No one nose (sorry for the bad joke, i had to) for sure. Its accredited to simple errosion from sand storms and wind. The rest of the Sphinx isn't in great shape either and the heavy peice prolly just fell off and/or wore away.

The two most widely held reasons was that it was shot off, with a cannon, by a Turkish Mir or by Napoleon. It is possible that they both took a stab at it.

Because some of the armies and other kings shot it off with weapons for target training.

Napoleon ordered his men to take shots at the nose of the Great Sphinx for target practice. According to legend it took 21 shots to shoot the nose off. This is where we get the saying, "21 gun salute"

Muhammad al-Husayni Taqi al-Din al-Maqrizi (died CE 1442), in a book called "al-Mawa`iz wa al-i`tibar fi dhikr al-khitat wa al-athar" states that the face, specifically the nose and ears, were demolished in 1378 by a Sufi named Sa'im al-dahr, however the ears are still there. Frederick Lewis Norden sketched the Sphinx in 1737 and published detailed drawings in 1755 showing the Sphinx with no nose. The nose was gone by 1737 at least by 1755 .Napoleon Bonaparte wasn't in Egypt until 1798, 50 or at least 30 years later.. http://www.catchpenny.org/nose.html Unless Nappy learned to time travel during that solitary retreat in the Great Chamber of the Great Pyramid , and somethin sure spooked him while he was in there, he didn't blow the sphinx' nose. The sphinx was carved from a solid piece of limestone, which is soft and errodes easily, there are several cracks in it, one right across the top of his head.That nose mustta been really heavy and jutting out basically unsupported, earth tremors are not unknown in Egypt and it does get windy,it sure could have been "sand blasted" off at the base. That's why those of us who are 'cracked in the head' are real careful when we blow our noses. Or maybe Sam the Sufi was a fan of the Sphinx' riddles but got fed up with it constantly punning, "Hey, somethin' sure sphinx around here." so he knocked its nose off, "It still stinks, but now you don't have to smell it!" (BTW Muhammad al-Husayni Taqi al-Din al-Maqrizi was called "Maq" by aquaintances and Al by closer friends.) (02-12-06 nmj)- gigi, Why'd ya low rate my answer? First of all, I am not the one who spelled it Gizeh, which by the way is a perfectly acceptable spelling, as is Ghizeh, Geezeh and several other variations including the transliteration Al Jizah, which is pronounced something more like eg-Giza, with a long I, at least in nearby Cairo. http://www.bartleby.com/65/x-/X-E-Gizeh.html http://www.encyclopedia.com/SearchResults.aspx?Q="Gizeh" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gizehhttp://www.answerbag.com/a_view.php/20792 ..Until the Bag gets some Arabic characters other than just numbers, we'll just have to do the best we can with spelling. Second of all, The Sufis did not exist in 8 CE. Perhaps you meant 800? What is your source? I haven't found anything online putting it that early. The Sufis didn't gain much real influence over govt. and expansionism until about 1000, and it probably wasn't until 1200, the beginning of the "Golden Age of Sufism" that it was likely one of them would have the power or authority to give the Sphinx a nose bob. Which could have put the Sufi Sa'im al-dahr in the right place at the right time in 1378, as I already said. Chances are the Sphinx was defaced due to the Anti-idoltry of the Muslims. Third of all, please state your answers in the form of an answer and not a comment so that others may comment a rate them.

