万万没想到：关于狮身人面像的7件事

1. TECHNICALLY, THE GREAT SPHINX OF GIZA IS NOT A SPHINX.
1.严格来说，吉萨的狮身人面像不是狮身人面像。

Not a traditional sphinx, anyway. Although heavily influenced by Egyptian and later Mesopotamian mythology, the classical Greek depiction of the Sphinx consists of the body of a lion, the head of a woman, and the wings of a bird. Giza’s male-identifying landmark is, technically, an androsphinx. The lack of wings further muddles its accepted taxonomy.
总之他并不是传统意义上的狮身人面像。虽然他受到埃及以及后期美索不达米亚神话的影响严重，但在古希腊人的描绘中，狮身人面像应该有着狮子的身体，女人的头，和鸟的翅膀。而吉萨的狮身人面像从外表上看是男性，严格来说，他是狮身人头像，而翅膀的缺失让他的分类更加模糊。

2. LABORERS WHO CONSTRUCTED THE STATUE ATE LIKE KINGS.
2.建造雕像的劳动者吃的非常好。

Most scientists’ initial assumption was that the men who toiled to bring the Sphinx to life belonged to an enslaved caste. Their diets would suggest otherwise, however; excavations led by Lehner revealed that the statue’s laborers regularly dined on luxurious cuts of prime beef, sheep, and goat meat.
大部分科学家最初以为建造狮身人面像的苦工们是奴隶，但是不然，领导挖掘的莱纳透露说，建造雕像的人通常分到顶级的牛肉、绵羊肉以及山羊肉这样的奢侈食物。

3. THE SPHINX WAS ONCE RATHER COLORFUL.
3.狮身人面像曾经相当色彩丰富。

Though it is now indistinct from the drab tan of its sandy surroundings, the Sphinx may at one time have been completely covered in vivid paint. Remnants of red can be found on the statue’s face, while hints of blue and yellow remain on the body.
尽管他现在身处沙漠中与周围环境有着同样的浅褐色，并不显眼。但是狮身人面像也许曾全身覆盖着鲜艳的色彩。雕像的脸上可以找到残余的红色，而身体上也留有蓝色和黄色的痕迹。

4. A CULT VENERATED THE SPHINX LONG AFTER IT WAS BUILT.
4.狮身人面像建好后被长时间地狂热崇拜

Thanks to Thutmose’s mystical vision at the Sphinx, the sculpture and its represented mythological deity began to win new popularity during the 14th century BCE.
多亏了图特摩斯对狮身人面像的神秘构思，这座雕像以及它所代表的神开始在公元前14世纪大受欢迎。

5. THE EGYPTIAN SPHINX IS MUCH KINDER THAN ITS GREEK COUSIN.
5.埃及狮身人面像比它在希腊的表亲要和善很多。

The Sphinx’s modern reputation for tyranny and trickery spawns not from Egyptian mythology, but Greek. The creature’s most famous appearance in Ancient Greek lore came from her run-in with Oedipus, whom she challenged with her allegedly unsolvable riddle. Ancient Egyptian culture valued its Sphinx as a much more benevolent, albeit no less powerful, godlike figure.
狮身人面像在现代暴政与欺诈的名声并非起源于埃及神话，而是希腊神话。在古希腊的传说中，她与俄狄浦斯的争论非常出名，俄狄浦斯来挑战她那无人可解的谜题。而在古埃及文化中，狮身人面像更为仁慈，尽管依旧是强大、神一般的人物。