARVE OUT A COLOSSAL
CREATURE THE SIZE OF A JUMBO JET.
♪♪
IT HAD A HUMAN HEAD
THAT TOWERED 66 FEET HIGH,
AND LION'S CLAWS THAT
STRETCHED 60 FEET IN FRONT.
♪♪
THE FUSION OF KING AND BEAST
CREATED A TRULY EPIC MYTHICAL CREATURE.
♪♪
HOW DID KHAFRE HOPE TO
USE THIS GIANT STONE MONSTER
TO GAIN MORE POWER IN
THIS WORLD AND THE NEXT?
♪♪
THE ANSWER COULD LIE IN THE TEMPLE
AT THE SPHINX'S MONUMENTAL FEET.
♪♪
I'M WALKING DOWN THE
MIDDLE LINE OF THE TEMPLE,
AND THE COMPASS SHOWS ME
THAT THAT LINE IS EXACTLY
ORIENTATED EAST-WEST.
Narrator: SOME ARCHAEOLOGISTS
THINK THIS IS TOO EXACT
TO BE A MERE COINCIDENCE.
THE SPHINX AND ITS TEMPLE ALIGN
WITH THE PATH OF THE SETTING SUN.
♪♪
WE KNOW THE ANCIENT
EGYPTIANS WERE VERY INTERESTED
IN THE MOVEMENTS OF THE
SUN, SO AT TWO TIMES OF YEAR,
SOMETHING AMAZING
HAPPENS WHICH GIVES US A CLUE
OF THE SIGNIFICANCE OF
THE CREATION OF THIS COLOSSAL BEAST.
Narrator: THE GIGANTIC PYRAMIDS
DOMINATE THE GIZA PLATEAU,
BUT TWICE A YEAR,
THE MONSTER SPHINX TAKES CENTER
STAGE IN A GIANT SPECIAL EFFECT.
♪♪
SEEN FROM THE SPHINX TEMPLE ON THE MARCH
AND SEPTEMBER EQUINOXES,
THE SETTING SUN SINKS INTO THE
SHOULDER OF THE GREAT BEAST
AND INTO KHAFRE'S PYRAMID ON THE HORIZON.
FROM ABOVE, THE SHADOWS OF THE SPHINX
AND THE PYRAMID MERGE AT THE TEMPLE,
FORGING A CONNECTION BETWEEN
THE SPHINX AND THE SUN GOD.
♪♪
THE GUYS WHO BUILT THE BIG PYRAMIDS, KHUFU,
KHAFRE, AND MENKAURE,
ALL HAD A VERY CLOSE AND SPECIAL
RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SUN GOD
BECAUSE THEIR FAMILY DESCRIBED THEMSELVES
AS SONS OF THE SUN GOD.
FOR THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS,
THE CYCLE OF THE SUN WAS VERY IMPORTANT.
JUST AS THE SUN ROSE AND SET EVERY DAY,
THE KING, THE PHARAOH,
HOPED TO DO THE SAME THING,
AND SO BY CONNECTING
HIMSELF WITH THE SUN GOD,
HE COULD HAVE THIS ETERNAL LIFE.
Narrator: THE ANCIENT
EGYPTIANS HAD MANY DEITIES,
BUT TO THE PHARAOHS,
THE SUN WASN'T JUST ANOTHER GOD.
HE WAS THEIR FATHER AND
OFFERED THEM IMMORTALITY.
♪♪
ONE THEORY SUGGESTS THAT
THE SPHINX AND THE PYRAMID
WERE TWO HALVES OF A PLAN
THAT WOULD ALLOW KHAFRE TO LIVE ON FOREVER.
♪♪
THE PYRAMIDS, THE SPHINX,
AND THE SURROUNDING TEMPLES
WERE PART OF A MACHINE, AN ENGINE,
TO LAUNCH THE SPIRIT OF THE
PHARAOH INTO THE AFTERLIFE
TO JOIN THE DIVINE FATHER, THE SUN GOD.
♪♪
Narrator: BUT THE SPHINX
WOULDN'T JUST HELP KHAFRE
BE A GOD IN THE AFTERLIFE.
LIKE THE PYRAMID,
IT WAS AN ETERNAL REMINDER
OF HIS STATUS AS A GOD ON EARTH.
♪♪
BUT WOULD THE PHARAOH'S
AMBITIONS FOR HIS GIANT SPHINX
GO TO PLAN?
AND WHAT CAUSED LATER RULERS
TO BUILD WHOLE ARMIES OF SPHINXES?
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: THE GREAT SPHINX OF GIZA...
IT WAS CREATED ABOUT 4,500 YEARS AGO
BY AN ALL-POWERFUL PHARAOH, KHAFRE.
A MYTHICAL BEAST IN THE
FORM OF A LIVING STATUE,
IT WOULD SHOW HIM AS A GOD ON EARTH
AND HELP HIS SOUL REACH THE AFTERLIFE.
♪♪
BUT THE POWER OF THIS TERRIFYING CREATURE
FADED AFTER THE PHARAOH'S DEATH.
BUILDING COLOSSAL MONUMENTS
IS AN EXPENSIVE BUSINESS.
DURING KHAFRE'S DYNASTY,
THESE OVERAMBITIOUS
PYRAMID PROJECTS PEAKED.
KHAFRE'S SON, MENKAURE,
BUILT A MUCH MORE MODEST TOMB,
JUST HALF THE SIZE OF HIS FATHER'S.
EVENTUALLY, RESOURCES STARTED TO DRY UP,
AND THE GIZA PLATEAU
BECAME IMPOSSIBLE TO MAINTAIN.
GRAVE ROBBERS LOOTED THE PYRAMIDS.
THE GREAT SPHINX LAY HALF-BURIED,
A CURIOSITY FOR LATER
GENERATIONS TO WONDER AT.
♪♪
IT LOOKED LIKE THE SPHINX'S DAYS WERE OVER,
AND IT WOULD BE COMPLETELY
SWALLOWED BY THE DESERT SAND.
♪♪
HOW DID THIS HYBRID CREATURE
MANAGE TO CLAW ITS WAY BACK
INTO THE CENTER OF EGYPTIAN POWER?
THE FIGURE OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN SPHINX
INSPIRED PHARAOHS FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS.
IT WASN'T JUST SOMETHING
THAT WAS A MOMENT IN TIME.
IT WAS PART OF THEIR HISTORY FOREVER.
♪♪
Narrator: SEARCHING
BETWEEN THE COLOSSAL PAWS,
DR. CAMPBELL PRICE INVESTIGATES A CARVING
THAT MAY PROVIDE THE ANSWER.
A STELE IS, LIKE, AN
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN BILLBOARD.
IT'S AN ADVERT TO LIVING PEOPLE
AND ALSO TO THE GODS
OF AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE.
REALLY BIG ONES, LIKE THIS,
MADE OF STONE, BELONG TO KINGS.
♪♪
THIS 4-METER-HIGH TABLET
IS COVERED IN HIEROGLYPHS,
THE PICTURE-BASED WRITING SYSTEM
USED BY THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.
SO HERE WE'RE LOOKING FOR
A KING'S NAME, AND INDEED,
I CAN SEE SEVERAL INDICATIONS
OF A ROYAL NAME ON THERE.
WE SEE THERE ARE THREE DISTINCT
SYMBOLS IN THIS OVAL SHAPE,
CALLED A CARTOUCHE.
WE KNOW THAT CAN ONLY BE THUTMOSE IV,
A VERY IMPORTANT KING IN THE 18th DYNASTY
WHO LIVED ABOUT 1400 B.C.
Narrator: THIS WAS OVER
1,000 YEARS AFTER KHAFRE.
♪♪
THE TEXT ON THE STELE RECORDS
WHEN PRINCE THUTMOSE
IS INDEED JUST A PRINCE.
HE'S NOT THE KING.
HE ENCOUNTERS THE SPHINX,
BUT, IN FACT, IT'S ALMOST
COMPLETELY COVERED IN SAND.
Narrator: THE INSCRIPTION
DESCRIBES PRINCE THUTMOSE
RESTING IN THE SHADOW OF THE SPHINX.
IN THE MID-DAY HEAT, THUTMOSE FALLS ASLEEP,
AND THE SPHINX COMES TO HIM IN A DREAM.
♪♪
SPEAKING WITH THE VOICE
OF THE GOD OF THE RISING SUN,
"IF YOU FREE ME FROM THE SAND,"
IT SAYS, "I'LL MAKE YOU KING."
WHEN HE WAKES, THE PRINCE DOES AS HE'S TOLD
AND UNEARTHS THE SPHINX.
