Sphinx of Naxos

The Sphinx of Naxos, also Sphinx of the Naxians, now in the Archaeological Museum of Delphi, is a 2.22 meter tall marble statue of a sphinx, a mythical creature with the head of a woman, the chest and wings composed of the impressive feathers of a prey bird turned upward, and the body of a lioness. The Sphinx stood on a 10 meter column that culminated in one of the first Ionic capitals, and was erected next to the Temple of Apollo in Delphi, the religious center of Ancient Greece, in 560 BCE.

The first fragments were excavated from the sanctuary of the Temple of Apollo in 1860. The remainder was found in 1893. It was originally set up on a stele around 560 BC as a votive offering to the Temple of Apollo by Naxos, one of the richest Cycladic islands at the time. The overall height of the statue, the column and its base topped 12.5 meters.

The Greek sphinx, a lion with the face of a human female, was considered as having ferocious strength, and was thought of as a guardian, often flanking the entrances to temples.^[1] Sphinxes' depictions are generally associated with architectural structures such as royal tombs or religious temples.

Naxos Sphinx pillar base and notice.

Hypothetical color rendering of the Sphinx of Naxos.

The Sphinx of Naxos in context (Temple of Apollo in the background).

Sphinx of Naxos, 560 BCE, and a Pillar of Ashoka, 250 BCE (here at Lauria Nandangarh).^[6]^[7]

Funerary stela topped by a sphinx, 530 BCE, Greece.

Many more similar columns crowned by sphinxes were discovered in ancient Greece, as in Sparta, Athens or Spata, and some were used as funerary steles.^[6]

It has also been suggested that 6th century BCE Greek columns such as the Sphinx of Naxos may have been an inspiration for the pillars of Ashoka in 3rd century BCE India, following the contacts initiated by Alexander the Great in 320 BCE, and continued by the Greco-Bactrians and the Indo-Greeks.^[6]

Sphinx of Naxos

Potaissa Sphinx statue