Part of Royal Sphinx Found

September 30, 2013

The discovery is both unexpected and important because it is the only piece of a royal sphinx sculpture discovered in the entire eastern Mediterranean. The Sphinx was discovered in the destruction layer of Hazor, destroyed during the 13th century BC, at the entrance to the city palace. It is highly unlikely that the Sphinx was brought to Hazor during the time of Mycerinus, since there is no record of any relationship between Egypt and Israel in the third millennium BC.

More likely, the statue was brought to Israel in the second millennium BC during the dynasty of the kings known as the Hyksos, who originated in Canaan. It could also have arrived during the 15th to 13th centuries BC, when Canaan was under Egyptian rule, as a gift from an Egyptian king to the king of Hazor, which was the most important city in the southern Levant at the time.

Source: Excerpts of article by Edgar Asher, Ashernet

Photo Credit: Ashernet