ette found a dromos which led to a temple built, at the time of the 4th dynasty, of huge blocks of alabaster and red granite. In the midst of the great chamber of this temple were found seven statues, five mutilated and two entire, of the monarch Shaf-ra, or Chephren, made of a porphyritic granite. They are fine examples of ancient Egyptian art. While the beauty and grand- eur of the (ireat Sphinx have often attracted the ad- miration of travellers, its age has always remained a subject of doubt ; but these later discoveries prove it to have been a monument of the age of the 4th dynas- ty, or contemporary with the pyramids.
Besides the tireat Sphinx, avetnies of sphinxes have been discovered at Sakkarah forming a dromos to the Serapeium of Memphis, and another dromos of the same at the Wady Essebua. A sphinx of the age of the Shepherd dynasty has been found at Tanis, and anoth- er of the same age is in the Louvre; and a granite sphinx, found behind the vocal Memnon and inscribed with the name of Amenophis III, is at St. Petersburg. An avenue of criosjdiinxes has been found at Karnak. These are each about seventeen feet long and of the age of Horus, one of the last monarchs of the 18th dy- nasty. Various small sphinxes are in the different col- lections of Europe, but none of any very great antiquity.
The Theban sphinx, whose myth first appears in Hesiod, is described as having a lion's body, female head, bird's wings, and serpent's tail, ideas probably de- rived from riioenician sources, which had adopted this symbolical form into the mythology from Egypt. She was said to be the issue of Orthos, the two-headed dog of Geryon, by Chimaera, or of Typhon and Echidna, and was sent into the vicinity of Thebes by Juno to punish the transgression of Laius, or, according to other ac- counts, by Bacchus, Mars, or riuto. This she did by propounding a riddle to every one that passed by and killing those who were unable to solve it. QEdipus final- ly gave the solution, and the sphinx thereupon threw herself from the rock on which she had settled. The sphinx was a favorite subject of ancient art, and ap- pears in bas-reliefs, on medals of Chios and other towns, and often as the decorations of arms and furniture. In Assyria and Babylonia representations of sphinxes have been found, and the same are uot uncommon on Phoeni- cian works of art.
See Birch, AJus. of Class. A ntiq. ii, 27 ; Qitar. Rev. xix, 412; Vyse, Pyrumuk, iii. 107 ; Young, Hierixjlyph- ic$, pi. 80; Letronne, Inscr. Grecq. ii, 4C0; Rev. Arch. 1853, p. 715 ; 18(50, p. 20 ; Schol. Juiripid. i, 1, 1 134 ; Hes- iod, T/ieof/. p. 326; Crenzer, Symholik, i, 495; Millin, Gdl. Myth. p. 502, 505; Murray, Humlbook for K'jypt, p. 193 s(|.; IJiideker, Lower Efiypt, p. 165,348. — Cham- bers's F.iicydop. s. V. See Egypt.
Sphragis C^cppayig, seal,) a name given in the an- cient Church to baptism. Being rather uncommon as applied to baptism, it has occasioned some error among learned men, who often mistake it either for the sign of the cross, or the consignation, and the unction that was used in confirmation. The iinposition of hands in ordi- nation was called a^pnyif; (consiytiatioii) and nravpoei- ^')c Tppayir {consir/iia/iim in form of a rros.i), because the sign of the cross was made on the head of him that was ordained. See Bingham, Christ. A ntiq. bk. iv, ch. vi, § 12; bk. xii, ch. i, § 4.
Sphragitld^s, in (Jreek mythology, were a class of priiplictic nymphs on Moimt Citha-ron, in Bceotia, where ilicy had an oracle in a grotto.
Sphyriis, in (irecian mythology, was a grandson of -Ksculapins and son of Machaon by Anticlea, the daughter of king Diodes of Pheric.
Spice is the rendering in the A.V. of the following Ucl)rew and (ireek words. See Aisomatics.
1. liasam, hisem, or bo.ieni (D"£3, DOS, or C"i'3; Sept. y'lCvtr^tara, Bt'ixiafiaTa ; Vidg. tironiata). The first-named form of the Hebrew term, which occurs
SPICE
927
SPICE
only in Cant, v, 1, " I have gatliered my mj'rrh with my spice," points apparently to some definite substance. In the other places, with the exception perhaps of Cant, i, 13; vi, 2, the words refer more generally to sweet aromatic odors, the principal of which was that of the balsam, or balm of Gilead. The tree which yields this substance is now generally admitted to be the Amtjris (Bals(nnodendru?i) opobitlsamum ; though it is probable that other species of Amyridacete are included under the terms. The identity of the Hebrew name with the Arabic busham or balasdti leaves no reason to doubt that the substances are identical. The .1 myris opobal- sumuia was observed by Forskal near Mecca; it was called by the Arabs abushum, i. e. " very odorous." Yet whether this was the same plant that was culti- vated in the plains of .Jericho and celebrated through- out the world (Pliny, Hist. Nat. xii, 25 ; Theophrastus, Hist. Plant, ix, 6; Josephus, Ant. xv, 4, 2; Strabo, xvi, 3G7, etc.), it is difficult to determine; but being a trop- ical plant, it cannot be supposed to have grown except in the warm valleys of the south of Palestine, The shrub mentioned bj' Biirekhardt {Trav. p. 323) as grow- ing in gardens near Tiberias, and which he was in- formed was the balsam, cannot have been the tree in question. The A. V. never renders basum by "balm;" it gives this word as the representative of the Hebrew izeri, or tzori. See Balsf. The form besem or bosem, which is of frequent occurrence in the Old Test., may well be represented by the general term "spices," or "sweet odors," in accordance with the renderings of the Sept. and Vulg. The balm-of-Gilead tree grows in some parts of Arabia and Africa, and is seldom more than fifteen feet high, with straggling branches and scanty foliage. The balsam is chiefiy obtainetl from incisions in the bark, but the substance is procured also from the green and ripe berries. The balsam orchards near Jericho appear to have existed at the time of Ti- tus, by whose legions they were taken formal posses- sion of, but no remains of this celebrated plant are now to be seen in Palestine (Lady Callcott, Scri2}ture Herbal, p. 33). — Smith. See Tristram, Xut, Hist, of the Bible, p. 33G. See Gii-kad, Balm of,