# The Nose of the Sphinx **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 8, 2006, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nose-of-the-sphinx/355870 "2006-05-08T12:43:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nose-of-the-sphinx/355870/1 "2006-05-08T12:43:43Z")
For some reason, it seems as if every time a cartoon features the Sphinx, it has to have the main characters of the cartoon responsible for breaking off the nose, regardless of how ridiculously unhistorical this may be (in fact, the less accurate, it seems, the better). Here are the cases I can recall, although I’m certain there are others: **Aladdin Prince of Egypt Asterix and Cleopatra The Adventures of Mark Twain Bill and Ted (TV Cartoon Series)** ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nose-of-the-sphinx/355870/2 "2006-05-08T12:47:44Z")
This is one of a genre of historical jokes; others in the set involve the characters being responsible for the lean on the tower of Pisa, the broken parts of the Venus De Milo and the wry smile on the Mona Lisa. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nose-of-the-sphinx/355870/3 "2006-05-08T12:53:53Z")
I’m pretty sure I owned a coloring book featuring the Smurfs, with one of them breaking the nose of the Sphinx. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nose-of-the-sphinx/355870/4 "2006-05-08T12:55:25Z")
Yeah, but I don’t invariably see jokes about how the Venus de Milo lost those arms. Pictures of the Mona Lisa don’t invariably lead up to a “why she’s smiling like that.” But feature the Sphinx in there, and it’s almost _always_ about How He Lost His Nose. Oh, yeah, IIRC, **Fairly Oddparents** has the bit about the nose, too. In fact, they have at least two cartoons with an animated Giant Sphinx. Any others ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nose-of-the-sphinx/355870/5 "2006-05-08T15:21:56Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Yeah, but I don’t invariably see jokes about how the Venus de Milo lost those arms. When it comes to eating, you really have to hand it to Venus de Milo. Sorry, sorry. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nose-of-the-sphinx/355870/6 "2006-05-08T15:53:17Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > . . . **Fairly Oddparents** has the bit about the nose, too. Yeah, I showed up to add that. AFAIK there is no authoriative description of what actually happened to the nose although one probably apocryphal legend is that Napolean’s men shot it off for target practice. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nose-of-the-sphinx/355870/7 "2006-05-08T16:47:59Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Yeah, I showed up to add that. > > AFAIK there is no authoriative description of what actually happened to the nose although one probably apocryphal legend is that Napolean’s men shot it off for target practice. Actually, the Sphinx was described as being noseless long before Napoleon was around. Most serious historians figure that the nose just fell off due to erosion. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nose-of-the-sphinx/355870/8 "2006-05-08T18:10:33Z")
I believe there was a Superbowl commercial this year about how the Venus de Milo lost her arms. The explanation was that she was originally carved so that she held a bottle of Bud Light in each hand, and two lunkheads broke the arms off trying to liberate the beer. I thought it was refreshingly old-school. If there’s nothing left on the tree, hell, go back to the barrel. ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Bongo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a9adbd/32.png) [@Winston\_Bongo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Bongo)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nose-of-the-sphinx/355870/9 "2006-05-09T15:21:01Z")
There was a \*\*Far Side \*\* about it, too. Two Egyptian guys are sitting up on the head of the Sphinx, one with a hammer and chisel; the broken-off nose is lying on the ground below. One guy says something like, “I told you it looked just fine, but noooo, you had to go and hit the chisel _one more time_.” ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nose-of-the-sphinx/355870/10 "2006-05-09T18:45:19Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Yeah, but I don’t invariably see jokes about how the Venus de Milo lost those arms. Pictures of the Mona Lisa don’t invariably lead up to a “why she’s smiling like that.” > But feature the Sphinx in there, and it’s almost _always_ about How He Lost His Nose. Dunno; I mentioned those examples, because I’ve only ever seen them portrayed in exactly that context in cartoons and pseudohistorical comedy. Maybe the Sphinx is the archetype, but the others are definitely out there in abundance. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nose-of-the-sphinx/355870/11 "2006-05-09T19:12:32Z")
> [@](#): > > Dunno; I mentioned those examples, because I’ve only ever seen them portrayed in exactly that context in cartoons and pseudohistorical comedy. Maybe the Sphinx is the archetype, but the others are definitely out there in abundance. Interesting. I wouldn’t say I’ve seen the others in abundance at all. In fact, I usually see the Venus de Milo _gaining_ arms (as in the 1930s Porky Pig cartoon where he plays a Greek Mythological Hero). I see the Mona Lisa occasionally in cartoons explaining the smile (most notably the Charles Addam cartoon where he has da Vinci say “…and now give me a little smile”), but more often she’s just _there_ doing some odd thing, like in Rick Meyerowitz’ “Mona Gorilla” or “Mona Godzilla”. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nose-of-the-sphinx/355870/12 "2006-05-09T23:30:44Z")
I have no cite, but I recall Woody Woodpecker doing all these things (nose off the sphinx, arms of Venus, etc) way back when. The cartoon ended with the country of Italy “booting” him back to the US.