Zahi Hawass on archaeology: what the evidence says · JRE #2321
SUBJECT: ARCHAEOLOGY
Not a true/false call. Every claim is logged with its sources; read the exhibits below.
Located now between the two paws of the Sphinx in the stele it say that thought wasose IV was a prince, and he came to have a nap beside the sphinx. And the sphinx came to him in dream and told him, My son, if you remove the sand away, I will make you the king of Egypt.
What the evidence says 01 / RECORD
The Dream Stela is a pink granite slab located between the paws of the Great Sphinx at Giza, erected by Thutmose IV of the 18th Dynasty. According to the Smithsonian, the inscription recounts that the prince Thutmose grew tired while in the desert and lay down in the shade of the Sphinx, whereupon the statue (identifying itself as the god Horemakhet) spoke to him in a dream, complained about the accumulating sand, and offered him the throne in exchange for clearing it away. The Smithsonian Learning Lab likewise catalogs the monument as the Dream Stela standing between the Great Sphinx's forepaws at Giza. Hawass's account of the stele's location and its sand-for-kingship dream narrative matches the mainstream Egyptological record: Accurate.