Remains of a sphinx found in northern Israel

Researchers from the Hebrew University have discovered part of a sphinx in the northern archaeological site of Hazor, the university announced on Tuesday.

Professor Amnon Ben-Tor and Dr. Sharon Zuckerman unearthed the base of a sphinx that contained a hieroglyphic inscription between its feet that dated it to the third millennium BCE. The inscription contains the name Mycerinus, who was one of the Egyptian kings associated with the sphinxes built in Egypt. The inscription refers to the king by name, and describes him as ““Beloved by the divine manifestation… that gave him eternal life.”

Ben-Tor and Zuckerman said that the sphinx likely came from the ancient city of Heliopolis (the Biblical “On”), north of today’s capital city of Cairo.

As no records exist of a connection between Egypt and what was then Canaan in the time of King Mycerinus, Ben-Tor and Zuckerman believe that the sphinx was probably brought to Hazor either during the period of the Hyksos, a Canaanite tribe that ruled Egypt around the 17th-16th centuries BCE, or between the 15th and 13th centuries BCE, when Canaan was under Egyptian rule.

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Hazor, today serving as a national park and a UNESCO World Heritage site, was the largest and most important city in Canaan during the second millennium BCE, with an estimated population of 20,000. The biblical book of Joshua referred to Hazor as the “head of all kingdoms” in ancient Israel because of its size and strategic location (Joshua 11:10).

According to the Hebrew University press release, documents discovered at Hazor and at sites in Egypt and Iraq attest that Hazor maintained cultural and trade relations with both Egypt and Babylon.