Egypt's Second Sphinx Found Buried in Thebes

Egypt's second sphinx reportedly has been found buried in the ancient city of Thebes, bringing a stop to infrastructure construction in the area after the buried statue was detected, RT.com quoted local reports on Tuesday. Its existence had long been rumored.

Mohamed Abdel Aziz, the director general of antiquities in the area, said construction workers found a statue of "a lion's body with a human head" while doing roadwork between the ancient temples of Karnak and Luxor.

The news website Youm said statue could not be lifted to the surface at this time "due to the nature of the environment it is in," according to RT.

A sphinx adjacent to the Great Pyramids is the world's best known of the statues, History.com said. The Great Pyramids of Giza, built when Egypt was one of the richest and most powerful civilizations in the world, are some of the most magnificent man-made structures in history.

The $12.7-million Al-Kabbash road project, which was scheduled to be finish by 2018, was supposed to allow easier access for visitors in the ancient area, according to Egypt Today. The news outlet eaid the excavation and restoration of Al-Kabbash road started in 2005 but has faced delays.

Thebes and the two temples date back to 1400 BC. Original excavations of Luxor temple started in 1884, leading to "significant discoveries" until work there ended about 1960.

The majority of the pharaohs of the 18th to 20th dynasties, who ruled from 1550 to 1069 BC, rested in the tombs which were cut into the local Egyptian rock, The Guardian reported. The royal tombs were decorated with scenes from Egyptian mythology, which likely revealed their beliefs and funerary rituals of the time.

Nearly all of the tombs have been opened since and have been looted of their riches centuries ago, but the gravesites still give an idea of the power of the Pharaohs, the Daily Mail said.

The sphinx is believed to be a symbol of royalty in ancient Egypt, RT said, and worshippers carved the heads of many pharaohs into statues for their tombs to mark their relationship with the lioness solar deity Sekhmet.

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