Sphinx. A monster said to be a daughter of Chimaera, in the neighborhood of Thebes. Seated on a rock, she put a riddle to every Theban that passed by, and whoever was unable to solve it was killed by the monster. This calamity induced the Thebans to proclaim that whoever should deliver the country of the sphinx should obtain the kingdom and Jocasta as his wife. The riddle ran as follows: "What is that which has one voice, and at first four feet, then two feet, and at last three feet, and when it has most is weakest?" Oedipus explained the enigma by saying that it was man, who, when an infant, creeps on all fours, when a man, goes on two feet, and, when old, uses a staff, a third foot. The monster immediately flung herself into the sea and perished. The form of the so-called Egyptian sphinxes is that of a winged lion with a human head and bust, always in a lying attitude, whereas the Greek sphinxes are represented in any attitude which might suit the fancy of the poet.