SOON AFTER, THUTMOSE'S OLDER
BROTHER DIES MYSTERIOUSLY,
AND HE INHERITS THE THRONE.
THE SPHINX HAS KEPT ITS WORD.
ONE OF THE WAYS THAT THE
ANCIENT EGYPTIANS COULD INTERACT
WITH THEIR GODS WAS THROUGH DREAMS.
THE EGYPTIANS BELIEVED THAT GODS
COULD COME TO THEM IN THEIR DREAMS
AND HELP THEM SOLVE PROBLEMS
OR RECEIVE CURES FROM THE GODS.
SO THIS WAS ONE WAY FOR THE EGYPTIANS
TO HAVE THAT INTERACTION WITH THE DIVINE.
♪♪
THE SPHINX NOW SPOKE WITH
THE VOICE OF EGYPT'S GREATEST GOD.
♪♪
THUTMOSE'S DREAM HAD
MADE IT STRONGER THAN EVER.
IT WAS NOW THE POWER BEHIND THE THRONE.
IT'S A PLACE OF PILGRIMAGE,
WHERE NEW KINGS COME TO
ASSERT THEIR RIGHT TO THE THRONE.
♪♪
THIS ANCIENT GOD HAS TO BE SOUGHT OUT
TO GIVE HIS STAMP OF
APPROVAL TO EVERY NEW KING.
♪♪
Narrator: THIS MONSTROUS HYBRID ONCE AGAIN
STOOD AT THE CENTER OF EGYPTIAN LIFE.
♪♪
BUT WHY WOULD LATER PHARAOHS BUILD NOT ONE,
BUT WHOLE ARMIES OF SPHINXES?
♪♪
AND WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO THIS MIGHTY BEAST
WHEN THE AGE OF THE
PHARAOHS CAME TO AN END?
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: THE GREAT
SPHINX OF GIZA IN EGYPT,
CREATED BY THE PHARAOH KHAFRE,
THIS POWERFUL AND NOBLE CREATURE
HAD BEEN ABANDONED BEFORE BEING REBORN.
BUT WHY WOULD LATER GENERATIONS
CREATE WHOLE ARMIES OF THESE MONSTERS?
IT DOESN'T GET MUCH MORE
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN THAN THIS,
A MULTITUDE OF SPHINXES.
Narrator: THE AVENUE OF
THE SPHINXES IN LUXOR,
STRETCHING AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE,
A HUGE ARMY OF THESE PART-LION,
PART-HUMAN BEASTS.
A CLUE TO WHY THEY'RE HERE
LIES IN THE TWO RELIGIOUS SITES
THAT ARE LINKED BY THE AVENUE.
AT ONE END IS KARNAK,
THE HOME OF AMUN, KING OF ALL GODS.
OVER A MILE TO THE SOUTH IS LUXOR,
A VAST TEMPLE WHERE THE PHARAOHS
MAKE OFFERINGS TO THE GODS.
BETWEEN THEM, AN AVENUE
LINED WITH AN INCREDIBLE
1,350 SPHINX STATUES,
FORMING A SPIRITUAL HIGHWAY
JOINING THE TWO SACRED SITES.
♪♪
WHY ARE THE SPHINXES HERE?
THE FIRST STEP IS TO DISCOVER
WHOSE FACE IS ON THEM.
♪♪
ARCHAEOLOGIST DR. MOSTAFA AL-SAGHIR
IS STILL FINDING STATUES.
♪♪
MOSTAFA AND HIS TEAM ARE REBUILDING
ONE OF THESE MAGNIFICENT BEASTS, PIECE PIE.
A MISTAKE NOW COULD
SEND THE ANCIENT SCULPTURE
CRASHING TO THE GROUND.
WITH THE STATUE NOW COMPLETE,
IT'S POSSIBLE TO TAKE A
CLOSE LOOK AT THE FACE.
♪♪
WHO IS IT?
NECTANEBO THE FIRST
RULED EGYPT IN 400 B.C.,
OVER 2,000 YEARS AFTER THE
FIRST SPHINX WAS CREATED.
♪♪
CAMPBELL PRICE THINKS A CLUE
TO WHY NECTANEBO COMMISSIONED
A WHOLE ARMY OF SPHINXES
LIES WITH THE AVENUE ITSELF.
WHEN WE LOOK AT THIS BANK OF SPHINXES
LINED UP LIKE SENTINELS ON
EITHER SIDE OF THE AVENUE,
THEIR PURPOSE MUST'VE BEEN TO DO
WITH THE ACTION IN THE MIDDLE.
Narrator: THIS HUGE BOULEVARD
WAS THE CENTERPIECE
FOR ONE OF ANCIENT EGYPT'S
MOST SACRED FESTIVALS.
♪♪
ONCE A YEAR, ALL EYES IN EGYPT
ARE ON THE AVENUE OF THE SPHINXES
AS PRIESTS CARRY A STATUE OF THE GOD AMUN
FROM KARNAK TO LUXOR.
♪♪
JUST LIKE THE SPHINXES,
THE STATUE OF AMUN IS THOUGHT TO BE ALIVE.
THESE FEROCIOUS LIVING SCULPTURES
KEPT WATCH TO MAKE SURE
THE GOD COULD TRAVEL SAFELY
DOWN THE AVENUE TO LUXOR.
THERE, HE COULD RECEIVE
HIS ANNUAL OFFERINGS
FROM THE PHARAOH, A
SACRED RITUAL THAT REMINDED
EGYPTIANS OF THEIR KING'S DIVINE AUTHORITY.
CAMPBELL THINKS THE ARMY OF SPHINXES
PLAYED AN INTEGRAL ROLE IN THIS CEREMONY.
THEY ENSURED IT COULD TAKE PLACE.
ALTHOUGH THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN
GODS WERE INCREDIBLY POWERFUL,
THEY WERE ALSO RATHER VULNERABLE,
ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY
LEFT THEIR TEMPLE HOMES.
THEY NEEDED MAGICAL RITUAL PROTECTION.
SO THAT'S WHAT THIS SQUADRON
OF SPHINXES IS DOING HERE.
THEY'RE ACTING AS GUARDIANS FOR THE GODS
ON THEIR RITUAL JOURNEYS.
Narrator: THE DIVINE SPHINX WAS BECOMING
THE PROTECTOR OF OTHER GODS,
A FIGURE OF BENEVOLENCE.
THE KEY THING IN THE SUCCESS OF THIS FORM
IS ITS ADAPTABILITY, ITS FLEXIBILITY.
THAT ACCOUNTS FOR THE FACT THE SPHINX,
THAT BEAST, THAT IMAGE OF THE BEAST,
IS SO SUCCESSFUL FOR MORE THAN 2,000 YEARS.
♪♪
Narrator: WHY WERE ITS DAYS
FINALLY NUMBERED IN EGYPT?
AND WHAT CAUSED IT TO
EMERGE AS A TERRIFYING
AND RUTHLESS MAN-EATER ELSEWHERE?
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: IN EGYPT,
THE SPHINX ENDURED FOR OVER 2,000 YEARS.
♪♪
THIS HYBRID MUTANT CONSTANTLY
ADAPTED AND TOOK ON NEW POWERS.
♪♪
BUT WHY DID THIS MIGHTY
BEAST FINALLY FALL FROM GLORY?
♪♪
AT THE AVENUE OF THE SPHINXES,
ARCHAEOLOGIST DR. MOSTAFA
AL-SAGHIR UNCOVERS
A POTENTIAL CLUE.
♪♪
THE FAMOUS QUEEN CLEOPATRA
WAS EGYPT'S LAST PHARAOH.
SHE OVERSAW HUGE BUILDING WORKS,
EACH INSCRIBED WITH HER RAL TITLE,
BUT THERE'S SOMETHING
WRONG WITH THIS INSCRIPTION.
THE FACT THAT THE NAME IS
THE WRONG WAY UP PROVES
THIS STONE WAS TAKEN FROM
ITS ORIGINAL BUILDING AND REUSED.
A FEARSOME ARMY OF SPHINXES STOOD GUARD,
PERHAPS TO PROTECT ONE
OF CLEOPATRA'S SACRED
ROYAL BUILDINGS,
BUT THEY WERE TO WITNESS
IT MERCILESSLY TORN DOWN.
♪♪
WHEN THE ROMANS CONQUERED EGYPT,
CLEOPATRA'S BUILDING MAY
HAVE BEEN BRUTALLY REPURPOSED
FOR THEIR OWN CONSTRUCTION
PROJECTS, RIGHT HERE,
UNDER THE VERY NOSES OF
THE ROYAL STONE PROTECTORS.
♪♪
THE ERA OF THE SPHINX IN
EGYPT WAS COMING TO AN END.
