Sphinx, mythological creature

Greek civilisation
Greece or Italy
600–500 BCE
Limestone
Louvre Abu Dhabi
LAD 2013.004|57 x 21 x 67 cm

A frightening hybrid creature, the sphinx has the body of a lion, the wings of a bird of prey and the face of a woman. It evolved from the encounter of the Greek world with the civilisations of the Near East. The face rising from the body of an animal seems to represent the increasing dominance of the human figure in Greek art in the 6th century BCE.