The Great Sphinx of Giza, also referred to as Aker, the Sphinx of Giza or just the Sphinx, is a limestone statue of a reclining sphinx, which sits atop the Fifth of the Iron Mountains.
Fictional History[]
Early History[]
A long time ago, a race of super-ancient beings built the fifth of the iron mountains for their Trial of the Mountains at the top of a small hill of granite in what would later become Giza, Egypt. Over the eons, the granite hill over the fifth mountain was completely buried by tons of wind-swept sand.
After the Super-Ancients were gone, the Four Legendary Kingdoms learned about the tasks left behind by the Super-Ancient Beings, among them the Trial of the Mountains, and through the use of a bronze-like globe, discovered on the relative location of the fifth mountain.
Some time after 10,000 BC, a gigantic limestone monolith representing the mythical creature known as the sphinx was built, possibly by some remnants of the Super-Ancients, over the top of the fifth mountain. The statue, named Aker, was constructed so that it was looking in the direction of the Supreme Labyrinth, and on its crown-like uraeus was carved a simple method of locating the Labyrinth, starting from Aker by measuring the length of the uraeus and traveling the schoinos of that length 16 times.
The Pharaoh Khufu was one of the few who knew of the iron mountain's location beneath Aker and its role in locating the Supreme Labyrinth. After (apparently) receiving orders by the Super-Ancients to build a structure to contain the energy of the Tartarus Sunspot, Khufu chose to do so near Aker.
Over the years, Aker would come to be more commonly known to the world as the Great Sphinx of Giza.
After a prophecy was foretold of five individuals who would affect the Pillars, Ramesean Stones and Vertices of the Machine, a tablet inscribed with the Rhyme of the Warriors was left between the paws of the Sphinx.
Before The Five Greatest Warriors[]
In 37 AD, the mad Roman emperor Caligula ordered that the "bronze" globe with the iron mountains' locations, along with the obelisk it was mounted on, be relocated from the Siwa Oasis to Rome. The priests of the Cult of Amon-Ra were outraged and decided to deface the globe to keep its knowledge from the mad emperor, but were only able to file off the locations of two of the iron mountains before they were caught. As a result, the locations of both the fourth and fifth mountains, which to their knowledge had never been found, were lost to the members of the Four Kingdoms and their closest advisors.
Over the next few millennia, missions to determine the sites of the iron mountains, particularly the two lost mountains, were undertaken by various parties, though the mountain beneath the Sphinx defied all searches, in part due to it becoming buried by wind-swept sands.
In 1798, Napoléon Bonaparte led an expedition to Giza, and was among those who unearthed the Great Sphinx. During their examinations of the monolith, which also yielded to them the Rhyme of the Warriors tablet, Napoléon and his men nearly uncovered the fifth iron mountain by discovering the shaft located in the Sphinx's head, only to find it was clogged with solidified sand, and did not attempt to penetrate any deeper.
Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, archaeologists studying the Great Sphinx found it difficult to determine when the huge statue had been built, with some suspecting that Khufu or his son Khafre may have had it built.
During his childhood, Hardin Lancaster formed an obsession with the Great Sphinx of Giza, often wondering about its purpose and questioning why there was only one sphinx statue whereas there were three pyramids. During his studies into it, Lancaster discovered that the Great Sphinx had a greater purpose than the rest of the world knew. Lancaster's fascination with this icon, along with his skills at uncovering the secrets of his fellow royals, later earned him the nickname of Sphinx. When Lancaster was later assigned the role of a Trismagi, he had a 15-foot replica of the Great Sphinx brought to his mansion over Atlas.
During Diane Cassidy's research into the Machine and its components, she learned of the Rhyme of the Warriors tablet that had been uncovered by Napoléon's expedition to the Sphinx.
As the Commander-in-Chief's In Extremis Force's were preparing to re-erect the Golden Capstone at the Great Pyramid, the nearby Great Sphinx was briefly noted.
In 2007, an Egyptian Civil Engineering almost discovered the fifth mountain, as they struck granite and their ground penetrating radar revealed that a conical mass of granite lay beneath the Giza plateau, and by extension the Great Sphinx. However, they did not realise the significance of what they had found, and simply typed up a report on the granite.
