Museum
Archaeological Museum in Split
Headless granite sphinx, one of a dozen shipped in as a Roman emperor's borrowed Egyptian grandeur.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Archaeological Museum in Split opens with a question: how twelve sphinxes shipped from Egypt for Diocletian's retirement palace in two hundred ninety-seven ended up leaving behind only one with a face. It traces the sphinxes back to Egyptian sculptors carving for New Kingdom pharaohs, one for Tuthmosis the third himself, centuries before Rome existed, and follows what happened once Diocletian lined them up around his palace grounds and then died. Look closely at the headless body on display here, and trace the hieroglyphic bands still cut into its flank.
This audio guide was created using AI.