The Sphinx is a mythical being said to have the head of a woman, the body of a lioness,
the wings of an eagle, and the tail of a serpent. She guards the city of Thebes and poses a
riddle to travelers who intended to enter it. The riddle is, "What goes on four feet in the
morning, two feet at noon, and three feet in the evening?" If the traveler is unable to
answer the riddle, the Sphinx devours them.
solves the riddle when he
arrives in Thebes after leaving Corinth to escape the Oracle's prophecy that he will kill his
father and marry his mother. The answer to the riddle: a man. In the morning of his life, a man
is a baby who walks on four feetcrawling on its hands and knees. At noon of his life, the man is
an adult, walking on two feet. When the man is old, in the evening of his life, he walks with a
cane.
The answer to the riddle is particularly well-suited to
Oedipus.
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