Why was the sphinxes nose shot off?

Answer 1

The one-metre-wide nose on the face is missing. The Egyptian Arab historian al-Maqrīzī, writing in the fifteenth century CE, attributes the loss to Muhammad Sa'im al-Dahr, a Sufi Muslim fanatic from the khanqah of Sa'id al-Su'ada. In 1378 CE, upon finding the Egyptian peasants making offerings to the Sphinx in the hope of increasing their harvest, Sa'im al-Dahr was so outraged that he destroyed the nose, and was hanged for vandalism. Al-Maqrīzī describes the Sphinx as the "talisman of the Nile" on which the locals believed the flood cycle depended. Some legends claim that the nose was broken off by a cannonball fired by Napoléon's soldiers and that it still survives. Other variants indict British troops, the Mamluks, and others. However, sketches of the Sphinx by Dane Frederick Lewis Norden, made in 1737 and published in 1755, illustrate the Sphinx already without a nose. In addition to the lost nose, a ceremonial pharaonic beard is thought to have been attached, although this may have been added in later periods after the original construction. Egyptologist Vassil Dobrev has suggested that had the beard been an original part of the Sphinx, it would have damaged the chin of the statue upon falling. The lack of visible damage supports his theory that the beard was a later addition. Additionally, Egyptologist Rainer Stadelmann has posited that the rounded divine beard may not have existed in the Old or Middle Kingdoms, only being conceived of in the New Kingdom to identify the Sphinx with the god Hor-em-akhet. This may also relate to the later fashion of pharaohs, which was to wear a plaited beard of authority - a false beard (chin straps are actually visible on some statues), since Egyptian culture mandated that men be clean shaven. Pieces thought to be of this beard are today kept in the British Museum and the Egyptian Museum.

Answer 2

There are several stories about the destruction of the Sphinx's nose.

The most known variants are:

• The destruction by a Muslim Sufi in AD 1378
• By a cannonball fired by Napoleon's troops,
• By the British troops, by the Mamelukes

None of these are supported by serious evidence, however.

Answer 3

It was not shot off. Mother Nature was responsible.