Enigmatic

I was in London today and, for the first time, had a look at Cleopatra's needle. I wanted to do this as I just finished reading a book about the solving of the Rosetta stone and wanted to try out my hieroglyph skills. Sadly it seems that, apart from recognising a scarab in a cartouche, I have none.

I tried to find the plural of Sphinx. The best I could come up with is either sphinxes or sphinges, neither of which are in my OED and both of which sound quite ugly. I therefore have decided to treat the word like 'sheep' ie the word is both singular AND plural.

And so...this is one of a pair of Sphinx, guarding Cleo's needle. And while thinking about her, did you know that Cleopatra (she of the ass milk treatment and asp trick, as played by Liz Taylor) was actually the seventh one? And she was a Ptolemy and, therefore, of Greek descent rather than Egyptian. Shocking, really. How she used her needle, however, is anyone's guess.