Mythical Beasts — S01E07 — Dark Secrets of the Sphinx

00:00:03 Narrator: THE SPHINX, A MONSTROUS LIVING STATUE,

00:01:50 AND IT APPEARS IN MANY OTHER CULTURES

00:03:47 ALTHOUGH WE TEND TO THINK OF SCULPTURES AS ARTWORKS,

00:05:22 THROUGHOUT TIME AND WITHIN SPECIFIC CULTURES,

00:06:48 WHEN THE NILE FLOODS, TADPOLES APPEAR IN THEIR THOUSANDS,

00:08:26 SEKHMET DRINKS RA'S COCKTAIL.

00:10:19 OF A GODLY EGYPTIAN PHARAOH.

00:11:54 BUT WE DO HAVE AN ACCOUNT FROM THE GREEK HISTORIAN HERODOTUS

00:13:36 THAT THAT LINE IS EXACTLY ORIENTATED EAST-WEST.

00:15:10 FOR THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS,

00:16:56 Narrator: THE GREAT SPHINX OF GIZA...

00:18:39 IT WASN'T JUST SOMETHING THAT WAS A MOMENT IN TIME.

00:20:11 RESTING IN THE SHADOW OF THE SPHINX.

00:21:49 THIS ANCIENT GOD HAS TO BE SOUGHT OUT

00:23:41 A VAST TEMPLE WHERE THE PHARAOHS MAKE OFFERINGS TO THE GODS.

00:25:56 FOR ONE OF ANCIENT EGYPT'S MOST SACRED FESTIVALS.

00:27:25 A FIGURE OF BENEVOLENCE.

00:29:50 ROYAL BUILDINGS,

00:31:36 THERE'S A SURPRISE INTRUDER.

00:33:11 Narrator: FOR MORE THAN TWO MILLENNIA,

00:35:34 LIKE THE GRIFFIN AND THE SPHINX.

00:37:19 AND IT'S GOT A BODY ROUGHLY THE SIZE OF A LION,

00:39:47 AND FINALLY, THEY NEED A WALKING STICK WHEN THEY'RE OLD.

00:41:25 ONE OF THE WORLD'S GREATEST MYTHICAL BEASTS.