NOVA: Riddles of the Sphinx

Last night, Tina and I enjoyed the new NOVA detailing the history of the Sphinx. What better way to spend one’s sick days than watching documentaries about history.

As an icon of the ancient world, I’ve long wondered about its origins and history. There were a few things that stood out that I don’t think I have heard before.

Click for larger image

One, it was carved down into the limestone. If you’ve studied Africa, there are these brilliant buildings in Ethiopia that are built down into the dirt. Their rooves are parallel with the dirt that is level around it. This was done for protection. See this link for picture. This is how the Sphinx was sculpted. Little magic Egyptians dug around the base of the structure and then carved into it.

The little Egyptians didn’t bring stone in like the pyramids, place it down and carve it out.

There are some bricks at the Sphinx’s base that confuse how it was made. It’s as if the bricks once covered the entire animal, but fell away from the top. That’s not what happened.

Psst, Hitler was NOT an atheist, pass it on.

John Loftus posted this article from Austin Cline who wrote a piece debunking the cliché Christian talking point that Hitler was an atheist. I’ve discussed this topic here before, but I thought it was worth pointing out. This sentence alone speaks volumes, “Adolf Hitler was baptized in a Catholic Church in 1889 and was never be excommunicated or in any other way officially censured by the Catholic Church.”

Loftus points out an even better article from the book, “The Christian Delusion,” by Dr. Hector Avalos. In the event that you aren’t going to read that book, this is a good reference.