Sphinx of Naxos - Delphi Museum

Delphi was the most prestigious and authoritative oracle in the ancient world. Its reputation centred on the political decisions taken after consultation of the Oracle, especially during the period of colonisation of the Archaic period. The Archaeological Museum of Delphi sits directly beside the sanctuary of Apollo on the slopes of Mount Parnassus, making it one of Greece's most contextually rich regional museums. Founded in the late nineteenth century and substantially renovated in the 1990s, it houses finds excavated almost entirely from the sanctuary itself and the surrounding sacred precinct.The Sphinx of Naxos is a 2.22-meter-tall (7.3 ft) marble statue of a sphinx, a mythical creature with the head of a woman, the chest and wings composed of the impressive feathers of a prey bird turned upward, and the body of a lioness. The Sphinx stood on a 10 meter column that culminated in one of the first Ionic capitals, and was erected next to the Temple of Apollo in Delphi, the religious center of Ancient Greece, in 560 BCE.