Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This book is full of information about the sphinx and its surrounding structures that has been compiled by an enormous amount of work by the author. Every person who reads this book will learn some new things, and correct some of their misconceptions about the sphinx. It is inspiring to encounter a researcher who has the abilities to find information from so many different sources--where none of them involve the Internet. His data is based on keen on-site observation, historical documentation, and measurable analysis. The book is mostly written well, and it is a fun and rewarding read. Temple's analysis is creative and gives the reader a lot of things to think about.
Temple does offer many speculations that the reader can ponder. The book is not perfect, and I do not agree with several of Temple's conclusions. For example, after undertaking a fascinating analysis of the Sphinx Temple and its adjacent Valley Temple, the author points out much evidence regarding water weathering due to filling and emptying the moat from the Nile river, the buildings' functional purposes, and underground chamber placement. However, he doesn't mention anything about how the granite block in the Valley Temple are cut to fit the already weathered, and much larger, limestone blocks.
Thus, one of the major arguments presented by John West and Robert Shoch are not considered when Temple dismisses the rainfall theory of the weathering. The author apparently considers the interior granite blocks to have been in existence since the origin of the Valley Temple, which does not seem to fit the on-site evidence. And even though the author is fully aware of other megalithic structures across the world, they are not considered here at all.
In addition, the author simply states that he is not an expert on the climate history of the Giza plateau, and does not even consider this worthy of analysis. This is not an insignificant point, because much of Temple's view regarding Egyptian textual interpretation depends on the Giza plateau being a somewhat sandy desert for several centuries or millenia prior to 3000 BC.
It also seems illogical at times to ascribe high knowledge and understanding to the middle and new kingdom Egyptian priests, and then at other times, to assume a very low level of understanding and petty and/or egotistical behavior that it inconsistent with highly enlightened and spiritually adept priestly initiates.
Another shortcoming of the book is that it does not present the exact date at which the author would place the building of the Giza plateau; rather, it only gives the opinion that it must precede 2700 BC by several centuries. The author makes many references to his forthcoming book, which is titled "Egyptian Dawn." This book will apparently provide Temple's opinion on this matter as well as many others. This is somewhat annoying because it leaves Temple's conclusions on certain issues in limbo. Nonetheless, it is a given that the reader will certainly read this next book when it is published.
The book would have read better if Temple would have stated his thesis and conclusion to each section at the first of the section, rather than forcing the reader to explore whole chapters and then lead up to the climax at the end. Sometimes, this made me impatient for the author to just get straight to the point.
There are many long picture captions that strain the eyes a little, but the captions are at least fully explained. The text does an excellent job of referencing the numbers of the figures and the pages where they occur--and there are lots and lots of pictures and figures!
For those readers interested in Temple's analysis of the Anubis-Sphinx-Sirius connection, it should be mentioned that the author does not mention this at all. Perhaps this will be addressed in his next book. In fact, Sirius is mentioned only once in passing.
It would also have been helpful if Temple would have considered the shamanic interpretation of the relevant Egyptian texts, such as that presented by Jeremy Naydler's book, "Shamanic Wisdom in the Pyramid Texts," rather than only the funerary interepretation.
Altough the book has several shortcomings, is still an excellent read for everybody.
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The Sphinx Mystery: The Forgotten Origins of the Sanctuary of AnubisA book that verifies the existence of secret underground chambers beneath the Sphinx and demonstrates its origins as the Egyptian god of the dead, Anubis• Includes an anthology of eyewitness accounts from early travelers who explored the secret chambers before they were sealed in 1926• Reveals that the Sphinx was originally carved as a monumental crouching Anubis, the Egyptian jackal god of the necropolisShrouded in mystery for centuries, the Sphinx of Giza has frustrated many who have attempted to discover its original purpose. Accounts exist of the Sphinx as an oracle, as a king's burial chamber, and as a temple for initiation into the Hermetic Mysteries. Egyptologists have argued for decades about whether there are secret chambers underneath the Sphinx, why the head-to-body ratio is out of proportion, and whose face adorns it. In The Sphinx Mystery, Robert Temple addresses the many mysteries of the Sphinx. He presents eyewitness accounts, published over a period of 281 years, of people who saw the secret chambers and even went inside them before they were sealed in 1926--accounts that had been forgotten until the author rediscovered them. He also describes his own exploration of a tunnel at the rear of the Sphinx, perhaps used for obtaining sacred divinatory dreams. Robert Temple reveals that the Sphinx was originally a monumental Anubis, the Egyptian jackal god, and that its face is that of a Middle Kingdom Pharaoh, Amenemhet II, which was a later re-carving. In addition, he provides photographic evidence of ancient sluice gate traces to demonstrate that, during the Old Kingdom, the Sphinx as Anubis sat surrounded by a moat filled with water--called Jackal Lake in the ancient Pyramid Texts--where religious ceremonies were held. He also provides evidence that the exact size and position of the Sphinx were geometrically determined in relation to the pyramids of Cheops and Chephren and that it was part of a pharaonic resurrection cult.
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