Egyptian Revival styles were popular in nineteenth and early twentieth century cemeteries. The Sphinx erected in Boston’s Mt. Auburn Cemetery (1872) commemorated the end of the Civil War. The body of a lion symbolized the enslaved while the woman’s face with an American bald eagle on her headdress symbolized white Americans. Together, this was meant to represent how white and black Americans would build a new future. The Latin inscription on the pedestal translated to “American Union Preserved; African Slavery Destroyed; by the Uprising of a Great People; By the Blood of Fallen Heroes.”
Sphinx, Mt. Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, MA. Courtesy of Library of Congress
Image featured in Discovering Quacks, Utopias, and Cemeteries: Modern Lessons from Historical Themes by Cynthia Resor
I could use this image to teach about ancient Egypt – sphinxes & pyramids. This primary source image is perfect for an introduction to a lesson on ancient Egypt to show how this ancient culture still influences the modern world.