“White supremacy caused Napoleon to blow the nose off the Sphinx because it reminded [him] too much of the black man’s majesty.”— Louis Farrakhan, October 16ON THE 19th of May, 1798, a ...

Napoleon’s 1798 battle didn’t even take place on the Giza plateau, but 10 miles north at Imbabah. Some theories have posited that storms and earthquakes shook the Sphinx’s nose from its face ...

Time has robbed the Sphinx of its nose and kingly beard, but the rest of its features remain well-defined despite erosion. Two massive paws stretch out before the Sphinx’s leonine body.

In drawings made by Danish explorer Frederic Louis Norden in 1737 and displayed in 1744, the Sphinx had already lost its nose at least 60 years before Napoleon’s invasion.

Find the complete program transcript, including credits for the NOVA program Riddles of the Sphinx, originally broadcast on PBS on January 19, 2010.

And it’s notable not only for its beauty, but because of the fact the Sphinx’s nose is missing. As the legend goes, Napoleon Bonaparte did the deed during the French campaign in Egypt in 1798.

The Great Sphinx of Giza is one of the oldest, largest, and most mysterious monuments ever created. Between its expansive mythology, nebulous origins, and alleged connections to worlds beyond our ...

“White supremacy caused Napoleon to blow the nose off the Sphinx because it reminded [him] too much of the black man’s majesty.”— Louis Farrakhan, October 16ON THE 19th of May, 1798, a ...