A prince named Oedipus was traveling through the Greek countryside when he approached the city of Thebes. The road to the city was blocked by a monster called the Sphinx. She had the body of a lion and the head of a woman. She lay crouched on top of a rock, stopping all travelers to ask them a riddle.
Any traveler who solved the riddle could pass; but those who answered incorrectly were killed. When Oedipus approached the Sphinx, no one had solved the puzzle.
Oedipus was ready for the challenge and The Sphinx was waiting for its next victim.
"What goes on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon and three in the evening?" asked The Sphinx.
Oedipus thought a moment. Then he replied "The answer is Man. He crawls on all fours as a baby, then walks on two feet as an adult, and then walks with a cane in old age."
The Sphinx was so angry that Oedipus had solved her riddle that she threw herself off the rock and died.
The people of Thebes showed their appreciation Oedipus by making Oedipus king.
The Sphinx. Originally an Egyptian concept, the Sphinx was a lion with a woman's head and upper body. In the legend of Oedipus, the Sphinx sat outside oThebes and asked riddle of all who passed by. If the traveller failed to solve the riddle, then the Sphinx killed him. And if the traveler answered the riddle correctly, then the Sphinx would destroy herself. The riddlewas: What goes on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening? Oedipus solved the riddle, and the Sphinx destroyed herself. The answer, of course, is a human being - on all fours as a baby, upright in youth, and with a stick in old age.
It is a misnomer that there is a 'riddle' of the Great Sphinx of Giza as this phrase is confused with the original Greek legend of The Riddle of the Sphinx. See the link below.
oedipus solve the riddle
The Sphinx had a riddle. I don't think the Minotaur has a riddle. I thought that it just blew stuff up
The riddle of the sphinx is What walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening?
Oedipus solved the Sphinx's riddle in the play Oedipus Rex ("Oedipus the King"). He alone understood that a people-killing Sphinx would pose an apparently unanswerable riddle about people.
The fact that he solved the riddle that the sphinx troubled the city of Thebes with.
Oedipus answered the riddle of the sphinx
In mythology, the Sphinx would pose riddles to travelers. This suggests that the dreamer is confronted with some sort of riddle or puzzle that needs to be solved in real life.
The Sphinx. Originally an Egyptian concept, the Sphinx was a lion with a woman's head and upper body. In the legend of Oedipus, the Sphinx sat outside oThebes and asked riddle of all who passed by. If the traveller failed to solve the riddle, then the Sphinx killed him. And if the traveler answered the riddle correctly, then the Sphinx would destroy herself. The riddlewas: What goes on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening? Oedipus solved the riddle, and the Sphinx destroyed herself. The answer, of course, is a human being - on all fours as a baby, upright in youth, and with a stick in old age.
With Oedipus' answer of "man" is the way in which the Sphinx's riddle is solved in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).Specifically, the Sphinx's riddle asks which life form moves on all fours in the morning of life, on twos in the afternoon and on threes in the evening. Oedipus alone knows that it is man who crawls as a baby through infancy, gets by on his own as an adult and needs a cane in old age. It is ironic that clever, results-oriented Oedipus nevertheless cannot solve the riddle of his own existence.
No one actually killed the sphinx, a man named Oedipus solved her riddle which was "What walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three at night" which the answer is a human with morning being a baby, afternoon being an adult, and night as an old person with a cane. After Oedipus solved her riddle she threw herself off a cliff.
Man
The identification of the life form that moves on fours in the morning of life, on twos in the afternoon and on threes in the evening is the Sphinx's riddle solved by Oedipus in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).Specifically, the Sphinx demands upon pain of death that all who enter or leave Thebes must try to answer her riddle. No one figures out the answer, and many Thebans therefore end up killed and devoured by the Sphinx. But Oedipus knows that the answer is man and thereby is the only person who is able to solve the seemingly unanswerable riddle.
It is a misnomer that there is a 'riddle' of the Great Sphinx of Giza as this phrase is confused with the original Greek legend of The Riddle of the Sphinx. See the link below.
Sphinx
oedipus solve the riddle