The ancient Egyptian name for the sphinx is unknown. The word Sphinx comes from the Greek sphinx. The unusual sculptures of a man-lion seen in Egyptian temples made a huge impression on the ancient Greeks. Peoples of the world imagined these statues differently. In Greece, it was a mythical winged creature with the body of a lion or dog and a female chest and head, while in Africa it was a narrow-nosed monkey from the baboon genus. Later, the Greeks made these creatures heroes of their myths and legends. In them, sphinxes are terrible monsters, and the meaning of the word "sphinx" literally translates as "strangler." The wingless Egyptian sphinx in ancient Greek mythology takes on the female gender and the wings of a griffin.

In ancient Egypt, a sphinx was called a stone statue of a lying lion with a human head, symbolizing the power of the pharaoh. In ancient Egypt, lions lived beyond the Nile Valley; they were beautiful and strong. Egyptian sculptors carved statues of lions from stone and placed them at temples and tombs to protect against evil forces. Later, instead of a lion's head, they carved the head of the pharaoh and began to believe that the sphinx had the strength of a lion and the mind of a human, since pharaohs were considered messengers of the sun god Ra.

The ancient Egyptian sphinxes on the University Embankment in Saint Petersburg appeared at the height of Egyptomania in Europe. Two sculptures of anthropo-zoomorphic creatures with the body of a lion and the head of a human embody the mythical monsters of Ancient Egypt — sphinxes. They were created in the 14th century BC during the reign of Pharaoh Amenhotep III of the 18th dynasty. This period marked the flourishing of ancient Egyptian art, and the sphinxes are a significant monument of that era. The sculptures are made of pink Aswan granite and are distinguished by the high quality of the artist's work. They also stand out for their colossal size: each weighs 23 tons and measures 5.24 meters in length and 4.50 meters in height.

The modeling of the sphinxes’ faces is soft, with carefully worked eyes and lips. The sphinxes’ faces are youthful; their eyes are almond-shaped, and their lips form a mysterious, barely perceptible smile. On the sphinxes’ heads are royal nemes headdresses, with uraei attached to the forehead, topped by double crowns pa-shemti. Ritual beards are on their chins, “attached” to the ears by skillfully carved ribbons. On the chest and shoulders of the sphinx is a wide usekh necklace, the outer edge of which is decorated with beads. On the shoulder blades, back, and front surface of the chest, shoulders, and forearms is an imitation of a blanket made of pleated fabric. The lion bodies’ features are flexible and graceful. The massive tail is curled around the right thigh.

On the chest, between the front paws of the sphinxes, and around the entire perimeter of the plinths of the monuments are hieroglyphic inscriptions with the brief titulary of Amenhotep III, most of which are well preserved. The attached beards of the sphinxes were broken off in ancient times after the pharaoh’s death. Researchers consider the Saint Petersburg sphinxes among the best portraits of Amenhotep III. They were probably made by the same master as the colossal pink granite head found in Kom el-Hettan in 1957 and kept in the Luxor Museum. The Saint Petersburg sphinxes are compared with other sphinxes of Amenhotep III: a faience winged figurine from the Cairo Museum, a blue figurine from the Metropolitan Museum, a head from the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb, a sphinx made of glazed steatite from the Victoria and Albert Museum, sphinxes from the Egyptian Museum in Turin, and the Diocletian Palace.

The pier is 42 meters long and partially cut into the embankment. It has 14 steps down to the water. After 6 steps from the embankment, there is a platform with two semicircular benches on the edges, the ends of which are decorated with bronze figures of winged lions (griffins). The descent from the embankment is preceded on both sides by columns of bronze candelabra, which, thanks to their papyrus-like appearance, harmoniously complement the Egyptian pier. The sphinxes are installed on two massive granite pedestals on either side of the staircase. On the side facing the Academy of Arts is an inscription: “SPHINX / FROM ANCIENT EGYPT. / TRANSPORTED TO THE CITY OF SAINT PETERSBURG / IN 1832.”

The sphinxes were made to decorate the Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep III, built during the pharaoh’s lifetime in Thebes on the west bank of the Nile. Originally, they stood in the peristyle courtyard. The ruins of this temple today make up the archaeological zone of Kom el-Hettan.

After Napoleon Bonaparte’s Egyptian campaign, Europe was gripped by Egyptomania. Numerous archaeological excavations began in the country. A sketch of a fallen sphinx at the excavations of the Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep III by Bonomi.

In the 1820s, the Greek adventurer and antiquities seeker Yanis (Yanni) Athanasi, working for the British consul Henry Salt, conducted excavations near ancient Thebes. In 1825, he discovered two pink granite sphinx sculptures near the so-called Colossi of Memnon. During his expedition, these statues were examined by Jean-François Champollion. On June 20, 1829, in a letter to his brother, he described one of the sphinxes, noting its excellent preservation and high artistic qualities. In a later letter, he mentioned two sculptures, describing them as “delightful,” “the most perfect work” of sphinxes, and identified them as portraits of Amenhotep III.