♪♪
BUT IT WASN'T THE ROMANS
WHO DROVE THE FINAL NAIL
INTO THE SPHINX'S COFFIN.
THE CLUES LIE IN THE MIGHTY KARNAK TEMPLE.
♪♪
I'VE BEEN COMING TO KARNAK FOR YEARS,
AND THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I'VE SEEN,
AT THE BACK OF THE TEMPLE,
A VERY SPECIAL AND INTERESTING MONUMENT.
Narrator: THE DAMAGE TO THIS STATUE
IS THE RESULT OF MORE THAN JUST EROSION.
HERE IS A STATUE OF THUTMOSE III,
THE BUILDER OF THIS FESTIVAL HALL.
IT'S BEEN CHANGED.
IT'S BEEN VICIOUSLY ATTACKED,
RESCULPTED INTO THE IMAGE OF A CROSS.
THAT GIVES US A CLUE AS TO THE FATE
OF THE IMAGE OF THE SPHINX.
Narrator: CAMPBELL FINDS MORE
EVIDENCE JUST AROUND THE CORNER.
♪♪
AMONGST PAINTINGS THAT
ARE OVER 3,000 YEARS OLD,
THERE'S A SURPRISE INTRUDER.
HERE, IN THIS BEAUTIFUL PAINTED HALL,
AMIDST THE GLORIOUS COLORS,
THERE IS AN IMAGE OF A CHRISTIAN SAINT.
♪♪
Narrator: FLEEING ROMAN PERSECUTION,
SOME OF THE VERY FIRST CHRISTIANS
LIVED AMONG THESE ABANDONED HALLS.
THEY QUICKLY TURNED FROM OPPRESSED MINORITY
TO DOMINANT MAJORITY.
ALL OF A SUDDEN, THE SPHINX WAS CORNERED.
THE CHRISTIANS WERE
HIDING OUT FROM THE ROMANS,
BUT THEY WOULDN'T BE HIDING OUT FOR LONG
BECAUSE WHEN CHRISTIANITY
TOOK HOLD IN EGYPT,
THAT SPELLED THE END OF THE ANCIENT GODS.
AS IT SAYS IN THE BIBLE,
THE FIRST COMMANDMENT,
"THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME."
Narrator: THE CHRISTIANS
BANNED WORSHIP OF PAGAN ICONS,
BRINGING AN END TO MORE THAN TWO MILLENNIA
OF SPHINX DOMINATION IN EGYPT.
BUT THE NATURE OF THE
SPHINX WOULD CHANGE AGAIN,
AND ELSEWHERE IT WOULD RISE ONCE MORE.
HOW DID THIS MAJESTIC CREATURE
END UP AS THE TREACHEROUS,
RAVENOUS MAN-EATER OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY?
A CLUE COULD LIE WITH
ANOTHER MUTANT MONSTER,
THE PART-LION, PART-BIRD GRIFFIN.
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: FOR MORE THAN TWO MILLENNIA,
THE SPHINX RULED SUPREME IN EGYPT.
IT WAS POWERFUL AND REVERED.
BUT ELSEWHERE, THE SPHINX WOULD
BECOME SEEN AS A SYMBOL OF EVIL.
WHY DID THIS PROUD GUARDIAN
OF THE EGYPTIAN GODS
TURN INTO A MALEVOLENT MONSTER?
♪♪
A CLUE LIES AT OLYMPIA IN GREECE.
HERE, ARCHAEOLOGIST
ANTHI DIPLA INVESTIGATES
ANOTHER HYBRID BEAST
WITH THE BODY OF A LION,
THE GRIFFIN.
THE GREEKS BELIEVED THAT
GRIFFINS LIVED FAR AWAY
IN CENTRAL ASIA.
HERE, THEY NESTED.
AMONG ITS EGGS ARE NUGGETS OF GOLD,
DUG UP WHEN BUILDING ITS NEST.
IN THE DAY, THE GRIFFIN SHIELDS
ITS EGGS FROM THE BLAZING SUN.
AND AT NIGHT, IT MUST PROTECT
THEM FROM TREASURE HUNTERS
TRYING TO STEAL THE GOLD
FROM UNDER THE GRIFFIN'S BEAK.
BUT ITS ACUTE HEARING DETECTS ANY INTRUDER,
AND IT'S READY TO KILL.
[ SCREECHING ]
IN GREECE, GRIFFINS AND
SPHINXES HAVE MANY SIMILARITIES.
♪♪
BOTH CREATURES HAVE THE
BODY OF A POWERFUL LION.
BOTH HAVE WINGS AND COME FROM
DISTANT LANDS VIA THE NEAR EAST.
♪♪
THE GREEKS WERE FASCINATED
BY HYBRID CREATURES
LIKE THE GRIFFIN AND THE SPHINX.
THEY DEPICTED THEM IN COUNTLESS ARTWORKS.
BOTH MUTANT BEASTS COULD BE FEROCIOUS.
IT'S LIKELY THAT TRAVELERS
BROUGHT BACK TALES
OF BOTH THE SPHINX AND
THE GRIFFIN TO GREECE.
[ SCREECHING ]
♪♪
COMPARATIVE ANATOMIST DR. JOY REIDENBERG
INVESTIGATES WHAT MIGHT
LIE BEHIND THE GRIFFIN STORIES
THAT MADE IT SUCH A TERRIFYING PROTECTOR.
THERE'S A NEW THEORY THAT
THE GRIFFIN MAY ACTUALLY
BE BASED ON A FOSSIL
FIND, SOMETHING LIKE THIS.
THIS IS A CAST OF A PROTOCERATOPS.
Narrator: THERE'S ONE ASPECT
OF THE SKULL THAT STANDS OUT.
THIS ICONIC BEAK IS WHAT
REALLY CAPTURES THE IMAGINATION
BECAUSE THIS BEAK
LOOKS LIKE AN EAGLE'S BEAK.
YOU CAN SEE THE POINT
RIGHT IN THE FRONT HERE
MEETING A BOTTOM JAW HERE,
AND IT WAS MASSIVE, AND IT WAS POWERFUL.
THEY COUE YOU A REALLY HARD BITE
AND PROBABLY SNAP YOUR BODY IN TWO.
Narrator: ACCORDING TO THE THEORY,
THE IMMENSE FRAME OF THE PROTOCERATOPS
COULD ALSO HAVE INSPIRED
THE NOTION OF A LION'S BODY.
SO IF YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT DINOSAURS,
Reidenberg: WHAT ARE YOU
GOING TO RELATE THIS TO?
IF YOU'VE GOT SOMETHING
WITH A BIRD-SHAPED BEAK
AND IT'S GOT A BODY
ROUGHLY THE SIZE OF A LION,
AND WE KNEW LIONS WERE
IN THE AREA AT THE TIME,
PUT THOSE TWO TOGETHER, AND
NOW, YOU'VE GOT A BIRD-HEADED LION.
THAT'S YOUR GRIFFIN.
Narrator: THE GREEKS
LOVED THE BIZARRE BIOLOGY
OF THESE DANGEROUS HYBRID BEASTS.
IN THE MIDDLE EAST,
THE SPHINX WAS NASTY AND AGGRESSIVE,
SO THEY ASSIMILATED IT INTO
THEIR MYTHOLOGICAL WORLD
OF EVIL MONSTERS.
IT BECAME THE SIBLING OF THE CHIMERA,
THE MULTIHEADED HYDRA
AND THE HELLHOUND, CERBERUS.
♪♪
BUT IT HADN'T ONLY MUTATED INTO
AN EVIL AND TERRIFYING CREATURE.
♪♪
IT HAD BECOME FEMALE.
THIS WAS A SYMBOL OF HORROR
FOR A MALE-DOMINATED SOCIETY.
ACCORDING TO GREEK MYTHOLOGY,
A SPHINX TERRORIZES THE PEOPLE
OF THEBES WITH A DEADLY RIDDLE.
♪♪
WHAT HAS FOUR FEET IN THE MORNING,
TWO FEET IN THE AFTERNOON,
AND THREE FEET AT NIGHT?
ANYONE WHO CAN'T ANSWER THE QUESTION
PAYS WITH THEIR LIFE,
BUT A HERO CALLED OEDIPUS
CRACKS HER RIDDLE... HUMANS.
FIRST THEY CRAWL ON ALL
FOURS, THEN WALK ON TWO LEGS,
AND FINALLY, THEY NEED A
WALKING STICK WHEN THEY'RE OLD.
HUMILIATED, THE SPHINX DEVOURS HERSELF.
THE GREEKS TENDED TO TAKE
ON OTHER PEOPLE'S STORIES
AND THEN MAKE THEM THEIR OWN.
