The Riddle of the Sphinx
How well do you know your Greek myths?
I wonder if you know the story of the Sphinx and the riddle it set?
The riddle
In Greek mythology, the Sphinx was a beast with the head of a woman, the body of a lion and the wings of an eagle.
It guarded the entrance to the city of Thebes and would only let travellers pass if they answerd a riddle correctly:
Which creature has one voice and yet becomes four-footed and two-footed and three-footed?
If you got the riddle wrong the Sphinx killed and ate you!
In his play Oedipus Rex, the Greek writer Sophocles has Oedipus answer the riddle correctly:
Man* – who crawls on all fours as a baby, then walks on two feet as an adult, and then uses a walking stick in old age?
The Sphinx, defeated, kills itself and Oedipus can continue his quest (which doesn't end well, but that's another story).
* we'll address the slightly sexist nature of Oedipus' answer right at the end of this exercise.