Graphic sketches of the sphinxes were made by artist Joseph Bonomi the Younger. One of them depicts the sphinx at the moment of its excavation at the base of the fallen columns of the peristyle of Amenhotep III’s temple. Some of these drawings were included in James Burton’s book “Excerpta Hieroglyphica.” Later, images of the sphinxes were also included by archaeologist Prisse d’Avennes in his work “History of Egyptian Art.”

Champollion wanted to acquire the sphinxes but could not find enough funds. Although the sculptures had high artistic qualities, the sale process was delayed. To speed it up, one of the sphinxes was sent to Alexandria. The transportation process was sketched by artist Nestor L’Ot during Champollion’s expedition. The drawing shows the sphinx placed on a platform pulled by several dozen people, with the Theban cliffs and temple ruins (probably the Ramesseum) visible in the background.

In 1830, in Alexandria, the sphinx was seen by Andrey Muravyov, who, after the Russo-Turkish War, traveled to the “holy places.” The statue made such a strong impression on him that he immediately wrote to the Russian ambassador Alexander Ribopierre in Constantinople (Egypt was then part of the Ottoman Empire) proposing to buy the sphinxes for 100,000 francs, attaching drawings of the sculptures. The ambassador forwarded the letter to Vice-Chancellor Count Karl Nesselrode to request permission for such an expensive purchase from the emperor. Nicholas I was visiting Prussia at the time, so the correspondence was greatly delayed. But eventually, the emperor read the letter and sent a query to the Academy of Arts about the advisability of the purchase.

At this time, under the influence of Europe, Egyptomania was already actively developing in Russia. In 1826, the so-called Egyptian Bridge was opened in Saint Petersburg, and in 1829, the Egyptian Gates were built in Tsarskoye Selo. In 1826, the “Egyptian Museum” opened in the Kunstkamera. The president of the Academy of Arts, Alexey Olenin, was also interested in Egyptology and answered the emperor affirmatively. His response to Nicholas I was sent back to Prussia, where consent was finally obtained.

By the time the bureaucratic difficulties were resolved, the sphinx sculptures had already been sold to France. However, the July Revolution disrupted the deal. As a result, Russia was able to purchase the sphinxes for 64,000 rubles. The transportation of the sculptures from Alexandria to Saint Petersburg cost the treasury an additional 18 or 28 thousand rubles. During loading onto the ship “Buena Speranza,” one of the sculptures fell, damaging the headdress on the head. The sphinxes’ crowns, which are not part of the monolith, were placed separately on the deck. In May 1832, the sculptures arrived in Saint Petersburg.

In 1830, a project was developed to create a granite embankment on Vasilievsky Island west of the Isaakievsky floating bridge. In 1831, opposite the Academy of Arts building, architect Konstantin Thon designed a pier in the classical “Greek” style. The artist intended it to be decorated with sculptures of horse tamers by Peter Clodt. However, the cost of making the statues, 425,000 rubles, was too high for the Academy of Arts. In the end, it was decided to decorate the pier with sphinxes acquired in Egypt. For this, Konstantin Thon revised the project, changing the proportions of the descent to the water.

Architect Auguste Montferrand proposed to complement the pier with a colossal statue of the god Osiris, “patron of sciences and arts.” He promised to personally make the sculpture. However, Montferrand’s initiative found no support.

Construction of the pier began shortly before the sphinxes arrived in Saint Petersburg. However, the construction was delayed for several years. As a result, the sphinxes spent the first two years in the courtyard of the Academy of Arts. They took their place on the embankment only in April 1834. Probably at that time, the crowns were mounted on the sphinxes’ heads. Initially, the figures of the ancient monsters caused rejection among the townspeople, but soon the pier with the sphinxes became one of the favorite places of the citizens and gave rise to new urban legends.

The first work dedicated to the sphinxes and their history was published by Struve. The brochure “Saint Petersburg Sphinxes,” published, as stated on the title page, “by the decree of the Russian Archaeological Society on August 12, 1912,” has never been reissued since. Struve reports that architect Montferrand, who was finishing the Alexander Column on Palace Square in the same 1834, proposed to sculpt and install a colossal statue of Osiris between the sphinxes, but the pier project had already been approved earlier (December 16, 1831) by the emperor’s highest decree and was not reconsidered.

All researchers who worked with the sphinxes, including Struve and Mathieu, unanimously stated that the sphinxes need another location, more protected from climatic fluctuations, pollution, and moisture; this problem remains the most urgent in preserving these monuments today. In this light, the content of a document discovered by Lapis in the Hermitage archive is curious: “At the end of the case on the Castiglione collection, there is an unsigned note in French proposing to move the Amenhotep III sphinxes from the Neva embankment to the Hermitage and the Egyptian sarcophagi from the Tsarskoye Selo Ruins, with places indicated for the sphinxes, namely two halls on either side of the one where the famous vase of Revne jasper was installed and where the author of the note proposed to place all other ancient Egyptian monuments. However, this project was not accepted.”

