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Oedipus was the first to answer the riddle correctly and, having heard Oedipus' answer, the Sphinx was astounded and inexplicably killed herself by throwing herself into the sea. Oedipus thereby won the freedom of the Thebans, the kingdom of that city, and as his wife, Jocasta , who was later revealed to be his mother.
Aristotle considered riddles important enough to include discussion of their use in his Rhetoric. He describes the close relationship between riddles and metaphors: "Good riddles do, in general, provide us with satisfactory metaphors; for metaphors imply riddles, and therefore a good riddle can furnish a good metaphor". [16]
Oedipus answered the monster's riddle correctly, defeating it and winning the throne of the dead king – and the hand in marriage of the king's widow, who was also (unbeknownst to him) his mother Jocasta. Detail of ancient fresco in which Oedipus solves the riddle of the Sphinx. Egyptian Museum, 2nd c. CE
The Sphinx, perched on a hill, was devouring Thebans and travelers one by one if they could not solve her riddle. The precise riddle asked by the Sphinx varied in early traditions, and is not explicitly stated in Oedipus Rex, as the event precedes the play. However, according to the most widely regarded version of the riddle, the Sphinx asks ...
This riddle is arguably the most obtuse, but also the most satisfying to solve. The Sphinx asks you to present their “parent.” After trying a few ideas, we discovered that there is a ...
"What is that which has one voice and yet becomes four-footed and two-footed and three-footed?" — The famous riddle of the Sphinx. Oedipus solved the riddle correctly by answering: "Man: as an infant, he crawls on fours; as an adult, he walks on two legs and; in old age, he uses a walking stick". [35]
A message etched into an ancient sphinx has proven to be, well, sphinx-like. The “mysterious” inscription has long been an enigma, puzzling scholars for over a century.
Oedipus proudly tells Periboea how he defeated the Sphinx, earning for himself the newly vacant throne of Thebes and marriage to Thebes' newly widowed queen Jocasta. [3] Periboea arrived in Thebes in a chariot that Oedipus had sent her as a gift, which had belonged to the previous king Laius and which Laius was riding when he was killed. [3]