The Great Sphinx Reminisces

I've been around since 2500 BC Built on the orders of the pharaoh Khafre It took 100 workers three excruciating years To chip me out with hammer and chisel From the bedrock of the plateau The workers called me the Father of Terror With my pharaoh's head, my lion's body The wind of the centuries smothered me in dunes I was buried up to my shoulders Then a young Pharaoh, Thutmose IV Had his servants dig out my front paws, Walking at midday, he sat under my mighty shadow I spoke to him in his sleep, ordered my uncovering Roman Emperors visited me I was cleared of sand in honour of Emperor Nero A monumental stairway—more than 12 metres wide—was erected, It led to a pavement in front of my powerful paws So many historical reincarnations! Pliny the Elder described me, the Jerry Springer of his day When Roman power fell, the sands returned My followers continued to venerate me into medieval times. They thought I guarded Giza from the desert. Al-Maqrizi called me the'talisman of the Nile' Locals believed the flood cycle depended upon me Those wishing favour from the Egyptian government Lit incense to me, as if a stone could smell! André Thévet described me a curly-haired monster With a grassy dog collar. What a pleb! George Sandys stated that I was a harlot The Englishman's ultimate insult Balthasar de Monconys thought my headdress was a kind of hair net He had the imagination of a pimple In 1817, an Italian Giovanni Battista Caviglia, uncovered my chest In 1887, my chest, my paws, my altar, and my plateau were all revealed Flights of steps were uncovered. Time for another reappearance In 1931, Egyptian engineers repaired my head, rather clumsily, I thought I used to be quite colourful you know, red, yellow, blue, red If you were as old as me, you'd expect to suffer small cosmetic changes. Always someone is prodding and poking at me Dead end shafts have been driven deep within me By grave robbers & seekers of treasure.How intrusive is that! My missing nose? Cannonballs fired by the army of Napoleon Bonaparte? The work of Mamluks? Iconoclastic attacks? Maybe the vandalism of a Sufi Muslim? Take your pick. That's one of my many riddles left to solve…