The inscriptions on the sphinxes, except those located on the Neva side, were translated in 1912 by Vasily Vasilyevich Struve. Later, they were studied first by the well-known Soviet Egyptologist Yuri Yakovlevich Perepelkin, and then by Russian Egyptologist Viktor Viktorovich Solkin. The inscriptions represent the full titulary of five names and epithets of Pharaoh Amenhotep III.

The eastern sphinx is well preserved and distinguished by particularly meticulous finishing. Chips that do not interfere with the overall appearance of the sphinx are present on the right part of the nemes; apparently, these are the ones Struve wrote about, mentioning problems during the loading of the monument in Alexandria; the beard is almost broken off; individual fragments are chipped off from the front part of the plinth; a fragment of the rear part of the sphinx and part of the tail are lost. The head of the uraeus is missing. The sphinx’s crown is quite badly damaged; the high part of the deshret crown consists of several parts, with separate damages also on the front part of the hedjet crown. The length of the inscriptions on the sphinx’s plinth on the embankment side is 5.85 m, on the Neva side — 5.40 m. A fragment about 60 cm long is chipped off from the back of the sphinx’s plinth, which bore part of the text that can be restored by analogy. Inscription on the embankment side:

“May Horus live, the mighty bull, shining in Truth, Lord of Both Lands, establisher of laws, pacifier of Both Lands, Golden Horus, bull of kings, subduer of the Nine Bows, king of Upper and Lower Egypt, lord of Both Lands Nebmaatra, heir of Ra, son of Ra, beloved of him, Amenhotep, ruler of Thebes, likeness of Ra before Both Lands, good Horus, lord of eternity, to whom life, stability, power, health are given; [his heart rejoices like Ra, in eternity].”

Inscription on the Neva side: “May Horus live, the mighty bull, shining in Truth, Lord of Both Lands, establisher of laws, pacifier of Both Lands, king, great in creations, lord of the marvelous, never before done by ancestors, revealed only to his father, Amun, Lord of the Thrones of Both Lands, who placed knowledge in the heart, like Thoth, king of Upper and Lower Egypt, lord of Both Lands, Neb[maatra, heir of Ra, son of Ra, Amenhotep, ruler of Thebes, to whom life is given like Ra in eternity].”

Inscription on the chest and between the sphinx’s paws: “King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Nebmaatra, son of Ra, Amenhotep, ruler of Thebes, beloved of Amun-Ra.”

Inscription in front of the sphinx’s paws: “May the good god live, Nebmaatra, heir of Ra, son of Ra, Amenhotep, ruler of Thebes, beloved of Amun-Ra.”

The western sphinx is made of lower-quality granite, is worse preserved, and was possibly made earlier: it bears traces of corrections of the sculptor’s mistakes, which are absent on the eastern sphinx. Small chips are present on the right part of the nemes; the beard and the head of the uraeus are lost. Small chips are visible on the deshret crown. Severe damage is present on the front part of the plinth; the right part of the plinth suffered most from the destruction of weak granite components. The face is less carefully worked; dark granite particles cluster where the pupils should be, creating the illusion of the sphinx’s “gaze.” The inscription on the sphinx’s plinth, generally better preserved, has damage to the front part, which can be easily restored by the traces of hieroglyphs, as V. V. Struve suggested. The length of the inscription on the plinth on the shore side is 6.47 meters, on the river side — 6.45 meters. Inscription on the embankment side: “May Horus live, the mighty bull, shining in Truth, Lord of Both Lands, great terror to every foreign land, Golden Horus, subduer of Nubians, conqueror of their land, king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Nebmaatra, heir of Ra, son of Ra, Amenhotep, ruler of Thebes, offering sacrifices with creations rising to the heavens, like the four heavenly pillars, lord of Both Lands, Amenhotep, ruler of Thebes, beloved of Amun, mighty in name, to whom life is given in eternity, like Ra.”

Inscription on the Neva side: “May Horus live, the mighty bull, shining in Truth, Lord of Both Lands, establisher of laws, pacifier of Both Lands, Golden Horus, overthrower of Asians, subduer of Libyans, king of Upper and Lower Egypt, lord of Both Lands, Nebmaatra, chosen of Ra, son of Ra, beloved of him, Amenhotep, ruler of Thebes, brilliant in creations, first in infinity, his heart rejoices with his ka on the throne, like Amun-Ra in eternity.”

Inscription on the chest and between the sphinx’s paws: “King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Nebmaatra, son of Ra, Amenhotep, ruler of Thebes, beloved of Amun, lord of the thrones of Both Lands.”

Inscription in front of the sphinx’s paws: “[May live] the good god, Nebmaatra, heir of Ra, son of Ra, Amen[hotep], ruler of Thebes, [beloved] of Amun-Ra.”

The sphinxes appeared in the film "The Incredible Adventures of Italians in Russia," where the heroes hide on the sphinx from a lion chasing them.

Sources:

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphinxes_on_the_University_Embankment

https://www.spb-guide.ru/page_12794.htm

https://peterburg.center/ln/sfinksy-v-sankt-peterburge.html