The Opener of the Ways? Reconsidering the Great Sphinx as a Possible Monumental Wepwawet

AbstractThe Great Sphinx of Giza faces due east, yet this orientation has not been satisfactorily integrated with the conventional lion identification in a way that also explains the monument’s anomalous morphology. Robert Temple (2009) proposed that the monument was originally a monumental Anubis, later recarved with a human head. His canid hypothesis resolved several morphological anomalies—the disproportionately small head, the flat dorsal profile, the absence of a mane—but introduced a directional problem: Anubis is “Foremost of the Westerners,” oriented toward the setting sun, not the rising sun. This paper proposes a resolution. If the Sphinx began as a monumental canid, the strongest named identification among the major Egyptian canid deities reviewed here is Wepwawet, the “Opener of the Ways,” whose role as opener and leader of divine and royal processions is compatible with an east-facing horizon monument. The paper presents evidence from three domains: (1) a systematic elimination of Egyptian canid deities on directional and formal grounds; (2) Pyramid Text passages linking Wepwawet to the solar horizon and royal identity; and (3) measured proportional data showing the Sphinx’s overall length-to-height ratio of 3.59 is substantially more elongated than verified Egyptian lion sculpture (approximately 2.1) and anomalous for any known Egyptian animal sculpture, though it overlaps the upper range of verified canid figures only in a broad sense. The paper acknowledges significant unresolved complications—most notably the broad, deep chest visible in the current monument and the small sample of verified canid comparanda—and proposes testable predictions for future investigation. The paper does not claim certainty. It claims that Wepwawet is the best-fitting named identification if the canid premise is accepted.