All language subtitles for Historys.Greatest.Mysteries.S06E17.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

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- It rises from the sands
of the Egyptian desert,

seeming to guard the
Great Pyramids of Giza.

But surprisingly little is known

about this great wonder
of the ancient world.

- How could ancient
Egyptians 4,500 years ago

sculpt a statue as
mighty as the Sphinx?

- It's just an amazingly
monumental [laughing] structure.

But it's silent.

It doesn't tell us exactly
everything we need to know.

- For thousands of years,

the Sphinx has guarded
its many secrets.

- The prevailing view

is that you had human workers

carving it away to make this.

Now another theory comes along

that the bulk of it wasn't
even done by human beings.

- Now, we'll explore
the top theories

surrounding the origins

and purpose of this
mysterious monument.

- Was the Sphinx built
by the same person

that killed his brother
to become the pharaoh?

- It could be that the Sphinx

is part of a celestial map.

- In 1987, a team
of researchers

think they've found
hidden secret chambers

that were located
under the Sphinx.

- Who built this massive statue

and why was it made?

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- 1403 BCE, the Giza
Plateau of Egypt,

home to the Great Pyramids.

Pharaoh Amenhotep
II rules the land.

His younger son,
Prince Thutmose,

has come to Giza
to hunt gazelle.

But this royal hunting ground

has an extraordinary past.

- If you go back
around 1,000 years,

the Giza Plateau is a
very important place

of monumental buildings.

It's there that some amazingly
large pyramids are built.

However, at this time,

it's fallen into disrepair,

most of the structures
have been covered

or partially covered
by the desert sands,

and it's largely ignored.

- By the time of
Prince Thutmose,

the Giza Plateau is already
over 1,000 years old

and already ancient.

It's become this playground
really for the royal family.

They race their
chariots, they hunt,

they use it for these
different expeditions.

- So, according to legend,

Thutmose was out
on a hunting trip

and he was looking for a place

to get out of the hot,
burning, Egyptian sun,

and he found shelter
next to this object.

And as he got closer to it,

it turned out that this object

was a massive stone head

protruding from
the desert sands.

- He falls asleep
and has a dream.

And in dream, a
God comes to him,

the God Horus, who says,

"If you free my
body from this sand,

I will make sure
that you're king."

- Because Prince Thutmose

was not the heir apparent
for the throne of Egypt,

this sounded like a
great deal for him.

And so Prince Thutmose
then goes about

restoring this giant statue

to its former glory.

- [Laurence] Once the prince
begins clearing away the sand,

an extraordinary and mysterious
sculpture takes shape,

a towering figure
carved from stone,

now known as the
Great Sphinx of Giza.

- Its body is about
250 feet long,

which is nearly a
football field long,

66 feet high,

and the shape of it
is the head of a king

and the body of a lion.

- Some have estimated

that it must've taken something

like a million
man hours of labor

to carve this thing.

That would be the equivalent

of something like 100 workers

working full time over
the course of three years.

- It is a marvelous statue,

and it's all made from
one piece of limestone.

And Thutmose calls
it Haremakhet,

which means Horus
in the Horizon.

- Horus, who spoke to
Thutmose in this dream,

is a God associated
with kingship,

but also with the sun god Ra.

And so after clearing the sands

around this giant sculpture,

Thutmose's dream comes true.

He does in fact become
king in around 1400 BCE.

- As king, Thutmose
not only digs it

out of the desert sands,

but he also does
restoration work

on the statue itself.

- [Laurence] Analysis
of pink remnants

discovered on the statue

reveal a fascinating truth
about its appearance.

Experts now believe the
face and body of the Sphinx

were painted a striking deep red

with dark eyeliner.

While the nemes,
or royal headdress,

bore the noble colors
of the pharaoh,

a vibrant blue interlaced
with gold stripes.

To commemorate his
accomplishment,

Thutmose places an
engraved vertical tablet,

known as a stele,

between the statue's front paws.

- King Thutmose,

he put his dream on that stele

and wrote it down,

wrote exactly what happened,

that he fell asleep,
that he had the dream,

and the Sphinx made him
the next king of Egypt,

all inscribed on
the dream stele.

- Not only does this tablet

establish a connection between
Thutmose and the Sphinx,

but it really
contributes seriously

to the legend of this
mysterious object

known today as the
Great Sphinx of Giza.

