Did Napoleon's troops shoot off the nose of the Sphinx?

[JAR]

Did Napoleon's troops shoot off the nose of the sphinx?

According to this link, there is evidence that they didn't: http://www.napoleonseries.org/faq/sphinx.cfm

[Mycroft]

I was reading another article about this very same thing just a few days ago. Apparantly Napoleon's troops shooting of the nose was a myth perpetuated by Arabic tour guides.

[Graham]

I was under the impression that it was Turkish troops that shot off the nose . . . I don't know where I got that idea from . . .

[Graham]

Actually, according to this site (http://www.guardians.net/egypt/sphinx/)

Although the head of the Sphinx is badly battered in some places, traces of the original paint can still be seen near one ear. Originally it is believed that the Sphinx was painted and was quite colorful. Since then, the nose and beard have been broken away. The nose was the unfortunate victim of target practice by the Turks in the Turkish period. It is often erroneously assumed that the nose was shot off by Napoleon's men, but 18th century drawings reveal that the nose was missing long before Napoleon's arrival.

Graham

[rockoon]

"My ex-girlfriend was very sexy. She reminded me of the Sphinx because she was very mysterious and eternal and solid...and her nose was shot off by French soldiers." - Emo

[Jon_in_london]

Stoopid! every one knows it was Obelix wot did it!

[Pak_43]

How interesting....on my visit to the Sphinx I was told it had been used for target practice by British Troops in WWII!!!

[Bikewer]

David....Sling practice, perhaps?

[Larspeart]

Yup, I heard it was busted off around the 12th century. Muslim zealots or something. The same folks that distroyed the library in Alexandria (only that was a few hundred years earlier).

I saw some recent pictures that showed the paint that is still visable. I still wonder if that is the ORIGINAL paint, or if someone repainted it more recently (say, in the last 2,000 years).

I guess carbon dating of the paint would tell us for sure. I guess I have a hard time believing that the paint has lasted this long because of all the damage, erosion, vandalism, and the MULTIPLE ties it was buried in sandstorms (which I would think would blast the pain rigt off).

Course, if you ask Hancock (the nut), he'll tell you it is 12,000 years old, and contains documents from an alien society (or Atlantians, depending on his mood that day).

[Tony]

Originally posted by Larspeart
Yup, I heard it was busted off around the 12th century. Muslim zealots or something. The same folks that distroyed the library in Alexandria (only that was a few hundred years earlier).



I thought Julius Ceasar's troops destroyed the library.

[Graham]

Originally posted by Tony



I thought Julius Ceasar's troops destroyed the library.

Beat me to it!

Caesar, I think, destroyed the original library when he set fire to ships in the harbour and it spead onto the library.

The Roman Christians destroyed a part of the replacement some 400 years later and the caliph finished the job shortly after.

I believe his position was that if the Greek books agreed with the prophet, they were superfluous and if they did not, they were heretical - either way they clearly needed to get burned. :rolleyes:

Graham

[Crossbow]

Originally posted by JAR
Did Napoleon's troops shoot off the nose of the sphinx?

According to this link, there is evidence that they didn't: http://www.napoleonseries.org/faq/sphinx.cfm

No they did not.

My Egyptian history teacher (who is an Egyptologist) told us that the nose was blown off by a Muslim fanatic with gunpowder long before Napoleon came to Egypt.

Some Muslim sects believe that images of living things are sacrilegious so they must be destroyed.

[Larspeart]

Actually, I was being slightly obtuse.

The Great Library was 'destroyed' many times, and was often rebuilt. The collection it contained actually survived the fire by the Roman attack on the harbor quite well (some of the more optimistic theories say as much as 85-90% survived).

The Great Library was ALWAYS prone to fires, and had dozens of moderate to major fires throughout it's history. However, when the muslim's came upon it (or what was left of it) they leveled it for the final time completely, and then did not allow it to be rebuilt afterwards.

So, depending on ones slant, you could say that the muslims came across a delipidated old building with a few decaying scrolls and decided it was a safety hazard, OR themuslims came acorss a more or less intact building that still contained a great deal of rich, pricelss, one-of-a-kind works of knowledge, history, science, medicine, and the intellect of the ancients, and ordered it burned to the ground because it may contain several affronts towards Islam.

(or, you can be somewhere in between)

;)

[Mr Manifesto]

Well, my history teacher, who has published a book on Egyptology ("Mine's bigger than yours!"), says that the nose just fell off- the Egyptian engineers were good, but they weren't that good. Don't forget the Sphinx had been buried a good longish while until the drunken Thutmose IV fell asleep over it one night and was told in a dream "UNBURY ME THUTMOSE YOU F***" by the Sphinx.

I can't imagine Napolean's troops shooting it off. Napolean was very big on the preservation of historical artifacts (cf Rosetta Stone), and would have looked dimly upon his troops shooting at a momument like the Sphinx.

[peptoabysmal]

Bzzzt, sorry you are incorrect. The correct answer is Michael Jackson's plastic surgeon.

Seriously, it makes the most sense to me that it just fell off and legends grew around why it was missing.

Why it's as plain as the nose on your face :D

[Jon_in_london]

Originally posted by peptoabysmal

Why it's as plain as the nose on your face :D

Spock, theres nothing plane about about your nose :D

[Selvedge]

"Hey, you know that big human-faced lion creature? Well, did you ever notice it has no nose?"

"No, really? Then how does it smell?"

"How does it smell? It sphinx!"

Oops, sorry -- got this mixed up with SquishyDave's pun thread. My bad.

[peptoabysmal]

Originally posted by Jon_in_london


Spock, theres nothing plane about about your nose :D

Er.... It's not level or it doesn't fly?