Riddles Of The Sphinx

by Paul Jordan, Profusely illustrated (Illustrator)

RIDDLES OF THE SPHINX de JORDAN, Paul 1998 Sutton

Genres: Nonfiction, Ancient History, History, Egyptology

256 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1998

About the author

I am an autistic celibate published author.

Reviews

[Donald Broussard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read this while taking a history course on the Ancient Near East. This book came out in response to earlier books by John West, Graham Hancock, and geologist Dr. Robert Schoch dating the building of the Sphinx much earlier than 2500 BC. Professor Schoch based this idea on geological grounds, as he contended the main erosion of the Sphinx to be made by rain erosion from an earlier period [rain having stopped by the time of Chephren]. Paul Jordan's reply rests on archeological findings, including the architectural link of the Sphinx to the mortuary temple of Chephren. Egyptologists generally have embraced Jordan's case, while many geologists and climatologists back the science Schoch. Much of that debate has to do with figuring out the main sources of the erosion: rain (which would point to an earlier period when rainfall was more plentiful), wind (both sides agree there was some wind erosion), and so on.

Jordan argues that the Sphinx had to come from the time of Chephren [c. 2500 BC] since no civilization has been found earlier -- the kind of civilizations to which others such as Graham Hancock attribute the monument. Jordan was writing at the height of debate from this, and so his writing presumes the reader familiar with the issues. As he's on the side of the academic Egyptologists, his text is fairly academic itself. It's almost as if he prefers to leave the casual popular writing to Hancock and von Daniken.