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- For a few hundred years,

you have people far and wide

to come and see the statue.

And that would
include also travelers

from outside the
Egyptian kingdom.

So this is where we actually
get the name the Sphinx.

It was called this
around 700 BCE.

It got this name
from a Greek traveler

who was coming to
look at the statue

and thought it
beared a resemblance

to their mythological Sphinx.

- The Sphinx of Greek mythology

has the head of a woman,

the body of a lion and wings.

It's an altogether
fearsome creature

who, according to myth,

asks passerbys riddles,

and if they can't
answer, devours them.

That is very different

from the Egyptian Sphinx,

which has the head of a
man and the body of a lion,

and is a guardian and
protects the entryway

to the next life.

Over the centuries though,

confusion has got
these two mixed up,

such that we use the word Sphinx

to describe this
Egyptian artifact.

- [Laurence] It's believed
that for hundreds of years

the Egyptian Sphinx stood
as a symbol of power

and divine protection.

But as centuries pass

and the kingdom of Egypt falls,

the desert once again
begins to reclaim

the mighty structure.

- And so with it, the
sands of time come back,

they start to bury
the Sphinx again,

until it's buried all the
way up and to its neck.

It remains buried in this
way for thousands of years

until 1817 when an
Italian explorer

rediscovers the Sphinx

and wants to figure
out what's beneath it.

- They set about to
uncover the Sphinx

from the desert sands,

but unfortunately,
the task at hand

is much harder than expected.

The sand keeps coming into
their excavation pits,

and it's just this
near impossible task

for him to uncover the Sphinx,

to the point where
he actually abandons

the project altogether
and gives up.

- It's not until some
hundred years later,

when in 1922, the
archeologist Howard Carter

finds King Tut's tomb,

that reignites an interest
in all things Egypt.

So now a French archeologist

mounts another
expedition to go down

and take a closer
look at the Sphinx and

he does a series of expeditions
in the 1920s and 1930s.

They're able this time to
fully clear away the sand.

And when they do, they're
just amazed at what they see,

this, again, humongous
sculpture of this reclining lion

with a human head.

- [Laurence] Now
that the Great Sphinx

can be seen in all its glory,

people around the
world are in awe

of this ancient wonder.

- Sphinx is an icon.

When you see it
for the first time,

it's the world's
largest mammoth statue,

at least for 4,000 years,

and it's a mystery.

- The kind of engineering
and workmanship

that would've been required

to construct this
thousands of years ago

is really quite remarkable.

- [Laurence] But there's
an even bigger mystery

that still baffles the
experts to this day.

- What's most likely
is that the Sphinx

is a symbol of
power to a pharaoh.

Now, the question is,
which pharaoh was it?

- The first step in
trying to figure out

the architect who
made the Sphinx

is to try to identify
who the model was

for the Sphinx's face,

almost certainly a pharaoh.

And so scholars have gone back

and compared the
image of the Sphinx

to the various statues
that are still existing.

And the closest match
that they have found

has been to the Pharaoh Khufu,

who was also the pharaoh

who oversaw the construction
of the Great Pyramid of Giza,

which is close by.

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- Khufu reigned Egypt
for about 30 years

back in 2550 BCE.

He has the biggest,
most fascinating,

most famous structure
ever created,

the Great Pyramid of Giza,

yet we only have
one confirmed statue

that shows us his face.

- The only named portrait

that we have of Khufu

is a tiny little statue

that's really only
about three inches tall.

It's got broad eyes
across the face.

Also, this small little
three-inch statue

didn't have a beard.

- Most of the
pharaohs that we see

are depicted with a long beard.

So the fact that we
have this Sphinx head

and we have this statue of
Pharaoh Khufu, both beardless,

leads us to believe
that maybe he's the one

who had it built.

- Khufu is probably more
familiar to people as Cheops

because this was the ancient
Greek name for Khufu.

And this is also why
his famous pyramid

is called the Great
Pyramid of Cheops

rather than the Pyramid of Khufu

for most people.

- The Great Pyramid
of Cheops is massive.

For around 4,000 years,

it was the tallest manmade
structure in the world,

around 482 feet high.

- We know that the
pyramids, of course,

were burial tombs for the
ancient Egyptian kings,

but also for the kings,

they would be a
show of their power,

their magistery.

So clearly the Great Pyramid
shows off the king's power.

