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.

Egyptian Fantasy: LOOK MA! ART! (#photoshop #sphinx #egypt)

One of the neat things about Photoshop is that you can reuse your creations to make new ones.

I did this Photoshop art this morning just for fun.

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.

The Sphinx: Beard or No Beard? You Decide!

While waiting for my boss to get out of a meeting, I decided to answer the most stirring archaeological controversy since John Kerry's claimed trip to Cambodia: did the Sphinx have a beard? Some scholars say yes, pointing to the remains of a giant beard found in the vicinity of the Sphinx. Others say no, pointing to a giant safety razor also found in the vicinity of the Sphinx (still others claim the razor to be a cleverly fashioned hoax). Now you can decide: Did the Sphinx have a beard? And if so, should he shave the darned thing off in order to be more popular with the ladies? YOU DECIDE.

Update to my Digital Reconstruction of the Sphinx

Ever so often I like to meddle with my Photoshop reconstruction of the Sphinx.  That reconstruction is one of my most popular posts, with students of ancient Egypt viewing it regularly.

The last time I updated the reconstruction, I was somewhat satisfied with it, but not completely.  There's always something that's not quite right.  Today I fixed the chin a bit and reduced the size of the eyelids so they look more natural.  I also slimmed the nose just a tad and worked on the mouth.  Now it really is much closer to what I imagine the original Sphinx looked like.

Have a look here if interested.

I read somewhere that the ancient Egyptians forbade artistic depictions of people in anything but glum, expressionless poses.  That explains why the Sphinx appears stoned, with his very stoic expression.

Face of the Sphinx - A Better Photoshop Reconstruction

A few months back I attempted a Photoshop reconstruction of the Sphinx.  It was mediocre.  Too much painting and not terribly realistic.  I now have Photoshop CS5, and it is a more powerful tool.  So I tried it again and the results are much better.  Here it is.  (Note to all school students, feel free to use for homework assignments.)

The Sphinx is around 4,500 years old, and may be in danger of extinction due to the Islamic fanatics now ruling Egypt.  It was Muslims who defaced the monument centuries ago, and there is talk now of blowing it up -- it is "pagan" and "idolatory" don't cha know.

I have often wondered what the Sphinx looked like 45 centuries back.  Maybe it looked something like this.

Face of the Sphinx - Photoshop Reconstruction

Update 1:  Here is an improved reconstruction completed January 2012 (updated May 2012 for additional refinements).  Update 2:  Beard added May 17, 2012.  Update 3:  Face of Khafra Used for Reconstruction, June 14, 2015; Update 4:  Nose somewhat enlarged to more closely match that of Khafra, per suggestion of a reader, Sandy McFarlane, January 8, 2016.  Update 4:  Changed beard to resemble those (weaved) most often seen on sphinx-like statues and brightened eyes a bit.

I attempted a simpler reconstruction some months back. I wasn't satisfied with it.  I want to know:  if I were transported to Egypt, 4500 years into the past, and gazed upon the newly carved face of the Sphinx, what would that face look like?

I worked on this reconstruction for a week, but have been refining it for months, trying different things.  It is a front view of the face of the Great Sphinx of Egypt, reconstructed with Photoshop, and based on a study of statues of Pharoahs and smaller sphinxs in museums around the world.  The heavy lines around the eyes represent the eye makeup used by Egyptian royalty of the time.

I have struggled with the chin.  The Sphinx's chin seems to be short and abrupt, but I think it has been chipped away by those who have defaced it over the centuries.  A side view of the Sphinx seems to bear this out.  Therefore, I have added a fuller and rounder chin, in the belief that this was more the way it looked when new.  The big question is:  should I add a beard?  There are many controversies about the Sphinx, and one of them is whether or not it had a beard.

From what I have read, the Great Sphinx was sculpted out of a natural sandstone formation, about 4,500 years ago.  The face of the Sphinx is thought to be that of Khafra, the Pharoah who built it, or that of his father, Khufu.  No one knows for sure.  I used a statue of Khafra as a reference for my depiction, but did not add a beard.  Archaeologists say the Sphinx did have a beard, but that it was added sometime later and was not part of the original sculpture.  A large fragment of the beard has been found and is in a museum.

Over the centuries, the Sphinx was subject to intense vandalism, probably from Muslim fanatics who hate artistic depictions of human beings (in the belief that it constitutes "idolotary"), as well as from rifle shots from passing armies, namely the Turks, the French and the English.  The old rumor that the nose was shot off by Napoleon's cannons is false.  The present condition of the Sphinx is largely unchanged since it was unburied from centuries of sand storms, and drawings of the Sphinx show that the nose was gone at least 150 years before Napoleon ever saw it.

Is my reconstruction totally realistic?  No, but I think it gives some idea of what the Sphinx may have looked like in its first century of existence.  Working on it was a great way to relax after work and I learned some more Photoshop techniques while doing it.

In 1898, John Lawson Stoddard described the Sphinx quite nicely:

It is the antiquity of the Sphinx which thrills us as we look upon it, for in itself it has no charms. The desert's waves have risen to its breast, as if to wrap the monster in a winding-sheet of gold. The face and head have been mutilated by Moslem fanatics. The mouth, the beauty of whose lips was once admired, is now expressionless. Yet grand in its loneliness, – veiled in the mystery of unnamed ages, – the relic of Egyptian antiquity stands solemn and silent in the presence of the awful desert – symbol of eternity. Here it disputes with Time the empire of the past; forever gazing on and on into a future which will still be distant when we, like all who have preceded us and looked upon its face, have lived our little lives and disappeared. John L. Stoddard's Lectures (1898) 2, 111.

I added a side-by-side comparison of the original and my latest reconstruction at the top of the page.

I did an earlier Photoshop reconstruction of a side view of the Sphinx here.

The Great Sphinx: Photoshop Reconstruction, Sideview

I love to play with Photoshop.  I wanted to get an idea of what the Great Sphinx might have looked like when it was new.  Here is the Sphinx face in sideview, with my digital reconstruction.

The Sphinx Today

Photoshop Reconstruction of the Great Sphinx

That was fun. Next I will try to reconstruct a front view of the face. That will be more difficult.