Sphinx of Agost explained

The Sphinx of Agost is a Greek-influenced Iberian limestone sculpture,[1] dated from the late 6th-century BCE, that was found in the Agost reservoir in Alicante, Spain, in 1893.

The badly damaged statue is 82 cm high and represents a sphinx with the head of a woman, body of a winged lion and tail of a snake. This particular sphinx may have been included in an Iberian tomb to carry the soul of the deceased to the afterlife.

The Sphinx of Agost is on display at the National Archaeological Museum (Madrid).

References

Notes and References

  1. Greeks in Iberia:Colonialism without Colonization, Adolfo J. Dominguez, The Archaeology of Colonialism, ed. Claire L. Lyons, John K. Papadopoulos, (Getty Research Institute, 2002), 74.