IN THE CHANGING OF THE STORY OF THE SPHINX,
IT LOST ITS ORIGINAL MEANING
AND WAS TURNED INTO A COMPLETE MONSTER.
♪♪
Narrator: STARTING OUT AS
THE LIVING BODY OF A KING,
THE SPHINX DEVELOPED EXTRAORDINARY POWER
AND BECAME A SACRED GUARDIAN
FOR THE GODS THEMSELVES.
SYMBOLS LIKE THE SPHINX WERE THE BRIDGE
BETWEEN THE DIVINE WORLD
AND THE ACTUAL WORLD.
WHEN WE THINK ABOUT
THESE MYTHICAL CREATURES,
ONE OF THE REASONS WHY THEIR STORIES ENDURE
IS BECAUSE ALL OF THESE
CREATURES SHARE POWER,
AND THAT IS WHAT THE ANCIENT
PEOPLES WERE INTERESTED IN,
A WAY TO HARNESS THIS POWER
AND USE IT FOR THEIR BENEFIT.
Narrator: THE SPHINX'S FAME
SPREAD BEYOND EGYPT'S BORDERS,
WHERE IT CHANGED ONCE MORE.
IT BECAME A MAN-EATING
MONSTER THAT WAS VERY DIFFERENT
FROM THE ORIGINAL DIVINE BEAST.
BY PIECING TOGETHER CLUES
AND UNCOVERING ITS SECRETS,
WE'RE COMING CLOSER TO UNDERSTANDING
ONE OF THE WORLD'S
GREATEST MYTHICAL BEASTS.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
MONSTROUS LIVING STATUE,
A TERRIFYING HUMAN-LION HYBRID.
THESE GREAT MYTHICAL BEASTS
INSPIRED BOTH AWE AND RESPECT
BUT ALSO FEAR.
Narrator: THEY BORE THE
FACES OF EGYPTIAN PHARAOHS
WHO BELIEVED THESE CREATURES
COULD GRANT THEM HUGE POWER.
THE BUILDINGS AND THE ARTWORKS
THAT THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS
CREATED HAD A MAGICAL FUNCTION.
Narrator: WHAT INSPIRED
THIS FORMIDABLE MUTANT?
WHY WAS IT CREATED,
AND WHAT RULE DID IT PLAY
IN THE PHARAOH'S QUEST FOR IMMORTALITY?
♪♪
TODAY, TEAMS OF EXPERTS
USE THE LATEST SCIENCE
AND ARCHAEOLOGY
TO UNCOVER THE TRUTH
ABOUT THIS INCREDIBLE BEAST...
...AND REVEAL HOW THE GREAT SPHINX
BECAME AS MIGHTY AS
THE PHARAOHS THEMSELVES.
♪♪
THE SPHINX... FOR OVER 2,000 YEARS,
THIS STRANGE AND TERRIFYING HYBRID CREATURE
HAS HELD US IN ITS THRALL.
THE SPHINX CAN BE SEEN IN REPRESENTATIONS
ACROSS CULTURES FROM EGYPT
TO GREECE TO INDIA TO ASIA.
♪♪
Narrator: THE GREEKS FEARED
IT AS A FEROCIOUS MAN-EATER.
THE ARABIC WORLD KNEW IT
AS THE FATHER OF TERROR.
♪♪
THE IMAGERY OF A SPHINX
WAS OBVIOUSLY VERY POWERFUL,
AND IT APPEARS IN MANY OTHER CULTURES
BUT OFTENTIMES VERY DIFFERENT.
IN GREECE, FOR EXAMPLE, IT CAME
OUT DOWNRIGHT NASTY AND MEAN.
♪♪
Narrator: BUT NOWHERE WAS
THE SPHINX MORE POWERFUL
AND REVERED THAN IN EGYPT.
♪♪
THE MOST FAMOUS SPHINX SITS
ALONGSIDE THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZA,
BUT COUNTLESS MORE ONCE
COVERED THIS DESERT KINGDOM.
EACH ONE BORE THE FACE OF A PHARAOH,
INCLUDING THE BOY-KING, TUTANKHAMUN.
THERE AREN'T MANY
CREATURES IN WORLD HISTORY
THAT HAVE SUCH A LASTING LEGACY
AS THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN SPHINX.
♪♪
Narrator: WHY DID THIS BIZARRE
MUTANT HAVE SUCH A STRONG
AND POWERFUL HOLD ON SO MANY CULTURES?
WHAT DID IT OFFER ITS DEVOTED FOLLOWERS?
EGYPTOLOGIST DR. CAMPBELL
PRICE IS ON A MISSION
TO UNCOVER THE TRUTH BEHIND
THIS BEAST AND HOW IT WAS CREATED.
♪♪
THE GREAT SPHINX HERE AT GIZA IS THE OLDEST
AND LARGEST COLOSSAL
STATUE FROM ANCIENT EGYPT.
WE KNOW REMARKABLY
LITTLE ABOUT WHY IT WAS BUILT
OR EVEN REALLY WHAT IT REPRESENTS.
♪♪
Narrator: CAMPBELL HAS DISCOVERED THAT
THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS
HAD A VERY DIFFERENT VIEW
OF STATUES THAN WE HAVE TODAY.
♪♪
THIS IS THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN
WORD, IN HIEROGLYPHS,
FOR SPHINX, SHESEP ANKH, OR LIVING IMAGE.
ALTHOUGH WE TEND TO THINK
OF SCULPTURES AS ARTWORKS,
IN ANCIENT EGYPT, STATUES
WERE POWERFUL, MAGICAL OBJECTS.
THEY HAD A LIFE OF THEIR OWN.
Narrator: IN THE AGE OF THE PHARAOHS,
THERE WAS NOTHING
MYTHICAL ABOUT THIS CREATURE.
THIS STATUE IS NOT A
REPRESENTATION OF THE SPHINX.
THIS IS THE SPHINX.
♪♪
BUT WHY DID THE PHARAOHS
WANT TO TRANSFORM THEMSELVES
INTO A LIVING STATUE OF
A HUMAN-ANIMAL MUTANT?
[ BIRDS CALLING ]
CAMPBELL THINKS THE ANSWER COULD LIE
IN THE ONE ELEMENT OF THE SPHINX
THAT REMAINS CONSTANT ACROSS CULTURES...
THE LION'S BODY.
HE EXAMINES A 500-YEAR-OLD
CARVING TO INVESTIGATE
HOW EGYPT'S RULERS FIRST
DEPICTED THEMSELVES AS LIONS.
♪♪
IT'S A SCENE OF TOTAL CARNAGE.
IN THE CENTER AMIDST PRISONERS BOUND UP
AND PRISONERS BEING MAULED
IS A GIANT DEPICTION OF A LION.
THIS ISN'T JUST ANY LION.
THIS IS A DEPICTION OF THE PHARAOH HIMSELF,
IN CONTROL, BATTLING EGYPT'S ENEMIES,
AND MEETING OUT VENGEANCE
TO ANYONE WHO OPPOSES HIM.
♪♪
THE LION IS ALWAYS IN EVERY CULTURE
CONSIDERED THE KING OF THE BEASTS.
IT'S A KILLING MACHINE.
THROUGHOUT TIME AND
WITHIN SPECIFIC CULTURES,
YOU CAN TYPICALLY FIND THAT
THE MOST DOMINANT BEAST,
SO THE LARGEST WILD
ANIMAL, THE MOST POWERFUL,
THE STRONGEST, COMES
TO REPRESENT THE ROYALTY,
THE NOBLES, THE LEADERS IN THAT SOCIETY.
Narrator: BUT IF THESE
BEASTS WERE SO POWERFUL,
WHY DIDN'T THE PHARAOHS CONTINUE
DEPICTING THEMSELVES SIMPLY AS LIONS?
WHY DID A PHARAOH DECIDE
TO BECOME THE SPHINX?
THE ANSWER COULD LIE IN HOW GODS
WERE REPRESENTED IN
EGYPT'S GREATEST TEMPLE.
♪♪
THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN GODS
WERE SUPER HUMAN BEINGS,
AND THE BEST WAY TO
DEPICT SUPER HUMAN BEINGS
WAS TO GIVE THEM THE POWERS OF ANIMALS.
♪♪
Narrator: THE TEMPLE OF KARNAK AT LUXOR
IS COVERED IN HUMAN-ANIMAL HYBRIDS.
EVEN TODAY, EGYPTIAN GODS
ARE RECOGNIZABLE BY THEIR ANIMAL HEADS,
AND IN ANCIENT EGYPT, THIS
WOULD BE THE HALLMARK OF A GOD...
ANIMAL HEAD, HUMAN BODY.