And if Khufu wanted to
show this in other ways,

what better way than to
build a large sculpture

combining his head with
the body of a lion?

- [Laurence] Some
Egyptologists believe

the artistic style of the Sphinx

is consistent with Khufu's era.

- Scholars have found
a lot of evidence

of associations of lions

with the reign of Khufu.

So it could very well be

that whoever designed
this monument

was playing on the lion as a
metaphor for Khufu's reign.

- If truly Khufu did order
the sculpting of the Sphinx,

then it makes perfect sense

because looking at the Sphinx

next to the Great Pyramid
of Giza, Cheops's pyramid,

it looks like the
Sphinx is standing there

with its profile

guarding the tomb of the king.

- [Laurence] However,

archeologists have
yet to discover

any inscriptions or records

that explicitly link
Khufu to the Sphinx.

But if it wasn't Khufu,

who else had the
power and ambition

to build such a bold monument?

- Some people believe
that the Sphinx

was built by his successor,

and specifically one of his sons

who rose to the throne

through pretty scandalous means.

- [Laurence] The
enigmatic Sphinx

has fascinated humankind
for thousands of years,

but much about its
origins remain unknown.

- Given the location
of the Sphinx

and its orientation with
respect to the pyramids

on the Giza Plateau,

including the Great
Pyramid of Cheops,

most scholars think that
there's a definite relationship

between them

and that all of them together

project the majesty and
power of the Egyptian kings.

- [Laurence] Some
believe the Sphinx

wasn't built just
to honor Khufu,

but for a far more
sinister reason,

one which could
reveal its true maker.

- Scholars believe that Khufu

intended to leave his throne

to his eldest son, Kawab.

But as so often
happens in history,

royal bloodlines don't end
up going according to plan.

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- It is clear that
there is a problem

after Khufu's reign,

and this gives his younger sons

a lot of time to kind of
bicker amongst one another

and decide who takes the throne.

And the best way
to take the throne

was to get rid of the
person in front of you.

- Prince Kawab was next in line

to become the next
king of Egypt.

Prince Kawab dies suddenly

while Khufu was still a king.

- When one of the sons dies,

the first in line to succession,

there's always the
speculation anyway

that maybe the death

was deliberately
carried out by someone

to make way for the
next in line to succeed.

And as it turns out,

that son who does succeed
Khufu is Djedefre.

So not only was Djedefre not
first in line to succession

and born of a lesser
wife of Khufu,

he was sort of a black
sheep of the family

who was not very
popular with the people.

- We know Djedefre experienced
a lot of kind of chaos

and discontent during his rule.

And so Djedefre probably
would've been really concerned

with consolidating his power

and making sure that
the people understood

that he was in charge

and that he was the rightful
successor to his father.

- [Laurence] Some
researchers believe

Djedefre tried to
restore his good name

by building the Sphinx.

- So it makes a lot of sense

that Djedefre would've
been undertaking

a lot of building projects

to commemorate and
honor his father

who was a lot more
popular than he was.

And this might be why
he had the Sphinx built

protecting his father's pyramid.

- [Laurence] If
Djedefre was the pharaoh

who built this
monument to his father,

not everyone
appreciated his efforts.

- Djedefre tomb was vandalized,

and statues associated with it

may well have been defaced.

Some believe that this
would've been common

in an unpopular pharaoh

because, according to
Egyptian mythology,

if you deface the statues
at a pharaoh's tomb,

the soul would never
make it to the afterlife,

which means they're
condemned for eternity.

- In addition to having the
nose of his statue broken off,

his cartouches, these are
Egyptian hieroglyphics

that contain the
name of the king,

those were damaged
and defaced as well.

And this would mean
that in the afterlife,

he would be nameless,
he would be unknown.

- [Laurence] The Sphinx
may not be the only way

Djedefre tried to
memorialize his father,

as a stunning archeological
find at Giza revealed.

- So, during excavations

around the Great
Pyramid of Giza in 1954,

archeologists
discovered a large pit

that was covered
with limestone slabs.

And when they eventually
removed these limestone slabs,

what they found was a large
wooden boat from ancient Egypt,

over 144 feet in length

and over 4,500 years old.

- A lot of scholars
hesitate to decide

what the boat was for,

and theories could be the boat

was made for the
king's body to be in

to come all the
way across the Nile

and land right in
front of the pyramids.

But then we found no
remnants whatsoever

that the boat was ever used.

