 The name Hieracosphinx comes from the Greek Ιερακόσφιγξ, which means ἱέραξ (Hawk) + Σφίγξ (Sphinx).The Hieracosphinx has the head of a hawk and the body of a lion.The name was coined by Herodotus to the hawk-headed sphinxes that he saw in Egypt (the other being the ram-headed sphinx which Herodotus called Criosphinx ()).