Narrator: SIMILAR TO MODERN DAY
SUPERHEROES LIKE WOLVERINE
OR SPIDER-MAN, EACH GOD'S ANIMAL
REPRESENTED THEIR NATURE AND FUNCTION.
HECATE, THE GODDESS OF
CHILDBIRTH AND FERTILITY,
HAS THE HEAD OF A FROG.
WHEN THE NILE FLOODS, TADPOLES
APPEAR IN THEIR THOUSANDS,
WHICH IS WHY THE TADPOLE IS THE HIEROGLYPH
FOR THE NUMBER 100,000.
ANUBIS IS THE JACKAL-HEADED
GOD OF THE DEAD.
JACKALS OFTEN SCAVENGE AROUND CEMETERIES,
SO ANCIENT EGYPTIANS
CONNECT THEM WITH DEATH,
AND KHEPRI, THE CREATOR
GOD, HAS A SCARAB-BEETLE HEAD.
SCARABS LAY THEIR EGGS IN DUNG BALLS,
SO THEIR YOUNG SEEM TO EMERGE FROM NOTHING,
A FITTING TRAIT FOR THE GOD OF CREATION.
IT'S OFTEN DIFFICULT FOR
US TO GRASP IN A SOCIETY
WHERE WE'RE USED TO ONE
GOD, BUT IN THOSE SOCIETIES,
THE DIVINE WOULD TAKE ON THE SHAPE
THAT WAS MOST APPROPRIATE
TO GET THE JOB DONE.
Narrator: IF YOU HAD THE
BODY OF A LION, AS A GOD,
THIS GAVE YOU STRENGTH,
MIGHT, AND FEROCITY.
♪♪
ACCORDING TO MYTH, THE SUN GOD,
RA, SENDS HIS DAUGHTER, SEKHMET,
DOWN TO EARTH
TO PUNISH HUMANS WHO DESERTED HIM.
THE GODDESS OF WAR, SEKHMET,
DOESN'T TAKE ANY PRISONERS.
SHE GOES ON A KILLING SPREE
THAT THREATENS TO WIPE OUT HUMANITY.
TO STOP THE BLOODSHED,
RA TRICKS HIS DAUGHTER,
FLOODING THE EARTH WITH
BEER AND POMEGRANATE JUICE.
THINKING IT'S THE BLOOD OF HER VICTIMS,
SEKHMET DRINKS RA'S COCKTAIL.
SHE PASSES OUT FOR THREE DAYS.
WHEN SHE AWAKES, HER RAGE HAS GONE.
♪♪
THE MESSAGE IS CLEAR.
ONLY A GOD CAN HARNESS THE POWER OF A LION.
♪♪
BY MERGING THEMSELVES WITH THIS ANIMAL,
THE PHARAOHS WANTED TO
PROCLAIM THEIR DIVINE STATUS.
Szpakowska: THE PHARAOHS
WOULD REPRESENT THEMSELVES
AS HAVING HEADS OR
DIFFERENT PARTS OF ANIMALS.
THIS WASN'T SOMETHING THAT
AN ORDINARY PERSON LIKE YOU
OR ME COULD DO.
Narrator: THERE'S A MYSTERY.
MOST EGYPTIAN HYBRID BEASTS
HAVE ANIMAL HEADS AND HUMAN BODIES.
♪♪
WHY IS THE SPHINX THE OTHER WAY AROUND?
WE KNOW WE HAVE THIS
VERY WISE AND ADVANCED MIND,
BUT WHEN IT COMES TO OUR PHYSICAL BODY,
WE REALLY DON'T MATCH UP
AGAINST A LOT OF WILD ANIMALS.
SO BEING ABLE TO CREATE A BEAST
THAT IS THE COMBINATION
OF OUR BEST TRAIT, OUR MIND,
AND THE BEST TRAIT OF
THE WILD ANIMAL KINGDOM
MAKES A LOT OF SENSE.
Narrator: THE SPHINX WAS
THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS.
♪♪
BUT WHO FIRST DECIDED TO TRANSFORM HIMSELF
INTO THIS MYTHICAL MONSTER AND WHY?
♪♪
♪♪
THE SPHINX... THE ULTIMATE STATUS SYMBOL
OF A GODLY EGYPTIAN PHARAOH.
♪♪
THE SPHINX OF GIZA
IS THE OLDEST MONUMENTAL
SCULPTURE IN EGYPT.
BY HAVING THIS CARVED
WITH HIS REPRESENTATION,
HE WAS MAKING A STATEMENT TO THE POPULACE,
WHO WOULD'VE BEEN IN AWE
OF THE POWER OF THE KING.
Narrator: BUT WHICH RULER WAS BOLD ENOUGH
TO FIRST TURN HIMSELF
INTO A GIANT LIVING STATUE?
♪♪
THERE ARE NO RECORDS AS TO WHY
OR HOW THIS MYTHICAL BEAST WAS CREATED.
Narrator: EGYPTOLOGIST DR. CAMPBELL PRICE
THINKS ANSWERS MAY LIE HERE,
IN THE LAYER OF EGYPT'S VERY FIRST SPHINX.
♪♪
SO HERE, WE CAN SEE ON OUR
VIEW OF THE GIZA NECROPOLIS,
WE'VE GOT THE GREAT SPHINX DOWN HERE
AND THE PYRAMID OF KHAFRE UP AT THE TOP,
AND IT SEEMS VERY
PARTICULARLY CLEAR ON THIS IMAGE
THAT THE TWO OF THESE ARE ASSOCIATED.
THEY'RE CONNECTED TOGETHER.
SO IT SEEMS SAFE TO
ASSUME THAT KHAFRE BUILT
BOTH THE PYRAMID AND THE GREAT SPHINX.
Narrator: KING KHAFRE RULED
EGYPT AROUND 2500 B.C.
♪♪
HE'S FAMOUS FOR BUILDING ONE
OF THE THREE GREAT PYRAMIDS,
YET HE REMAINS A MYSTERIOUS FIGURE.
WE KNOW ALMOST NOTHING
ABOUT KHAFRE THE MAN,
BUT WE DO HAVE AN ACCOUNT FROM
THE GREEK HISTORIAN HERODOTUS
WHO WROTE IN THE 5th CENTURY B.C.,
SO CENTURIES AFTER KHAFRE HAD DIED,
AND HERODOTUS SAID THAT
KHAFRE, LIKE HIS FATHER KHUFU,
WERE DETESTED.
THEY WERE DESPOTIC RULERS
WHO FORCED THE PEOPLE TO BUILD
THE GREAT PYRAMIDS.
SO THE ONLY ACCOUNT WE
HAVE OF KHAFRE HIMSELF
MAKES HIM OUT TO BE A MEGALOMANIAC.
♪♪
Narrator: KHAFRE NEEDED A MONUMENTAL EFFORT
TO CREATE THE MIGHTY SPHINX.
♪♪
FOUR AND A HALF THOUSAND YEARS AGO,
IN THE SHADOW OF THE PYRAMIDS,
WORKERS RIPPED THOUSANDS OF
TONS OF ROCK FROM THE GROUND
TO CARVE OUT A COLOSSAL
CREATURE THE SIZE OF A JUMBO JET.
♪♪
IT HAD A HUMAN HEAD
THAT TOWERED 66 FEET HIGH,
AND LION'S CLAWS THAT
STRETCHED 60 FEET IN FRONT.
♪♪
THE FUSION OF KING AND BEAST
CREATED A TRULY EPIC MYTHICAL CREATURE.
♪♪
HOW DID KHAFRE HOPE TO
USE THIS GIANT STONE MONSTER
TO GAIN MORE POWER IN
THIS WORLD AND THE NEXT?
♪♪
THE ANSWER COULD LIE IN THE TEMPLE
AT THE SPHINX'S MONUMENTAL FEET.
♪♪
I'M WALKING DOWN THE
MIDDLE LINE OF THE TEMPLE,
AND THE COMPASS SHOWS ME
THAT THAT LINE IS EXACTLY
ORIENTATED EAST-WEST.
Narrator: SOME ARCHAEOLOGISTS
THINK THIS IS TOO EXACT
TO BE A MERE COINCIDENCE.
THE SPHINX AND ITS TEMPLE ALIGN
WITH THE PATH OF THE SETTING SUN.
♪♪
WE KNOW THE ANCIENT
EGYPTIANS WERE VERY INTERESTED
IN THE MOVEMENTS OF THE
SUN, SO AT TWO TIMES OF YEAR,
SOMETHING AMAZING
HAPPENS WHICH GIVES US A CLUE
OF THE SIGNIFICANCE OF
THE CREATION OF THIS COLOSSAL BEAST.