So, the other theory,

which is more likely
to be the case,

that the boat was more
of a symbolic boat

for the afterlife.

- The stone slabs that
covered over the pit

in which the boat lies

had inscriptions on them,

which include the
name of Djedefre.

So, it's quite
possible that Djedefre

had this boat constructed

for his deceased father, Khufu.

It therefore, like the Sphinx,

could have been made by Djedefre

in honor of his father.

- [Laurence] But some
experts dispute this claim.

- Essentially there isn't
enough archeological evidence

to support the idea
that he was the king

who commissioned the
Sphinx to be built.

- But this doesn't rule out

that it was one of
Khufu's successors

who had the Sphinx made.

It could've been another
successor and not Djedefre.

- [Laurence] Around
the year 2550 BCE,

after roughly a
decade on the throne,

the Pharaoh Djedefre dies.

Some scholars believe he
may have been murdered.

- It is believed that just as
Djedefre killed his brother

in order to take the throne,

Djedefre in turn was killed
by his half-brother, Khafre,

who took the throne from him.

- [Laurence] During his reign,

Khafre also showed an interest

in building
large-scale structures,

leading some to wonder

if he might be the
Sphinx's true architect.

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- All you have to
do is take a look

at the massive statues
that were made for Khafre,

particularly in his
Valley Temple at Giza,

once you overlay the face of
these statues on the Sphinx,

you can see that
there is resemblance.

But the problem is,

Khafre had representations

that showed him with a beard.

And looking at the Sphinx,

the Sphinx doesn't have a beard.

- During examination of
the Sphinx in the 1980s,

scholars actually noticed

that there was
essentially a bump

underneath the chin,

that might indicate that there
used to be a beard there.

- It's quite possible

that there originally was a
stone beard on the Sphinx,

which would make it more
in Khafre's likeness

than his father Pharaoh Khufu,

and if the beard might've
just been lost to time,

maybe vandalism or
it could be lost

due to essentially long-term
erosion in the desert.

- [Laurence] That's not
the only potential link

between Pharaoh Khafre
and the Great Sphinx.

- Khafre, like his predecessors,

built a lot of structures
on the Giza Plateau.

He built a huge pyramid
for himself as well

that's only a few feet shorter

than the Great
Pyramid of Cheops.

He also had a Valley Temple
built there for himself.

- To a lot of Egyptologists,

this close proximity
makes us think

that this was all part
of one plan, right?

To have the Sphinx
built at the same time

maybe as this causeway

connecting the temple
to his pyramid.

- [Laurence] The
position of the pyramids,

the temple and the Sphinx

line up during celestial events

with breathtaking results.

- This temple has
24 stone columns.

And 24, of course, are
the hours of the day.

There are also in
the Sphinx temple

two niches on either
side of the temple,

one on the east side and
one on the west side.

- In the Sphinx temple
on the equinoxes,

the sun rises in the
east through the niche

and then sets to the west niche

inside of the Sphinx temple.

So it puts together an
interesting sort of tableau

because you have
the Sphinx temple,

you have the Sphinx
itself behind it,

and behind that, you've
got the Pyramid of Khafre,

all three of them being lined up

to celebrate a celestial event.

- The the spring and
the fall equinox,

only those two
days, no other day.

That's how perfectly
calculated they were.

It wasn't coincidence.

The alignment of the stars,

the Sphinx looking at the dad

shining in the morning
in the form of a sun

and the equinox day,

making the Sphinx and the
Great Pyramids of his dad

come into one as a shadow.

[dynamic music]

- [Laurence] Could Khafre
have built the temples,

Sphinx and pyramids

as interconnected
burial structures

to ensure his journey
alongside his father

into the afterlife?

- Ancient Egyptians
had a very strong

astronomy field of study.

And you can tell from all
the buildings they've built

how aligned with
the stars they were.

And the reason is
because they believed

that they come from the stars.

And eventually when they
are done with this life,

they go be immortal up in
the sky with the stars.

So, if the Sphinx was actually
built by King Khafre,

this would make perfect sense.

- [Laurence] Modern science
has found another link

between Khafre and the Sphinx,

revealed in
microscopic organisms

hidden within the rock itself.

- So when we look at limestone,

limestone is a
compilation of mud,

sand and also sea organisms.

Nummulites is what we call them.

