AAW1673.jpg
PDM_06059.jpg AAW1673.jpg PDM_06085.jpg

The Dream Stela of Thutmose IV is a stela that was placed between the paws of the Sphinx by the Pharaoh Thutmose in the New Kingdom time period of Ancient Egypt.

The inscription on the stela recounts the story of the young Thutmose going on a hunting expedition and falling into a fever and convalescing in the heat of the day in the shadow of the Sphinx. At this point, the Great Sphinx had been fully buried in the sand and into disrepair. The youth had a vision that the Sphinx was talking to him, and told him that if he unburied him from the sand, he would make him the next pharaoh of Egypt. Thutmose did the bidding of the Sphinx, digging him out of the sand, and quickly became the next Pharaoh of Egypt.

Above the stela and beneath the beard of the Sphinx, a small statue was placed also so that viewers who stood in front of the stela between the paws of the Sphinx would see the face of the statue beneath or overlapping the face of the Sphinx. Around the stela was a small chapel.