It is not really a question of who allegedly defaced the Her em Akhet's face, (its original name) but why it was strategically altered. What the statue represents, and what is so difficult for many to accept, is the fact that it still retains a strong depiction of an African imaged face on such a marvelous and unparallel structure for that time. It's facial structure is extremely similar to the indigenous people of current Northeastern Africa regions. Doesn't it seem odd that just the nose and lips have been uniformly altered through all these years. Well then why arent the ears so to altered in the same ways, did they not face the same eroding effects of a protruding facial feature exposed to desert existence over time? Or simply were they not aimed at by who evers ignorant army launched those rockets. As a result writers of our New Western, "civilized," notion of approved history have also overlooked these facts . The answer becomes apparent, the northern more barbaric (in a sense of a mind state of war , violence, and false inheritance) invaders, could not feel a sense of superiority in the extreme differences in identity that fathered civilization. We are all in the age of the internet, so I both dare and challenge u to type in Herem Akhet, and look at the side profiles of the image on a google image search. We can see that the face favors sub-saharan African origin,more so than any other "race". After examination we than must look at the "taboo" theory that MUST dig in the deep corners of any true intellectual mind, and then press the polemics of our socialized knowledge by investigating what can ultimately lead you into the most obvious truths and inconsistencies of a derived intellectual heritage starting with Greece. We can piece together logically and include every many other (non hidden) structures found near "Egypt" (Kemet) with possible implications of a ancient "racial" identity that seem to be also strategically altered. I ask that you also be careful of what u see and believe to be the true on net as well. The Herem Akhet is a relatively large and dominant structure that still stands tall, after thousands of years (much like the pyramids). Pictures of a people standing next to the cat, in comparative size are hiliarious and can easily be de-validated by just a slight knowledge of common photo editing tools and their imperfections. Their futile efforts prove that a deeper knowledge exists and is being masked. Seek the truth in the past, and the present will seem so SIMPLE to all. If u find what you read, or that you eventually see something which makes you feel innately defensive, go back and investigate your "understood knowledge." I bet you will find interesting examples of contemporary glaring appropriations of history, which can easily be proven and set straight with artifacts, and papyrus (Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, Papyrus of Moscow) and even some Greek texts. Um.. the most glaring example i can think of that is commonly overlooked; as popular as he was Jesus Christ today is most commonly depicted as European?!?!? Even the truth about his identity is known, yet hidden. Appropriations do exist, one must just dig deeper. And I say contemporary because true knowledge and facts of history have not always been appropriated and can still be discovered. Simply put, the truth is too deep to be hidden or left unsolved to a truly investigative mind. Im sure my comments will be seen as racist for whatever reason, but unlike many posts my comments are not out of the air or just from experience. My "theory" stems from fact and is probably in contrast to the many lies (as u know lies come in bundles) that one is accustomed to seeing and hearing. -a young black man. P.S. start with Count Constantin de Volney, Champollion, Herodotus "...all have a bloated face, puffed up eyes, flat nose, thick lips; in a word, the true face of the mulatto. I was tempted to attribute it to the climate, but when I visited the Sphinx, its appearance gave me the key to the riddle. On seeing that head, typically Negro in all its features I remembered the remarkable passage where Herodotus says: "As for me, I judge the Colchians to be a colony of the Egyptians were true Negroes of the same type as all native-born Africans. That being so, we can see how their blood, mixed for several centuries with that of Romans and Greeks, must have lost the intensity of its original color, while retaining nonetheless the imprint of its original mold. We can even state as a general principle that the face is a kind of monument able, in many cases, to attest or shed light on historical evidence on the origins of peoples." -Volney, Count Constantin De. "Voyages en Syrie et en Egypte." Paris, 1787 "The first tribes inhabited Egypt, that is, the Nile Valley between the Syene cataract and the sea, came from Abyssinia to Sennar. The ancient Egyptains belonged to a race quite similar to the Kennous or Barabras, present inhabitants of Nubia. In the Copts of Egypt, we do not find any of the characteristic features of the ancient Egyptain populations. The Copts are the result of crossbreading with all the nations that have successively dominated Egypt. It is wrong to seek in them the principal features of the old race." -Champollion, Jean Francois (Champollion the Younger) Grammaire egyptienne. Paris: F. Didot freres, 1836-41 "The Egyptians said that they believed the Colchains to be descended from the army Sesostris. My own conjectures were founded, first, on the fact that they are black-skinned and have wolly hair..." -Herodotus. "History," Book II. Translated by George Rawlinson. New York: Tudor, 1928 Or... If you watched the "Ten Commandments" movie and didn't scratch your head... Don't even worry about it ;)

The Sphinx's nose was belived to have been shot off with a cannon shot by one of Napalean's men when they were in Eygpt (accidently), but then old sketches were seen of just before Napolean was there, and in those pictures the nose was missing, so it is now believed that the Turks used the nose for shooting practise during the Turkish period. But though people think that it is only the nose that is missing, the beard is also missing and it probably became missing the same way as the nose, but no-one seems to have noticed.

