<P> The Great Sphinx of Tanis is a granite sculpture of a sphinx, dated to the 26th century BC . It was discovered in the ruins of the Temple of Amun - Ra in Tanis, Egypt's capital during the 21st Dynasty and the 23rd Dynasty . All that is left of its original inscription are the parts alluding to pharoahs Amenemhat II (12th Dynasty), Merneptah (19th Dynasty) and Shoshenq I (22nd Dynasty). It is on display at the Louvre, which acquired it in 1826 . </P>

The great sphinx of tanis in the louvre