Narrator: THE GIGANTIC PYRAMIDS
DOMINATE THE GIZA PLATEAU,
BUT TWICE A YEAR,
THE MONSTER SPHINX TAKES CENTER
STAGE IN A GIANT SPECIAL EFFECT.
♪♪
SEEN FROM THE SPHINX TEMPLE ON THE MARCH
AND SEPTEMBER EQUINOXES,
THE SETTING SUN SINKS INTO THE
SHOULDER OF THE GREAT BEAST
AND INTO KHAFRE'S PYRAMID ON THE HORIZON.
FROM ABOVE, THE SHADOWS OF THE SPHINX
AND THE PYRAMID MERGE AT THE TEMPLE,
FORGING A CONNECTION BETWEEN
THE SPHINX AND THE SUN GOD.
♪♪
THE GUYS WHO BUILT THE BIG PYRAMIDS, KHUFU,
KHAFRE, AND MENKAURE,
ALL HAD A VERY CLOSE AND SPECIAL
RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SUN GOD
BECAUSE THEIR FAMILY DESCRIBED THEMSELVES
AS SONS OF THE SUN GOD.
FOR THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS,
THE CYCLE OF THE SUN WAS VERY IMPORTANT.
JUST AS THE SUN ROSE AND SET EVERY DAY,
THE KING, THE PHARAOH,
HOPED TO DO THE SAME THING,
AND SO BY CONNECTING
HIMSELF WITH THE SUN GOD,
HE COULD HAVE THIS ETERNAL LIFE.
Narrator: THE ANCIENT
EGYPTIANS HAD MANY DEITIES,
BUT TO THE PHARAOHS,
THE SUN WASN'T JUST ANOTHER GOD.
HE WAS THEIR FATHER AND
OFFERED THEM IMMORTALITY.
♪♪
ONE THEORY SUGGESTS THAT
THE SPHINX AND THE PYRAMID
WERE TWO HALVES OF A PLAN
THAT WOULD ALLOW KHAFRE TO LIVE ON FOREVER.
♪♪
THE PYRAMIDS, THE SPHINX,
AND THE SURROUNDING TEMPLES
WERE PART OF A MACHINE, AN ENGINE,
TO LAUNCH THE SPIRIT OF THE
PHARAOH INTO THE AFTERLIFE
TO JOIN THE DIVINE FATHER, THE SUN GOD.
♪♪
Narrator: BUT THE SPHINX
WOULDN'T JUST HELP KHAFRE
BE A GOD IN THE AFTERLIFE.
LIKE THE PYRAMID,
IT WAS AN ETERNAL REMINDER
OF HIS STATUS AS A GOD ON EARTH.
♪♪
BUT WOULD THE PHARAOH'S
AMBITIONS FOR HIS GIANT SPHINX
GO TO PLAN?
AND WHAT CAUSED LATER RULERS
TO BUILD WHOLE ARMIES OF SPHINXES?
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: THE GREAT SPHINX OF GIZA...
IT WAS CREATED ABOUT 4,500 YEARS AGO
BY AN ALL-POWERFUL PHARAOH, KHAFRE.
A MYTHICAL BEAST IN THE
FORM OF A LIVING STATUE,
IT WOULD SHOW HIM AS A GOD ON EARTH
AND HELP HIS SOUL REACH THE AFTERLIFE.
♪♪
BUT THE POWER OF THIS TERRIFYING CREATURE
FADED AFTER THE PHARAOH'S DEATH.
BUILDING COLOSSAL MONUMENTS
IS AN EXPENSIVE BUSINESS.
DURING KHAFRE'S DYNASTY,
THESE OVERAMBITIOUS
PYRAMID PROJECTS PEAKED.
KHAFRE'S SON, MENKAURE,
BUILT A MUCH MORE MODEST TOMB,
JUST HALF THE SIZE OF HIS FATHER'S.
EVENTUALLY, RESOURCES STARTED TO DRY UP,
AND THE GIZA PLATEAU
BECAME IMPOSSIBLE TO MAINTAIN.
GRAVE ROBBERS LOOTED THE PYRAMIDS.
THE GREAT SPHINX LAY HALF-BURIED,
A CURIOSITY FOR LATER
GENERATIONS TO WONDER AT.
♪♪
IT LOOKED LIKE THE SPHINX'S DAYS WERE OVER,
AND IT WOULD BE COMPLETELY
SWALLOWED BY THE DESERT SAND.
♪♪
HOW DID THIS HYBRID CREATURE
MANAGE TO CLAW ITS WAY BACK
INTO THE CENTER OF EGYPTIAN POWER?
THE FIGURE OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN SPHINX
INSPIRED PHARAOHS FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS.
IT WASN'T JUST SOMETHING
THAT WAS A MOMENT IN TIME.
IT WAS PART OF THEIR HISTORY FOREVER.
♪♪
Narrator: SEARCHING
BETWEEN THE COLOSSAL PAWS,
DR. CAMPBELL PRICE INVESTIGATES A CARVING
THAT MAY PROVIDE THE ANSWER.
A STELE IS, LIKE, AN
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN BILLBOARD.
IT'S AN ADVERT TO LIVING PEOPLE
AND ALSO TO THE GODS
OF AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE.
REALLY BIG ONES, LIKE THIS,
MADE OF STONE, BELONG TO KINGS.
♪♪
THIS 4-METER-HIGH TABLET
IS COVERED IN HIEROGLYPHS,
THE PICTURE-BASED WRITING SYSTEM
USED BY THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.
SO HERE WE'RE LOOKING FOR
A KING'S NAME, AND INDEED,
I CAN SEE SEVERAL INDICATIONS
OF A ROYAL NAME ON THERE.
WE SEE THERE ARE THREE DISTINCT
SYMBOLS IN THIS OVAL SHAPE,
CALLED A CARTOUCHE.
WE KNOW THAT CAN ONLY BE THUTMOSE IV,
A VERY IMPORTANT KING IN THE 18th DYNASTY
WHO LIVED ABOUT 1400 B.C.
Narrator: THIS WAS OVER
1,000 YEARS AFTER KHAFRE.
♪♪
THE TEXT ON THE STELE RECORDS
WHEN PRINCE THUTMOSE
IS INDEED JUST A PRINCE.
HE'S NOT THE KING.
HE ENCOUNTERS THE SPHINX,
BUT, IN FACT, IT'S ALMOST
COMPLETELY COVERED IN SAND.
Narrator: THE INSCRIPTION
DESCRIBES PRINCE THUTMOSE
RESTING IN THE SHADOW OF THE SPHINX.
IN THE MID-DAY HEAT, THUTMOSE FALLS ASLEEP,
AND THE SPHINX COMES TO HIM IN A DREAM.
♪♪
SPEAKING WITH THE VOICE
OF THE GOD OF THE RISING SUN,
"IF YOU FREE ME FROM THE SAND,"
IT SAYS, "I'LL MAKE YOU KING."
WHEN HE WAKES, THE PRINCE DOES AS HE'S TOLD
AND UNEARTHS THE SPHINX.
SOON AFTER, THUTMOSE'S OLDER
BROTHER DIES MYSTERIOUSLY,
AND HE INHERITS THE THRONE.
THE SPHINX HAS KEPT ITS WORD.
ONE OF THE WAYS THAT THE
ANCIENT EGYPTIANS COULD INTERACT
WITH THEIR GODS WAS THROUGH DREAMS.
THE EGYPTIANS BELIEVED THAT GODS
COULD COME TO THEM IN THEIR DREAMS
AND HELP THEM SOLVE PROBLEMS
OR RECEIVE CURES FROM THE GODS.
SO THIS WAS ONE WAY FOR THE EGYPTIANS
TO HAVE THAT INTERACTION WITH THE DIVINE.
♪♪
THE SPHINX NOW SPOKE WITH
THE VOICE OF EGYPT'S GREATEST GOD.
♪♪
THUTMOSE'S DREAM HAD
MADE IT STRONGER THAN EVER.
IT WAS NOW THE POWER BEHIND THE THRONE.
IT'S A PLACE OF PILGRIMAGE,
WHERE NEW KINGS COME TO
ASSERT THEIR RIGHT TO THE THRONE.
♪♪
THIS ANCIENT GOD HAS TO BE SOUGHT OUT
TO GIVE HIS STAMP OF
APPROVAL TO EVERY NEW KING.
♪♪
Narrator: THIS MONSTROUS HYBRID ONCE AGAIN
STOOD AT THE CENTER OF EGYPTIAN LIFE.
♪♪
BUT WHY WOULD LATER PHARAOHS BUILD NOT ONE,
BUT WHOLE ARMIES OF SPHINXES?
