
Why do so many Egyptian statues have broken noses? (2019) - onetimemanytime
https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/egyptian-statues-broken-noses-artsy/index.html
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smoyer
The Merriam-Webster dictionary lists the etymology of "defaced" as "Middle
English, from Anglo-French _desfacer,_ deffacer, from des- de- + face front,
face". This doesn't really explain why the middl english and anglo-french
words focused on the face. I wonder if down through history, the habit of
destroying statue's faces (or Egyptian noses) led to this word.

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notlukesky
There is no answer on why the Sphinx lacks a nose:

[https://www.smithsonianjourneys.org/blog/photo-what-
happened...](https://www.smithsonianjourneys.org/blog/photo-what-happened-to-
the-sphinxs-nose-180950757/)

