The Great Sphinx may date back before the time of Menes Pharaoh, who started the first Egyptian dynasty. Those people back then were calling themselves "servants of Horus" in chronicles of priests, and they were the first people who settled in Egypt. However, some researchers believe that the Great Sphinx was built during the Old Kingdom of Egypt, about 3000 BC. The Old Kingdom of Egypt is considered to be the period of constructions of Great Pyramids at Giza, including the Sphinx, called also " The Era of Pyramids." The period of time referring to the Old Kingdom of Egypt is comprised between the years 2686 and 2181 BC. Thus, there is still no answer to when the Sphinx was built and by whom, maybe that's why people often talk about the "riddle of the Sphinx".
Regarding the condition of the statue after many thousands of years since its existence, it was expected not to be kept intact. The part that most suffered damages was the head of the Sphinx. The underside part of the roof fell, and the neck has thinned so much, that you will wonder how it is still be able to support the weight of the head. There are some people who say that the original head was actually a lion's head, not a man's head, hence the disproportion. The nose and beard have been destroyed by fanatics and the reddish color that animate the facial features has faded almost completely.
The exterior walls of the statue were subjected to constant erosion, caused by water, although it is near desert. This only deepens the mystery. Furthermore, traces caused by the erosion on the Sphinx' surface are vertical, not horizontal, as they should be if the sand and wind were responsible for erosion. For example, the Great Pyramids have those horizontal traces that prove the erosion due to sand and wind, but the Great Sphinx does not. Yet we know that Sahara Desert was covered with grass and became desert only between 10,000 and 5000 BC, period during which there were many heavy rains. This would explain the vertical erosion on the Sphinx' surface and could even prove that this construction is much older than it was previously believed.
Sphinx remains a mystery to everyone for several reasons. Egyptian government did not allow the room under the Sphinx to be excavated and explored. No inscriptions have been found to tell us who built it, not on the outside or inside the Sphinx. The origin and purpose of its construction remains a mystery. So deep is the mystery about this building, that the word "sphinx" is used to describe a person who keeps her intentions and thoughts secret.