We look at these as the
fingerprints of the limestone,

and it suggests that Khafre

may have been the one
that built the Sphinx

because the same stone
is used in the Sphinx

as is used in the structures
that Khafre built.

- According to some
of these theories,

they had originally
sculpted the Sphinx

and then later used the stone

that was chiseled away from that

for use in Khafre's
other building projects.

- [Laurence] But
not everyone agrees

this was all Khafre's doing.

- Some scholars are skeptical

whether he actually
built his Valley Temple

and carved the Great
Sphinx at the same time.

- The Great Sphinx of Egypt

has fascinated scholars and
historians for centuries.

But who built it and why

has long remained a
tantalizing mystery?

Is it possible modern science

can finally solve the
questions around its origin?

- In the 1980s, archeologists
make a great leap forward

when it comes to unraveling

some of the mysteries
of the Sphinx.

They begin to use
radiocarbon dating techniques

to try to determine the
age of the pyramids.

And if you can determine
the age of the pyramids,

you might know the
age of the Sphinx.

Since you can't
carbon date stone,

they focus on the organic
materials they find,

wooden coffins, human
bones, reed mats.

The hope is to pinpoint

when the tombs were being used.

This would mean that
Giza was active,

and if it was active,

you have a rough idea of
when it had been built.

- Radiocarbon dating of a lot
of these organic materials

sets the building date of most
of these temples and pyramids

during the reigns
of Khufu to Khafre.

But that doesn't
necessarily link

or tell us when the
Sphinx itself was built.

- Some people suggest

that the Sphinx
was built earlier

than the pyramids
on the Giza Plateau.

They think that, in fact,

it was an earlier ruler

who ended up
building the Sphinx.

[dynamic music]
[text beeping]

- One piece of evidence

that has given rise
to some theories

that the Sphinx might date
from a much earlier period

than the nearby pyramids

is something called
the Inventory Stele,

which was discovered
in 1858 in that area.

The Inventory Stele
we think dates

to sometime in the 600s BCE.

- The Inventory Stele lists
everything being found

in that location at the time.

It says that King
Khufu's pyramid

was built in the
shadow of the Sphinx,

which led many scholars

to suggest that the Sphinx

was already there when the
Great Pyramid was built.

- [Laurence] If the Sphinx
predates the pyramids,

then who is the architect
of this colossal monument?

One clue may be hidden

in the shape of
the Sphinx's head.

- The proportions between
the head of the Sphinx

and its body
suggests that perhaps

there was a different head

on the body of the
Sphinx originally,

which was then
recarved and reshaped

to look like a human head.

- The head appears to be
too small in proportion

to the body of the Sphinx.

And this is unusual

because Egyptian art is
usually very proportional.

- [Laurence] Some suggest that
the original statue's head

may have ties to the underworld.

- There are some theories

this body could
have originally been

with the head of a dog,

which could mean that
it was representing

the Egyptian god Anubis.

He was the god of
funerary rites,

he was actually the one that
would kind of help people

get into the afterlife.

So this would make
a lot of sense

for then why later pharaohs

would wanna build their
pyramids, their tombs,

right next to him.

[inquisitive music]

- Anubis was one of the
oldest Egyptian gods,

was associated with
mummification and the afterlife.

Now, he was popular
during the first dynasty,

which is long before the
reign of Khufu and his sons.

Some speculate that
a much earlier ruler

carved the Sphinx with the
head of a dog or jackal

as a celebration of an Anubis.

But then centuries later,

after Anubis has
declined in popularity,

another ruler, maybe Khufu
or one of his descendants,

has the Sphinx recarved
in his own image.

Now, if that's the case,

it would mean the Sphinx

is centuries older than
previously thought.

- [Laurence] Then in 1998,

new evidence emerges
that backs up this idea.

- A geologist by the
name of Colin Reader

examined the erosion
on the Sphinx.

And in his view,

the head appears to be
eroded from sand and wind,

whereas the lower portions,

the body of the Sphinx,

looks to be water erosion.

- The base being
subject to water erosion

brings a lot of questions,

'cause obviously we're in
the middle of the desert.

But we do know that Egypt

had this period known as
the neolithic wet phase,

anywhere from 4,000
to 9,000 years ago.

- And that's 7,000, 8,000 years

before the Great Pyramid of Giza

was even built.

And if that is true,

then there was a
whole civilization

that have created the Sphinx

over 7,000 years before
ancient Egypt as we know it.

