A sphinx is a mythical creature with, as a minimum, the body of a lion and a human head. In Greek tradition, it has the haunches of a lion, sometimes with the wings of a great bird, and the face of a human. It is mythicised as treacherous and merciless. T
| Article number: | GD-052 |
| Quantity: | 2 |
This altar statue was imported from Greece and created by Greek artists in honor of the Old Gods.
A sphinx is a mythical creature with, as a minimum, the body of a lion and a human head. In Greek tradition, it has the haunches of a lion, sometimes with the wings of a great bird, and the face of a human. It is mythicised as treacherous and merciless. Those who cannot answer its riddle suffer a fate typical in such mythological stories, as they are killed and eaten by this ravenous monster. The Sphinx of Naxos (now in the Archaeological Museum of Delphi) is a colossal 2.22 meter tall marble statue of a mythical creature with the head of a woman, the chest and wings composed of the impressive feathers of a prey bird turned upward, and the body of a lioness. It was orignially set up on a stele around 560 BC as an offering to the temple of Apollo by Naxos, one of the richest Cycladic islands at the time.
Made of solid bronze.
