Editing Sphinx (section)

== Similar hybrid creatures ==

=== With feline features ===
*'''Gopaitioshah''' – The Persian ''Gopat'' or ''Gopaitioshah'' is another creature that is similar to the Sphinx, being a winged bull or lion with human face.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.avesta.org/mp/dd42.htm#chap90|title=Dadestan-i Denig, Question 90, Paragraph 4.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.avesta.org/mp/mx.html#chap62|title=Menog-i Khrad, Chapter 62.}}</ref> The Gopat have been represented in ancient art of Iran since late second millennium BC, and was a common symbol for dominant royal power in ancient Iran. Gopats were common motifs in the art of [[Elamite]] period, [[Luristan bronze|Luristan]], North and North West region of Iran in [[Iron Age]], and [[Achaemenid art]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://tsaart.eshragh.ir/Portal/home/?news/3640/624698/627768/%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%87-%D8%B4%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B3%DB%8C-%DA%A9%D9%87%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%DA%AF%D9%88%D9%87%D8%A7--%D9%86%D9%88%DB%8C%D8%B3%D9%86%D8%AF%D9%87-%D8%B5%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%DB%8C%D9%86-%D8%B7%D8%A7%D9%87%D8%B1%DB%8C|title=The Semiotics of Archetypes, in the Art of Ancient Iran and its Adjacent Cultures|last=Taheri|first=Sadreddin|date=2017|publisher=Tehran: Shour Afarin Publications|access-date=19 July 2018|archive-date=5 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705074326/http://tsaart.eshragh.ir/Portal/home/?news/3640/624698/627768/%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%87-%D8%B4%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B3%DB%8C-%DA%A9%D9%87%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%DA%AF%D9%88%D9%87%D8%A7--%D9%86%D9%88%DB%8C%D8%B3%D9%86%D8%AF%D9%87-%D8%B5%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%DB%8C%D9%86-%D8%B7%D8%A7%D9%87%D8%B1%DB%8C|url-status=dead}}</ref> and can be found in texts such as the ''[[Bundahishn]]'', the ''[[Dadestan-i Denig]]'', the ''[[Menog-i Khrad]]'', as well as in collections of tales, such as the ''Matikan-e yusht faryan'' and in its Islamic replication, the ''[[Marzubannama]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://jfava.ut.ac.ir/article_30063.html|title=Gopat and Shirdal in the Near East|last=Taheri|first=Sadreddin|journal=نشریه هنرهای زیبا- هنرهای تجسمی|date=2013|volume=17|issue=4(زمستان 1391)|publisher=Tehran: Honarhay-e Ziba Journal, Vol. 17, No. 4|doi=10.22059/jfava.2013.30063}}</ref>
*'''Löwenmensch figurine''' – The 32,000-year-old [[Aurignacian]] [[Lion-man|Löwenmensch figurine]], also known as "lion-human" is the oldest known [[anthropomorphic]] statue, discovered in the [[Hohlenstein-Stadel]], a German cave in 1939.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.archaeology.org/1203/features/stadelhole_hohlenstein_paleolithic_lowenmensch.html|title=New Life for the Lion Man – Archaeology Magazine Archive|website=archive.archaeology.org|access-date=2019-11-16}}</ref>
* '''Manticore''' – The [[Manticore]] (Early Middle Persian: ''Mardyakhor'' or ''Martikhwar'', means: Man-eater<ref>Pausanias, Pausanias, Description of Greece, 9.21.4</ref>) is a Persian legendary hybrid creature and another similar creature to the sphinx.
* '''Narasimha''' – [[Narasimha]] ("human-lion") is an incarnation ([[Avatar]]a) of [[Vishnu]] in [[Hinduism]] in the [[Dashavatara]] of Vishnu who takes the form of half-man/half-[[Asiatic lion]], having a human torso and lower body, but with a lion-like face and claws and in this avatara, Vishnu killed [[Hiranyakashipu]] as Narashima and saved the world from chaos in [[Hindu mythology|Hindu Mythology]].

=== Without feline features ===

*In ancient [[Assyria]], bas-reliefs of [[shedu]] bulls with the crowned bearded heads of kings guarded the entrances of temples.
* Many Greek mythological creatures who are archaic survivals of previous mythologies with respect to the classical Olympian mythology, like the [[centaur]]s, are similar to the Sphinx.