Sphinx

📷 Wikimedia Commons — domaine public — Greenway Productions — 1967

États-Unis

MythologyBefore ChristAncient Greek mythology

A monster from Greek mythology with the body of a lion and the head of a woman, the Sphinx guarded the gates of Thebes. It posed a deadly riddle to travelers and devoured those who failed to answer. Defeated by Oedipus, it threw itself off a cliff.

Key Facts

The Sphinx is a hybrid creature: the head of a woman, the body of a lion, and sometimes the wings of an eagle
It posed the riddle: 'What creature walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening?'
Oedipus answered 'man,' which broke the Sphinx's power
Defeated, the creature threw itself from the top of its rock near Thebes
The myth is most famously told in the tragedy Oedipus Rex by Sophocles (5th century BC)

Works & Achievements

Oedipus Rex — Sophocles (c. 429 BCE)

A masterpiece of Greek tragedy in which the Sphinx serves as the dramatic starting point: her defeat by Oedipus is the founding act that sets the royal catastrophe in motion.

Theogony — Hesiod (c. 700 BCE)

The first text to place the Sphinx within the genealogy of Greek monsters, born of Typhon and Echidna, rooting the character in primordial cosmogony.

The Phoenician Women — Euripides (c. 409 BCE)

A tragedy recounting the aftermath of the Oedipus myth, in which the Sphinx is evoked as the winged plague that ravaged Thebes before being defeated.

Library — Pseudo-Apollodorus (1st–2nd century CE)

A mythological compendium that provides the most detailed physical description of the Sphinx and recounts in full the episode of the riddle and the monster's downfall.

Black-figure Vase (Attic Amphora with Sphinx) (6th century BCE)

Numerous Greek ceramics depict the Sphinx perched on a column or swooping down on a man, attesting to the myth's popularity in figurative art.

Anecdotes

The Sphinx posed one and the same riddle to every traveler who tried to enter Thebes: "What creature walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening?" The answer was man, who crawls as a child, walks upright as an adult, and leans on a cane in old age. No one before Oedipus had ever answered correctly.

According to Hesiod, the Sphinx was the daughter of Typhon and Echidna, two primordial monsters of Greek mythology. Other traditions make her the offspring of Orthrus, the two-headed dog, and the Chimera. Her monstrous origins explain her role as a fearsome guardian at the gates of the city.

When Oedipus answered the riddle correctly, the Sphinx was so overwhelmed by shame and defeat that she hurled herself from the top of her rock. This self-destruction of the monster freed Thebes from a curse that had lasted for years, and earned Oedipus the hand of Queen Jocasta.

The word "sphinx" most likely comes from the Greek "sphingein," meaning "to strangle" — a reference to the way the monster killed its victims. Some mythographers specify that it strangled or devoured them after they failed, making the Sphinx a figure of inevitable death for anyone who lacked wisdom.

The Sphinx is not exclusively Greek: in Egypt, the Great Sphinx of Giza depicts a lion with a human male head, a symbol of royal power. The Greeks borrowed this Eastern motif but gave it a female head and an ominous character, transforming a symbol of protection into a figure of menace.

Primary Sources

Oedipus Rex — Sophocles (c. 429 BC)

"It was the Sphinx with her dark songs that forced us to let pass what we could not fathom."

Theogony — Hesiod (c. 700 BC)

"She [Echidna] also bore the deadly Sphinx, the bane of the Cadmeans, and Cerberus who devours raw flesh."

Library — Pseudo-Apollodorus (1st–2nd century AD)

"The Sphinx had the face of a woman, the breast, paws, and tail of a lion, and the wings of a bird. She had learned a riddle from the Muses, and seated herself on Mount Phicium."

The Phoenician Women — Euripides (c. 409 BC)

"The winged Sphinx, scourge of this land, snatched our citizens in her cruel talons and carried them up into the heights of the heavens."

Key Places

Mount Phicium (Phikion), Boeotia, Greece

A rocky hill overlooking the roads leading to Thebes, where the Sphinx had made its lair. It was here that it posed its riddle and hurled its victims into the void.

Thebes (Thiva), Boeotia, Greece

The city terrorized by the Sphinx, which blocked all access to it. The liberation of Thebes by Oedipus is one of the founding episodes of Theban mythology.

Delphi, Greece

The Oracle of Apollo where Laius had learned the prophecy foretelling his death at the hands of his own son. The Sphinx's sending by the gods is tied to this oracular curse.

Corinth, Greece

The city where Oedipus grew up with his adoptive parents before fleeing to escape the prophecy. His journey toward Thebes led him to face the Sphinx.