Incongruous elements -1

The dynasty IV Great Sphinx at Giza is, without doubt, the most conspicuous example, capturing Khephren in godly leonine form, protecting the approach to his pyramid. Abit more complex, but along the same lines of blending of human and beast, is a frightening sphinx with the long tail of a Nile crocodile, such as the colossal statue of one still in situ at Amenhotep III’s mortuary temple at Thebes (Kom el-Hetan), dating from dynasty XVIII. Here, in this article, we will use the term monster as a purely fancied beast, one that never actually walked the face of the earth, but lived exclusively in the imagination, and subsequent artistic creativity, of humankind. They were typically illustrated compounded of various incongruous elements of animal types, the result being not infrequently a very bizarre configuration, that was intended to instill a sense of awe and wonder in its beholder. From the earliest times, the Egyptians living in relative safety along the fertile black banks of the River Nile, perceived the vast deserts flanking them as forbidding places