- Some scholars have tried

to actually look at the
sedimentary evidence

around the Giza Plateau

to try to figure out if
the whole Giza Plateau

was more like a savanna,

with lush vegetation.

And what they found is that
there is a now dried-out canal

or branch of the Nile

that actually existed close by

where the Sphinx
is located today.

- [Laurence] Evidence
of an ancient canal

may indicate a civilization

even older than
previously believed.

One whose ruler could have
built the mighty Sphinx.

- If Colin Reader
is somehow right,

the horizontal erosion

that was on the side
walls of the Sphinx

suggests that the Sphinx
could have been there

during the neolithic
time, their wet era.

- [Laurence] In 2023,
New York University

publishes a study

that might upend
everything we think we know

about how the Great
Sphinx was constructed.

- Even though the
prevailing view

is that you had a king
decide to do this,

here we are in 2023,

and now another
theory comes along

that the bulk of it

wasn't even done
by human beings.

- A team of researchers
decides that they wanna see

if they can replicate
what could've become

this naturally occurring Sphinx

4,500 years ago in Giza.

- The team from NYU
found new evidence

to suggest that perhaps more
powerful forces were at play,

even before any
chisels hit the rock.

[inquisitive music]
[text beeping]

- So, the New York team
was drawing on research

from the 1980s

by a geologist and space
scientist, Farouk El-Baz.

- So El-Baz spends
his later career

studying how desert
landscapes form,

using satellite imagery,

using various
geological surveys.

He's trying to figure out

how land forms develop

and how they evolve over time.

- He has theorized
that you can form

these kind of features on
the surface of the Earth

and other planets as well

through wind and sand erosion

that create a large natural
geological structure.

- Now, these are naturally
occurring formations

that are known as mud lions,

largely because what happens

is that the softer
mud floats away

and that the harder
mud that's left

often becomes the figure
of a recumbent lion.

And they are found
all over the world,

largely in desert areas,

but also are found on mars.

According to this
theory from El Baz,

rather than starting
from scratch

and carving this whole thing,

they might've seen this
naturally occurring formation

that maybe resembled a lion

or some form of animal

and then worked on
it after the fact.

- [Laurence] Could desert
winds also be responsible

for helping to create
the Great Sphinx?

Researchers were
determined to find out.

- So, this research
team tried to recreate

the geological conditions

by getting some soft clay

and embedding within it
harder bentonite clay,

and then running water over that

so that it would erode the
soft clay on the exterior,

exposing some of that
harder bentonite clay.

- They simulated the
weather conditions,

what would've happened in
the desert under flooding.

- [Laurence] The team
uses 3D optical scanners

to record how the shape changes

as the clay structure erodes.

- The results were
really surprising.

In fact, it was the
natural formation of a lion

that was left.

- Not only do these
erosion patterns

create a lion shape,

but they even give more
perhaps distinctive features,

things like paws, a neck,

and even the head
of a lion as well.

- So, after a long time of
that mound of limestone

has been there,

a king or an engineer saw it.

And it looks to them
like a body of a lion

sitting with its paws out.

So, it may very well be

that it was nature
that created it.

And then ancient
Egyptians came in,

just put their final touches

and made it the mighty Sphinx.

- [Laurence] Still, there's
no way to be certain

whether nature truly
shaped the Sphinx.

- Some skeptics have suggested

that we know that erosion

has been eating
away at the Sphinx

since it was created.

But this doesn't
necessarily mean

that these same forces

were used to create the
statue in the first place.

- [Laurence] We may
never know with certainty

who built the Great Sphinx,

but the more compelling
question may be

what else is it hiding?

- While some
Egyptologists and scholars

have debated the
age of the Sphinx,

other groups have
actually debated

what potentially lies
beneath the Sphinx,

including this wild theory

that there are secret rooms and
chambers of hidden knowledge

located below the statue itself.

- According to this theory,

there was a central library

established somewhere
in one location

with all of the wisdom
and technology of the age

in a repository of knowledge

about a vanished civilization.

And there are some who
believe that that library

is located below the
Great Sphinx of Giza.

And if that's true,

it's been buried there
for thousands of years.

- [Laurence] Explorers have
spent the last hundred years

looking for hidden passageways

in, around and under the Sphinx.

- As it turns out,

there actually are
subterranean passages

beneath the Sphinx.

