Was the Great Sphinx an African Man? #Photoshop #Sphinx

Will the Real Sphinx Please Stand Up?

Was the Great Sphinx an African (as in Negro) man?  This has been a controversy for some time.  It is difficult to tell because the Great Sphinx had his nose shattered many hundreds of years ago.  Without a nose, it is hard to tell if the original Sphinx had negroid features.  The Photoshop above shows the Sphinx with a negroid nose, compared to one with a more Semitic nose.  Personally, I believe that the Great Sphinx was smoking a cigar and that anti-tobacco fanatics removed it over the centuries.  However, it just goes to show you that a lot of theories, some of them weird, persist about the identity, race, gender and age of the Sphinx -- not to mention his affinity for tobacco.

Seriously, though, a lot of black people believe that the ancient Egyptians were Negroes.  After all, both of these ethnic groups are African -- the blacks from South Africa, the Egyptians from North Africa.  Same continent, and both are dark skinned.

As for his being negroid, some conspiracy theorists claim the nose was removed so people wouldn't know that the Sphinx was a Negro.  I saw a video on YouTube with Louis Farrakhan claiming that was the reason Napoleon shot the nose off the Sphinx -- to hide its Negroid Bonafides.  (The legend of Napoleon's nose-ectomy has been proved false -- earlier drawings of the Sphinx show the Sphinx without its nose decades before Napoleon ever saw it.)

An Ankh

As for modern depictions, remember that Michael Jackson video of him in an Egyptian temple, dancing and singing as only he could?   It was called "Remember the Time." That was definitely a presentation of black folks as ancient Egyptians -- both the video's Pharaoh (played by Eddie Murphy), and his Queen were black, as were all members of the royal court.  I once saw a young black woman wearing an Ankh around her neck -- you know, that cross-like symbol of ancient Egypt?  It was her way of connecting with the great civilization of the pharaohs.

I felt sorry for the young lady, because we all have a need to feel that we are part of something larger than ourselves.  Understandably, black people like to believe that they are descendants of a once-great civilization -- hence their focus on the ancient Egyptians.  Maybe they were, but I doubt it.  Some digital artists have superimposed the known face of the Pharaoh Kahfre onto the shattered face of the Sphinx, and it seems to fit perfectly.  Kahfre had a big nose, and the side view of the Sphinx with Kahfre's nose does not look negroid in the least.  Without a nose, it does look negroid, as negroid noses are often flat, and lay closer to the face.

The prevailing opinion seems to be that ancient Egyptians were much like modern Egyptians:  Arabic.

What do you think?

View Michael Jackson's video, "Remember the Time," here.

The Great Sphinx Photoshop: Latest Refinement (#Sphinx, #Photoshop)

I have regularly been refining, rethinking and retouching my 2013 Photoshop of the Great Sphinx of Egypt. When new information came to light, I would incorporate that into my Photoshop. My latest improvement was to make the nose larger and closer to that of Khafra, the Pharaoh who probably built it, 4500 years ago. This was per the suggestion of a reader. (More specifically, she said the nose was too slim and European before, and so I used Khafra's nose to fix it.) Here's the latest result.

The Identity of the Great Sphinx Revealed! Maybe. #Sphinx #Archaeology

Archaeologists have been arguing for many decades about the identity of the Great Sphinx of Egypt.  Was he Khufu, the ancient Pharoah who built the Great Pyramid, and who ruled Egypt around 4,500 years ago?  Or was he Khufu's son, Khafra?  Or somebody else?

I've stared at pictures of the Sphinx's battered face for some time now, trying to interpret it, Photoshop it, make it resemble its original appearance, whatever that was. Or whoever that was.  But who was that?

This past week I saw yet another documentary on the Sphinx, and it provided fairly convincing evidence that the Sphinx was made by Khufu's son, Khafra, in honor of himself.  Khafra is the man depicted by the Sphinx.  It is not Alfred E. Neuman, no matter how much you want to argue.

I found a fairly good image of Khafra and Photoshopped his face onto that of the Sphinx.  It seemed to fit.  Khafra had a slightly chubby face, big nose, high cheekbones, and full lips.  Khafra's ears also closely resembled those of the Sphinx.

Once I got Khafra's puss onto the Sphinx, I was astounded at how real it looks, how well it fits.  Now I can believe this version of the Sphinx.  This might well be what it really looked like 2,500 years before Christ.   Once again, I present the current condition of the Sphinx's face for comparative purposes.  It's on the right.  Don't pretend you didn't know.

Here's the Khafra image I used.  I like this guy.  I could have a beer with this guy and puff a few cigars too.