What is the Sphinx?

The Sphinx, located near great pyramid of giza in the southwest of Cairo, is a famous Egyptian monument. Together with the pyramids, it is the most representative relic of ancient Egyptian civilization. The elephant is 2 1 meter high, 57 meters long and 2 meters long in ears. Except that the lion's paw extending to15m is inlaid with big stones, the whole elephant is carved on a big stone containing impurities such as shells. This face is the face of khalaf, the Pharaoh (king) of the fourth dynasty in ancient Egypt. According to legend, in 26 BC11year, khalaf ordered to carve a stone statue for himself when he visited his mausoleum, the Hafra Pyramid Project. The craftsman skillfully carved a lion's body and took Pharaoh's face as the lion's head. In ancient Egypt, the lion was a symbol of strength, and the Sphinx was actually a portrayal of the pharaohs in ancient Egypt. The statue sits west to east, crouching beside khalaf's mausoleum. Because it looks like the sphinx in Greek mythology, westerners call it the sphinx.

The original Sphinx wore a crown, a sacred snake relief on its forehead, a long beard on its chin and a collar around its neck. After thousands of years of wind and rain and sand burial, the crown and collar disappeared. In 18 18, the relief of the sacred snake was dug up by the British Italian Cafiria under the statue and presented to the British Museum in Great Britain. The beard fell off and fell apart. There are two in the Egyptian Museum and one in the British Museum (now returned to Egypt). The elephant's nose has been missing a large piece, which is said to have been destroyed by Napoleon's soldiers when they invaded Egypt. In fact, it is a rumor, which was shattered by the Sufi Sect of Islam in the Middle Ages as a pilgrim. More than 4000 years later, the Sphinx has been riddled with chronic diseases, especially the corrosion of the neck and chest. 198 1 June, the left hind leg of the stone statue collapsed, forming a hole 2 meters wide and 3 meters long. 1February, 988, two huge stones fell from the right shoulder of the stone statue, one of which weighed 2000 kilograms.

The Sphinx may have been abstracted from Leo by the ancient Egyptians. . . Leo is also the zodiac sign. Due to precession, the apparent motion of the sun just passed Leo in June every year more than 4,000 years ago. It's June, and the obvious movement of the sun has reached between Taurus and Gemini. At that time, people in the ancient Persian Gulf country of Chaldea thought that the sun got a lot of heat from Leo, so the weather became hot. The ancient Egyptians felt the same way, because at this time of year, many lions moved to the Nile Valley for the summer.

Ancient Egypt worshipped Leo very much. It is said that the famous Sphinx is shaped by the body of a lion and the head of a maid. The star of Leo was also highly valued in ancient China, and was called the God of the Yellow Emperor and Xuanyuan.

After we found the beta star of Leo through the spring triangle on a spring night, a big star to its east was all Leo's. In Leo, delta, theta and beta stars form a remarkable triangle, which is the lion's back and tail. These six stars from ε to α form the shape of a sickle, which is also like a reverse question mark. This is the lion's head. When the Polaris connecting the constellation Ursa major (that is, the two stars in the spoon mouth) extends in the opposite direction to Polaris, you can find it. Alpha star is called Xuanyuan XIV in China, and its apparent magnitude is1.35m. It is the brightest star in Leo, and it is the 2nd1in the whole day. It forms an isosceles triangle with arcturus and arcturus, and can be found by extending the δ and γ stars of Ursa Major ten times. In ancient times, navigators often used it to determine the position of ships in the sea, so Alpha Leo was awarded the title of "one of the nine navigation planets".

Leo's Xuanyuan XIV is located near the ecliptic, which is about 90 degrees away from the four bright stars Taurus, Scorpio Antares and Nanyu's Beiluoshimen. They are called the "four heavenly kings" of the zodiac.

Every year in June165438+1mid-October, especially in the nights of June 14 and June 15, a large number of meteors will appear near ζ star with question marks written on Leo. This is the famous Leonid meteor shower. It peaks every 33 years. As early as 93 1 year, it was recorded in China in the Five Dynasties. At the peak of 1833, meteors exploded near zeta star like fireworks, with tens of thousands of them every hour. Therefore, the next night, a farmer hurried outside to see if all the stars in the sky had fallen out.

Leonid meteor shower was still very prosperous in 1866, but it was much less in 1899, reaching 1932 and 1965.