I was told as a child that if I picked my nose that either I would pull out mu brains or my nose would drop off. Is this a possibility with the Sphynx?

The sphinx's facial profile from all angles are of black features, cheek bone shape etc. The nose and lips are strong black features. ive seen photo edited versions of the sphinx with a caucasian nose and it look totally wrong, if you look at the smaller statues from the tombs many of them have been defaced mainly the nose. black people today are made to be ashamed of these features i.e. [michael jackson] lol

The nose was blown off by Napoleon Because he was jelous!!!

Too much coke...

There are no Arabs or Hebrew people indigionous to Africa,Abraham the first Hebrew was from Chaldia.

think of it this way, the nose was never put on the great sphinx because they were thrown off by napoleon's army

The nose of the great sphinx of gizeh is missing because it fell off. :-) Also, the beard is missing to.

The Sphinx's nose and lips were destroyed because it looked to black. That's it... Who knows who did it. Who cares.. it was some a-holes who didn't like to see this great image of a black face. If you are not aware that we have a history of people suppressing black culture you are ignorant and very uneducated. I'm a North American Indian. I am very familiar with the concept of people in power fealing threatened by other culture and doing anything and everything necessary to suppress and destroy it.

The Sphinx was defaced because, like many other pieces of art depicting Negroid features, of hatred towards Negroes.

Honestly, it was that damn "I've got your nose" thing. God loves practical jokes.

"The one-metre-wide nose on the face is missing. Some legends claim that the nose was broken off by a cannon ball fired by Napoléon’s soldiers and that it still survives, as do diverse variants indicting British troops, Mamluks, and others. However, sketches of the Sphinx by Dane Frederick Lewis Norden made in 1737 and published in 1755 illustrate the Sphinx without a nose. The Egyptian historian al-Maqrizi, writing in the fifteenth century, attributes the vandalism to Muhammad Sa'im al-Dahr, a Sufi fanatic from the khanqah of Sa'id al-Su'ada. In 1378, upon finding the Egyptian peasants making offerings to the Sphinx in the hope of increasing their harvest, Sa'im al-Dahr was so outraged that he destroyed the nose, and was hanged for vandalism. Al-Maqrizi describes the Sphinx as the “Nile talisman” on which the locals believed the cycle of inundation depended. In addition to the lost nose, a ceremonial pharaonic beard is thought to have been attached, although this may have been added in later periods after the original construction. Egyptologist Rainer Stadelmann has posited that the rounded divine beard may not have existed in the Old or Middle Kingdoms, only being conceived of in the New Kingdom to identify the Sphinx with the god Horemakhet (citation needed-see ref.11&12). This may also relate to the later fashion of pharaohs, which was to wear a plaited beard of authority—a false beard (chin straps are actually visible on some statues), since Egyptian culture mandated that men be clean shaven. Pieces of this beard are today kept in the British Museum and the Egyptian Museum." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Sphinx_of_Giza#Missing_nose

The fact that many other Black African works of art have been altered in similar fashion should obviously point to the concept that the vandals did not accept the Negro features. Down to the bone (skeleton), there are three races: Negroid, Caucasoid, and Mongoloid (everything else is ethnic classification) And for the record, not all Black Africans have wide flat noses. (see W.E.B. du Bois and Frederick Douglas) Nor did all Africans have dark skin. The color scale goes from light (Libyans) to dark (Ethiopians) Why they were not accepted is a matter for debate.

i think it's the Mamelukes or Arab conquerors 693. check this link: http://home.xnet.com/~warinner/sphinx.html

actualy the nose is missing because it got blowen off.

if it fell off, where is it? shouldn't it be close by? I think the people that built it wanted to mess with people's minds. I think they built it, then knocked the nose off just so people would discuss for years this very question! nothing like a mystery to make something EXTREMELY popular!