♪♪
AND WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO THIS MIGHTY BEAST
WHEN THE AGE OF THE
PHARAOHS CAME TO AN END?
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: THE GREAT
SPHINX OF GIZA IN EGYPT,
CREATED BY THE PHARAOH KHAFRE,
THIS POWERFUL AND NOBLE CREATURE
HAD BEEN ABANDONED BEFORE BEING REBORN.
BUT WHY WOULD LATER GENERATIONS
CREATE WHOLE ARMIES OF THESE MONSTERS?
IT DOESN'T GET MUCH MORE
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN THAN THIS,
A MULTITUDE OF SPHINXES.
Narrator: THE AVENUE OF
THE SPHINXES IN LUXOR,
STRETCHING AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE,
A HUGE ARMY OF THESE PART-LION,
PART-HUMAN BEASTS.
A CLUE TO WHY THEY'RE HERE
LIES IN THE TWO RELIGIOUS SITES
THAT ARE LINKED BY THE AVENUE.
AT ONE END IS KARNAK,
THE HOME OF AMUN, KING OF ALL GODS.
OVER A MILE TO THE SOUTH IS LUXOR,
A VAST TEMPLE WHERE THE PHARAOHS
MAKE OFFERINGS TO THE GODS.
BETWEEN THEM, AN AVENUE
LINED WITH AN INCREDIBLE
1,350 SPHINX STATUES,
FORMING A SPIRITUAL HIGHWAY
JOINING THE TWO SACRED SITES.
♪♪
WHY ARE THE SPHINXES HERE?
THE FIRST STEP IS TO DISCOVER
WHOSE FACE IS ON THEM.
♪♪
ARCHAEOLOGIST DR. MOSTAFA AL-SAGHIR
IS STILL FINDING STATUES.
♪♪
MOSTAFA AND HIS TEAM ARE REBUILDING
ONE OF THESE MAGNIFICENT BEASTS, PIECE PIE.
A MISTAKE NOW COULD
SEND THE ANCIENT SCULPTURE
CRASHING TO THE GROUND.
WITH THE STATUE NOW COMPLETE,
IT'S POSSIBLE TO TAKE A
CLOSE LOOK AT THE FACE.
♪♪
WHO IS IT?
NECTANEBO THE FIRST
RULED EGYPT IN 400 B.C.,
OVER 2,000 YEARS AFTER THE
FIRST SPHINX WAS CREATED.
♪♪
CAMPBELL PRICE THINKS A CLUE
TO WHY NECTANEBO COMMISSIONED
A WHOLE ARMY OF SPHINXES
LIES WITH THE AVENUE ITSELF.
WHEN WE LOOK AT THIS BANK OF SPHINXES
LINED UP LIKE SENTINELS ON
EITHER SIDE OF THE AVENUE,
THEIR PURPOSE MUST'VE BEEN TO DO
WITH THE ACTION IN THE MIDDLE.
Narrator: THIS HUGE BOULEVARD
WAS THE CENTERPIECE
FOR ONE OF ANCIENT EGYPT'S
MOST SACRED FESTIVALS.
♪♪
ONCE A YEAR, ALL EYES IN EGYPT
ARE ON THE AVENUE OF THE SPHINXES
AS PRIESTS CARRY A STATUE OF THE GOD AMUN
FROM KARNAK TO LUXOR.
♪♪
JUST LIKE THE SPHINXES,
THE STATUE OF AMUN IS THOUGHT TO BE ALIVE.
THESE FEROCIOUS LIVING SCULPTURES
KEPT WATCH TO MAKE SURE
THE GOD COULD TRAVEL SAFELY
DOWN THE AVENUE TO LUXOR.
THERE, HE COULD RECEIVE
HIS ANNUAL OFFERINGS
FROM THE PHARAOH, A
SACRED RITUAL THAT REMINDED
EGYPTIANS OF THEIR KING'S DIVINE AUTHORITY.
CAMPBELL THINKS THE ARMY OF SPHINXES
PLAYED AN INTEGRAL ROLE IN THIS CEREMONY.
THEY ENSURED IT COULD TAKE PLACE.
ALTHOUGH THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN
GODS WERE INCREDIBLY POWERFUL,
THEY WERE ALSO RATHER VULNERABLE,
ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY
LEFT THEIR TEMPLE HOMES.
THEY NEEDED MAGICAL RITUAL PROTECTION.
SO THAT'S WHAT THIS SQUADRON
OF SPHINXES IS DOING HERE.
THEY'RE ACTING AS GUARDIANS FOR THE GODS
ON THEIR RITUAL JOURNEYS.
Narrator: THE DIVINE SPHINX WAS BECOMING
THE PROTECTOR OF OTHER GODS,
A FIGURE OF BENEVOLENCE.
THE KEY THING IN THE SUCCESS OF THIS FORM
IS ITS ADAPTABILITY, ITS FLEXIBILITY.
THAT ACCOUNTS FOR THE FACT THE SPHINX,
THAT BEAST, THAT IMAGE OF THE BEAST,
IS SO SUCCESSFUL FOR MORE THAN 2,000 YEARS.
♪♪
Narrator: WHY WERE ITS DAYS
FINALLY NUMBERED IN EGYPT?
AND WHAT CAUSED IT TO
EMERGE AS A TERRIFYING
AND RUTHLESS MAN-EATER ELSEWHERE?
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: IN EGYPT,
THE SPHINX ENDURED FOR OVER 2,000 YEARS.
♪♪
THIS HYBRID MUTANT CONSTANTLY
ADAPTED AND TOOK ON NEW POWERS.
♪♪
BUT WHY DID THIS MIGHTY
BEAST FINALLY FALL FROM GLORY?
♪♪
AT THE AVENUE OF THE SPHINXES,
ARCHAEOLOGIST DR. MOSTAFA
AL-SAGHIR UNCOVERS
A POTENTIAL CLUE.
♪♪
THE FAMOUS QUEEN CLEOPATRA
WAS EGYPT'S LAST PHARAOH.
SHE OVERSAW HUGE BUILDING WORKS,
EACH INSCRIBED WITH HER RAL TITLE,
BUT THERE'S SOMETHING
WRONG WITH THIS INSCRIPTION.
THE FACT THAT THE NAME IS
THE WRONG WAY UP PROVES
THIS STONE WAS TAKEN FROM
ITS ORIGINAL BUILDING AND REUSED.
A FEARSOME ARMY OF SPHINXES STOOD GUARD,
PERHAPS TO PROTECT ONE
OF CLEOPATRA'S SACRED
ROYAL BUILDINGS,
BUT THEY WERE TO WITNESS
IT MERCILESSLY TORN DOWN.
♪♪
WHEN THE ROMANS CONQUERED EGYPT,
CLEOPATRA'S BUILDING MAY
HAVE BEEN BRUTALLY REPURPOSED
FOR THEIR OWN CONSTRUCTION
PROJECTS, RIGHT HERE,
UNDER THE VERY NOSES OF
THE ROYAL STONE PROTECTORS.
♪♪
THE ERA OF THE SPHINX IN
EGYPT WAS COMING TO AN END.
♪♪
BUT IT WASN'T THE ROMANS
WHO DROVE THE FINAL NAIL
INTO THE SPHINX'S COFFIN.
THE CLUES LIE IN THE MIGHTY KARNAK TEMPLE.
♪♪
I'VE BEEN COMING TO KARNAK FOR YEARS,
AND THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I'VE SEEN,
AT THE BACK OF THE TEMPLE,
A VERY SPECIAL AND INTERESTING MONUMENT.
Narrator: THE DAMAGE TO THIS STATUE
IS THE RESULT OF MORE THAN JUST EROSION.
HERE IS A STATUE OF THUTMOSE III,
THE BUILDER OF THIS FESTIVAL HALL.
IT'S BEEN CHANGED.
IT'S BEEN VICIOUSLY ATTACKED,
RESCULPTED INTO THE IMAGE OF A CROSS.
THAT GIVES US A CLUE AS TO THE FATE
OF THE IMAGE OF THE SPHINX.
Narrator: CAMPBELL FINDS MORE
EVIDENCE JUST AROUND THE CORNER.
♪♪
AMONGST PAINTINGS THAT
ARE OVER 3,000 YEARS OLD,
THERE'S A SURPRISE INTRUDER.
HERE, IN THIS BEAUTIFUL PAINTED HALL,
AMIDST THE GLORIOUS COLORS,
THERE IS AN IMAGE OF A CHRISTIAN SAINT.
♪♪
Narrator: FLEEING ROMAN PERSECUTION,
SOME OF THE VERY FIRST CHRISTIANS
LIVED AMONG THESE ABANDONED HALLS.