In the 1920s and '30s,

archeologists did find
some passages there.

They found one at the rear
or the rump of the Sphinx,

and also another one between
the paws of the Sphinx.

However, when they
investigated these passages,

they stopped in a dead end.

- A half a century
later in 1977,

American researchers
are able to use

new sub-imaging technology

to look further into these
subterranean tunnels,

and they find some anomalies

that they can't explain.

They're not really able
to explore it further

until 10 years later in 1987,

when a Japanese team

was able to use an
electromagnetic sounding survey

to look into this further.

- This Japanese research team

from Waseda University in Tokyo

using electromagnetic sounding

to try to map
underneath the Sphinx

found a water pocket eight
to 10 feet underground,

a couple of cavities behind
the hind paws of the Sphinx,

and another cavity
some six feet away,

which seemed to also contain
other anomalies within it.

- They also think that chamber

located to the east
of the Great Sphinx

potentially contains some
ancient artifacts within it.

This find increased interest

in trying to explore
these anomalies

that were being found
underneath the Sphinx.

But ultimately for the
safety of the monument,

the Egyptian officials

decided not to
continue exploration

of these underground anomalies.

- In 2019 though, the
Egyptian government

did give permission
to a research team

to do some digging.

And so they were
able to investigate

some of these
cavities and passages

under the Sphinx.

But alas, they
didn't find anything.

- [Laurence] Despite
the dead ends,

explorers continue visiting Giza

to search for this legendary
lost haul of records.

- In 2021, Dr. Manu Seyfzadeh

used new scanning technology,

and he did find what he
believes to be a manmade room

that is about 40 feet by 30 feet

under the Sphinx.

And he believes it's manmade

because it has perfect
square right angles.

- The fact that they
found this manmade room

under the Sphinx that
scans have revealed

suggests that perhaps the Sphinx

was constructed specifically

to mark or perhaps even to hide

the location of this library.

Now, according to
the scans though,

this room is flooded with water.

That means that if there were
all these records in there,

they would've been
destroyed by water long ago.

- [Laurence] One Roman historian

suggested that the chambers
beneath the Great Sphinx

are not guarding knowledge,

but instead protecting
a mysterious tomb.

- Proponents of the
theory of a burial chamber

find evidence in
an ancient text,

"The Natural History"
of Pliny the Elder,

who visited the Great Sphinx,

and around 77 or 79 CE,

he recorded his observations

about the great structure in
his book, "Natural History."

Pliny wrote, "In front
of them is the Sphinx,

the inhabitants of the
region regarded as a deity.

They are of the opinion
that a king, Harmais,

is buried inside it."

- The problem is,

no one has been able to identify

that there ever was
anyone named King Harmais.

There is a list from
the Temple of Seti

of the 75 pharaohs,

and he is not included
among them at all.

- We know though,

that this list omits many
of the older pharaohs.

So if King Harmais
was one of them,

it would [laughing]
make the Sphinx

even older than the
oldest current estimate.

- [Laurence] Researchers
continue to debate

what the chambers beneath
the Great Sphinx might hold.

But until archeologists
are able to excavate

underneath the ancient monument,

the mysteries remain hidden.

- Unfortunately, the
Egyptian officials

haven't granted any more
permission to actually dig

and find out what is in this
really interesting cavern.

And so there are
people who are critical

who say that the
Egyptian government

is hiding these
secrets of the Sphinx.

But really until we
can dig down there

and see for ourselves,

we're just not gonna know.

- For decades,
scholars have poured

over every inch of the Sphinx,

trying to solve the many
mysteries associated with it.

But for every time they think
they come up with an answer,

they always end up with
more questions about it.

And to this day,

the Sphinx is still a
subject of endless debate.

- All across centuries,

the Sphinx has been
this mystical figure

that is full of secrets.

You just don't know what it is

and who built it and why.

And today, if the Sphinx
has been associated

with all these secrets.

It's no wonder that if
you wanna keep a secret,

they say, "Silent
as the Sphinx."

And it's true,

this structure is an enigma.

[dynamic music]

- Even so, researchers continue
trying to solve the riddle

of this impressive monument,

hoping that one day
new technologies

will finally reveal

who really built the
Great Sphinx of Giza,

and why.

I'm Laurence Fishburne.

Thank you for watching
"History's Greatest Mysteries."

[pensive music]