( CNN ) -- Protection from the Sahara 's howling dust storms may have helped the Sphinx maintain its steady gaze over the millennia . Newly discovered walls on the Giza plateau were part of an enclosure to protect the Sphinx from wind-borne sand , Egypt 's Supreme Council of Antiquities says . According to some texts , the walls were built by King Thutmose IV ( 1400-1390 BCE ) because of a dream he had during a hunting trip , the council 's secretary general , Zahi Hawass , said Tuesday . `` In the king 's dream the Sphinx asked the king to move the sand away from his body because it choked him , '' Hawass said in a written statement . For the favor , the Sphinx promised to make Thutmose IV king of Egypt . Until the discovery of sections of the walls buried in the sand on the eastern and southern side of the giant figure , archaeologists believed there was a wall only on its north side . The new sections are part of a larger wall , Hawass said . One wall runs north-south and is 282 feet ( 86 meters ) long , while the other runs east-west and is 151 feet ( 46 meters ) long . Both walls stand about 3 feet ( 1 meter ) tall . Researchers also may have found the remains of a wall dating to the time of King Khafre , whose pyramid is the second largest in Giza . Khafre 's burial complex boasted an unprecedented profusion of statues , among them the Sphinx , according to National Geographic . Carved from bedrock in front of Khafre 's pyramid , the Sphinx depicts the pharaoh as a human-headed lion , wearing the headdress of the pharaohs .
Walls are found along two more sides of the Sphinx . They were used to protect the giant carving from the wind . The Sphinx is near the Khafre pyramid .