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Oedipus answered: "Man: as an infant, he crawls on all fours; as an adult, he walks on two legs and; in old age, he uses a walking stick". 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 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 contest-riddle was a known form of riddling. So riddling pervaded Greek life on many levels and during many occasions. [11] A key source for this culture is Athenaeus. [12] The most famous Classical riddle is the Riddle of the Sphinx: Oedipus killed the Sphinx by grasping the answer to the riddle it posed. [13]
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 "what is the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three in the evening?"
Attic red-figure kylix c. 470 BCE: Oedipus ponders the riddle of the Sphinx. The Sphinx is said to have guarded the entrance to the Greek city of Thebes, asking a riddle to travellers to allow them passage. The exact riddle asked by the Sphinx was not specified by early tellers of the myth, and was not standardized as the one given below until ...
— 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".
Oedipus and the Sphinx, 1808–27, oil on canvas, 189 x 144 cm, Louvre. Oedipus and the Sphinx is a painting by the French Neoclassical artist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Originally a student work painted in 1808, it was enlarged and completed in 1827. The painting depicts Oedipus explaining the riddle of the Sphinx.
Tells a story related to the story of Oedipus and the Sphinx. One of the two fragments of Oedipodeia mentions the sphinx, but it is not clear that the sphinx poses a riddle to Oedipus. In the fragment, after the death of his wife/mother Epicaste/Jocasta, Oedipus marrieds again. His four children are born to his second wife rather than as the ...