The Five Greatest Warriors[]
After Cassidy joined the Coalition of Minnows team in their mission to locate the remaining Vertices and Pillars, the anthropologist disclosed her notes on the Rhyme of the Warriors tablet that had been found by the Great Sphinx.
The Three Secret Cities[]
While being held captive by Lancaster at his mansion, Lily West saw the Trismagi's Great Sphinx replica among his collection of paintings and artefacts. She was soon told by Lancaster about how he had long admired the Sphinx that was his namesake, and as he gazed at his replica, he hinted that his studies of the Great Sphinx would be put to use later.
The Two Lost Mountains[]
In the final days before the Omega Event was due to occur, Lancaster, Dion DeSaxe and High Brother Ezekiel each undertook the Fall in order to gain passage into the Supreme Labyrinth, and in the course of the conflicts to secure their chances of success in the maze, the first three iron mountains and their Falling Temples were destroyed, leaving the only chance for others to earn a burning key lay in finding one of the two lost mountains.
Shortly after Sphinx entered the Labyrinth, his forces used a Siren bell in Cairo, along with many of the world's major cities, sending the citizens into a coma-like state, including those located in Giza and around the Great Sphinx.
Late on December 25th, Alby Calvin looked back over the edict Khufu had left in the Great Pyramid regarding the Supreme Labyrinth, and looked up mountains near Giza, with his search turning up the Civil Engineering report of 2007. After reading it and seeing a picture depicting the mass being beneath the Sphinx, Alby began to realise that the fifth mountain was in Giza, and turning back to the Denon sketch of the Sphinx from the Napoléon expedition and seeing the shaft in the statue's head confirmed his suspicions. Alby reported his find to Jack West Jr, who along with Lily and Zoe began making their way to the Sphinx with the intention of undertaking the Fall at the fifth mountain together.
Meanwhile, members of the Order of the Omega also discovered the location of the fifth mountain, and a group led by Brother Eli arrived in Giza first. As they began digging through the sand clogging the moon shaft in the Sphinx's head, their comrades took control of the Lucifer telescope so that they could control a lunar rover to remove the thermal foil covering the pedestal on the moon to let them undertake the Fall once the it came into alignment with the Sphinx.
As Jack's group approached the Great Sphinx, Alby and Rufus managed to get an uplink working from the Zapadny Cosmodrome in Libya to expose the pedestal. As the moon's alignment with the Sphinx began, the confused Eli hurried to take advantage and worked his was down the Sphinx's head and into the Falling Temple to perform the Fall. However, the monks standing guard on on the Great Sphinx's head were taken down by Jack, Zoe and Lily, who followed the Omega monk into the iron mountain.
During the race to the Falling Temple's bottom level, Zoe and Lily got their hands on the pedestal while Jack quickly fought Eli and knocked the Omega monk into the shaft before joining his wife and daughter at the lower altar. Once the Temple had passed the second annulus and the Wests each received the burning key for successfully performing the Fall, Jack, Lily and Zoe made their way back out through the Great Sphinx's moon shaft, and began heading to the Supreme Labyrinth.
Features[]
The Fifth Iron Mountain[]
The Fifth of the five Iron Mountains of the fifth trial, which is located beneath the Great Sphinx in Giza. This was one of the two lost mountains whose exact location was lost to those in the Four Legendary Kingdoms and their closest advisors.
The Fall at the final Iron Mountain was undertaken by the West family, and also attempted by Brother Eli of the Order of the Omega, whom was knocked into the shaft mid-Fall by Jack.
Trivia[]
- In The Three Secret Cities, Lancaster implied that his obsession with his namesake had given him knowledge relevant to his plans for later use; though it isn't confirmed in The Two Lost Mountains, he may have uncovered the truth about the Great Sphinx being set atop the fifth mountain.
- However, if Lancaster was aware of this, then one could question why he did not destroy the Great Sphinx and the fifth mountain to prevent his adversaries from getting a chance to compete against him in the Supreme Labyrinth, as he had with the third mountain.