<P> There is a story that the nose was broken off by a cannonball fired by Napoleon's soldiers . Other variants indict British troops, the Mamluks, and others . Sketches of the Sphinx by the Dane Frederic Louis Norden, made in 1738 and published in 1757, show the Sphinx missing its nose . This predates Napoleon's birth in 1769 . </P> <P> In addition to the lost nose, a ceremonial pharaonic beard is thought to have been attached, although this may have been added in later periods after the original construction . Egyptologist Vassil Dobrev has suggested that had the beard been an original part of the Sphinx, it would have damaged the chin of the statue upon falling . The lack of visible damage supports his theory that the beard was a later addition . </P> <P> Residues of red pigment are visible on areas of the Sphinx's face . Traces of yellow and blue pigment have been found elsewhere on the Sphinx, leading Mark Lehner to suggest that the monument "was once decked out in gaudy comic book colors". </P> <P> Colin Reader has proposed that the Sphinx was probably the focus of solar worship in the Early Dynastic Period, before the Giza Plateau became a necropolis in the Old Kingdom (c. 2686--2134 BC). He ties this in with his conclusions that the Sphinx, the Sphinx temple, the Causeway and the Khafra mortuary temple are all part of a complex which predates Dynasty IV (c. 2613--2494 BC). The lion has long been a symbol associated with the sun in ancient Near Eastern civilizations . Images depicting the Egyptian king in the form of a lion smiting his enemies date as far back as the Early Dynastic Period . </P>

When was the great sphinx of giza built