THEY QUICKLY TURNED FROM OPPRESSED MINORITY
TO DOMINANT MAJORITY.
ALL OF A SUDDEN, THE SPHINX WAS CORNERED.
THE CHRISTIANS WERE
HIDING OUT FROM THE ROMANS,
BUT THEY WOULDN'T BE HIDING OUT FOR LONG
BECAUSE WHEN CHRISTIANITY
TOOK HOLD IN EGYPT,
THAT SPELLED THE END OF THE ANCIENT GODS.
AS IT SAYS IN THE BIBLE,
THE FIRST COMMANDMENT,
"THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME."
Narrator: THE CHRISTIANS
BANNED WORSHIP OF PAGAN ICONS,
BRINGING AN END TO MORE THAN TWO MILLENNIA
OF SPHINX DOMINATION IN EGYPT.
BUT THE NATURE OF THE
SPHINX WOULD CHANGE AGAIN,
AND ELSEWHERE IT WOULD RISE ONCE MORE.
HOW DID THIS MAJESTIC CREATURE
END UP AS THE TREACHEROUS,
RAVENOUS MAN-EATER OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY?
A CLUE COULD LIE WITH
ANOTHER MUTANT MONSTER,
THE PART-LION, PART-BIRD GRIFFIN.
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: FOR MORE THAN TWO MILLENNIA,
THE SPHINX RULED SUPREME IN EGYPT.
IT WAS POWERFUL AND REVERED.
BUT ELSEWHERE, THE SPHINX WOULD
BECOME SEEN AS A SYMBOL OF EVIL.
WHY DID THIS PROUD GUARDIAN
OF THE EGYPTIAN GODS
TURN INTO A MALEVOLENT MONSTER?
♪♪
A CLUE LIES AT OLYMPIA IN GREECE.
HERE, ARCHAEOLOGIST
ANTHI DIPLA INVESTIGATES
ANOTHER HYBRID BEAST
WITH THE BODY OF A LION,
THE GRIFFIN.
THE GREEKS BELIEVED THAT
GRIFFINS LIVED FAR AWAY
IN CENTRAL ASIA.
HERE, THEY NESTED.
AMONG ITS EGGS ARE NUGGETS OF GOLD,
DUG UP WHEN BUILDING ITS NEST.
IN THE DAY, THE GRIFFIN SHIELDS
ITS EGGS FROM THE BLAZING SUN.
AND AT NIGHT, IT MUST PROTECT
THEM FROM TREASURE HUNTERS
TRYING TO STEAL THE GOLD
FROM UNDER THE GRIFFIN'S BEAK.
BUT ITS ACUTE HEARING DETECTS ANY INTRUDER,
AND IT'S READY TO KILL.
[ SCREECHING ]
IN GREECE, GRIFFINS AND
SPHINXES HAVE MANY SIMILARITIES.
♪♪
BOTH CREATURES HAVE THE
BODY OF A POWERFUL LION.
BOTH HAVE WINGS AND COME FROM
DISTANT LANDS VIA THE NEAR EAST.
♪♪
THE GREEKS WERE FASCINATED
BY HYBRID CREATURES
LIKE THE GRIFFIN AND THE SPHINX.
THEY DEPICTED THEM IN COUNTLESS ARTWORKS.
BOTH MUTANT BEASTS COULD BE FEROCIOUS.
IT'S LIKELY THAT TRAVELERS
BROUGHT BACK TALES
OF BOTH THE SPHINX AND
THE GRIFFIN TO GREECE.
[ SCREECHING ]
♪♪
COMPARATIVE ANATOMIST DR. JOY REIDENBERG
INVESTIGATES WHAT MIGHT
LIE BEHIND THE GRIFFIN STORIES
THAT MADE IT SUCH A TERRIFYING PROTECTOR.
THERE'S A NEW THEORY THAT
THE GRIFFIN MAY ACTUALLY
BE BASED ON A FOSSIL
FIND, SOMETHING LIKE THIS.
THIS IS A CAST OF A PROTOCERATOPS.
Narrator: THERE'S ONE ASPECT
OF THE SKULL THAT STANDS OUT.
THIS ICONIC BEAK IS WHAT
REALLY CAPTURES THE IMAGINATION
BECAUSE THIS BEAK
LOOKS LIKE AN EAGLE'S BEAK.
YOU CAN SEE THE POINT
RIGHT IN THE FRONT HERE
MEETING A BOTTOM JAW HERE,
AND IT WAS MASSIVE, AND IT WAS POWERFUL.
THEY COUE YOU A REALLY HARD BITE
AND PROBABLY SNAP YOUR BODY IN TWO.
Narrator: ACCORDING TO THE THEORY,
THE IMMENSE FRAME OF THE PROTOCERATOPS
COULD ALSO HAVE INSPIRED
THE NOTION OF A LION'S BODY.
SO IF YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT DINOSAURS,
Reidenberg: WHAT ARE YOU
GOING TO RELATE THIS TO?
IF YOU'VE GOT SOMETHING
WITH A BIRD-SHAPED BEAK
AND IT'S GOT A BODY
ROUGHLY THE SIZE OF A LION,
AND WE KNEW LIONS WERE
IN THE AREA AT THE TIME,
PUT THOSE TWO TOGETHER, AND
NOW, YOU'VE GOT A BIRD-HEADED LION.
THAT'S YOUR GRIFFIN.
Narrator: THE GREEKS
LOVED THE BIZARRE BIOLOGY
OF THESE DANGEROUS HYBRID BEASTS.
IN THE MIDDLE EAST,
THE SPHINX WAS NASTY AND AGGRESSIVE,
SO THEY ASSIMILATED IT INTO
THEIR MYTHOLOGICAL WORLD
OF EVIL MONSTERS.
IT BECAME THE SIBLING OF THE CHIMERA,
THE MULTIHEADED HYDRA
AND THE HELLHOUND, CERBERUS.
♪♪
BUT IT HADN'T ONLY MUTATED INTO
AN EVIL AND TERRIFYING CREATURE.
♪♪
IT HAD BECOME FEMALE.
THIS WAS A SYMBOL OF HORROR
FOR A MALE-DOMINATED SOCIETY.
ACCORDING TO GREEK MYTHOLOGY,
A SPHINX TERRORIZES THE PEOPLE
OF THEBES WITH A DEADLY RIDDLE.
♪♪
WHAT HAS FOUR FEET IN THE MORNING,
TWO FEET IN THE AFTERNOON,
AND THREE FEET AT NIGHT?
ANYONE WHO CAN'T ANSWER THE QUESTION
PAYS WITH THEIR LIFE,
BUT A HERO CALLED OEDIPUS
CRACKS HER RIDDLE... HUMANS.
FIRST THEY CRAWL ON ALL
FOURS, THEN WALK ON TWO LEGS,
AND FINALLY, THEY NEED A
WALKING STICK WHEN THEY'RE OLD.
HUMILIATED, THE SPHINX DEVOURS HERSELF.
THE GREEKS TENDED TO TAKE
ON OTHER PEOPLE'S STORIES
AND THEN MAKE THEM THEIR OWN.
IN THE CHANGING OF THE STORY OF THE SPHINX,
IT LOST ITS ORIGINAL MEANING
AND WAS TURNED INTO A COMPLETE MONSTER.
♪♪
Narrator: STARTING OUT AS
THE LIVING BODY OF A KING,
THE SPHINX DEVELOPED EXTRAORDINARY POWER
AND BECAME A SACRED GUARDIAN
FOR THE GODS THEMSELVES.
SYMBOLS LIKE THE SPHINX WERE THE BRIDGE
BETWEEN THE DIVINE WORLD
AND THE ACTUAL WORLD.
WHEN WE THINK ABOUT
THESE MYTHICAL CREATURES,
ONE OF THE REASONS WHY THEIR STORIES ENDURE
IS BECAUSE ALL OF THESE
CREATURES SHARE POWER,
AND THAT IS WHAT THE ANCIENT
PEOPLES WERE INTERESTED IN,
A WAY TO HARNESS THIS POWER
AND USE IT FOR THEIR BENEFIT.
Narrator: THE SPHINX'S FAME
SPREAD BEYOND EGYPT'S BORDERS,
WHERE IT CHANGED ONCE MORE.
IT BECAME A MAN-EATING
MONSTER THAT WAS VERY DIFFERENT
FROM THE ORIGINAL DIVINE BEAST.
BY PIECING TOGETHER CLUES
AND UNCOVERING ITS SECRETS,
WE'RE COMING CLOSER TO UNDERSTANDING
ONE OF THE WORLD'S
GREATEST MYTHICAL BEASTS.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