I suspect it must have fallen off in strong weather and/or after severe erosion. It would have been an overhanging weight and due to the lack of evidence for other severe damage. If it had been delibrately removed, I suspect that it would have been replaced. Also the story would have been more prevalent than the mystery we are left with. If it had fallen off, it would have been considered dangerous to replace and it would have had little coverage or sensational recording of it. It seems the most likely reasoning to me. But even as an answer, the mystery seems more satisfying than the simple disappointing yet likely truth.

Because it was made out of sand?

the nose was structurally unsound so it fell off.

I just figured it finally gave in to age. The rest of the Sphinx does not have too much hanging in the air like that.

The result of a very bad cold?

what is all this doesnt mean there not black rubbish of coarse they were black do you think black just means very dark skin??? somaleans are black so are ethiopians there not as dark as nigereans black people are the most diverse coulture or havent you relised yeteygyptians have been here since before white or arabs were hear do you think in later north africans have become more of arab descent you can say it was that way 10000 years ago everbody came from "Black" africans an the futher back then more so thats fact europe had nothing to offer them back then and black people have many diffrent features archeologists can easily give you the info to finish this argument why do you think they havent yet?? because oviously they want you to keep believing eygptians looked like elizibeth taylor with a tan but they alway remember that a nubian could have been in the background to fan her and bring her food lol

The one-metre-wide nose on the face is missing. The Egyptian Arab historian al-MaqrÄ«zÄ«, writing in the fifteenth century AD, attributes the loss to iconoclasm by Muhammad Sa'im al-Dahr, a Sufi Muslim fanatic from the khanqah of Sa'id al-Su'ada. In 1378 AD, upon finding the Egyptian peasants making offerings to the Sphinx in the hope of increasing their harvest, Sa'im al-Dahr was so outraged that he destroyed the nose, and was hanged for vandalism. Al-MaqrÄ«zÄ« describes the Sphinx as the “talisman of the Nile” on which the locals believed the flood cycle depended. Some legends claim that the nose was broken off by a cannonball fired by Napoléon’s soldiers and that it still survives. Other variants indict British troops, the Mamluks, and others. However, sketches of the Sphinx by the Dane Frederick Lewis Norden, made in 1737 and published in 1755, illustrate the Sphinx already without a nose. In addition to the lost nose, a ceremonial pharaonic beard is thought to have been attached, although this may have been added in later periods after the original construction. Egyptologist Vassil Dobrev has suggested that had the beard been an original part of the Sphinx, it would have damaged the chin of the statue upon falling, The lack of visible damage supports his theory that the beard was a later addition. Additionally, Egyptologist Rainer Stadelmann has posited that the rounded ceremonial beard may not have existed in the Old or Middle Kingdoms and was only being introduced in the New Kingdom to identify the Sphinx with the god Hor-em-akhet.[citation needed] This may also relate to the fashion of later pharaohs, which was to wear a plaited beard of authority — a false beard (chin straps are actually visible on some statues), since Egyptian culture mandated that men be clean shaven. However the statues of 4th Dynasty pharoahs such as Khafra and Menkaura clearly show that kings wore plaited beards in those early days too. Pieces thought to belong to the Sphinx's beard are today kept in the British Museum and the Egyptian Museum.

It was "blown" off so can you imagine the size of the tissue

The thruth is that all of you in here know why it is missing.You pretend what really happend didnt and write novels stating diffrent versions of Whitelies. But you,i and most people know why it is missing. LET THE TRUTH SET YOU FREE AMEN