The Riddle of the Sphinx

Before you read

Thebes, in the age of heroes

The Sphinx of Greek myth is different from the great Sphinx of Egypt. The Egyptian sphinx at Giza has a lion’s body and a man’s head and guards the pyramids. The Greek Sphinx was a female monster with a lion’s body, an eagle’s wings and a woman’s face, sent to punish Thebes. She sat on a rock outside the city and asked travellers a riddle.

Since King Laius had been killed on the road, Thebes had no king, and Jocasta’s brother Creon ruled. He promised that whoever answered the Sphinx’s riddle would become king and marry the widowed queen, Jocasta. Oedipus answered correctly, and the Sphinx threw herself from her rock and disappeared. Oedipus became king of Thebes, married Jocasta, and they had four children: Antigone, Ismene, Eteocles and Polynices. For many years he ruled well and was loved.

The riddle: “What goes on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon, and on three legs in the evening?” The answer: a human being, who crawls as a baby, walks upright as an adult, and uses a stick in old age. The story is full of irony: the man who solved the riddle about human beings did not know the most important thing about himself.

The cleverest answer is not always the deepest wisdom.

The story

Retold for this lesson from the Theban myths in Sophocles and later Greek writers.

When Oedipus came near Thebes, he found the gates shut and the people afraid. On a high rock outside the city sat the Sphinx. She had the body of a lion, the wings of an eagle and the face of a woman, and her eyes were cold. Every traveller who passed had to answer her riddle, and none of them had ever answered it right. Their bones lay white at the foot of the rock.

The city had other troubles too. Its king, Laius, had been killed on a journey, and nobody knew who had done it. The queen’s brother, Creon, was ruling until a new king could be found. He had made a promise to all of Greece: “Whoever frees Thebes from the Sphinx will be king, and will marry Queen Jocasta.”

Oedipus had nothing to lose. He had no home and no family, he thought, and he was clever. He walked up to the rock. The Sphinx looked down at him and smiled. “What goes on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon, and on three legs in the evening?” she asked. “And the more legs it has, the weaker it is.”

Oedipus thought for a moment. Then he said: “A human being. In the morning of life, as a baby, he crawls on hands and knees. At noon, as an adult, he walks on two legs. And in the evening of life, when he is old, he leans on a stick.” The Sphinx gave a terrible cry, threw herself down from the rock, and was never seen again.

The gates opened, and the people of Thebes carried Oedipus into the city on their shoulders. He became their king and married the queen, Jocasta. They had four children, two daughters and two sons, and for many years Thebes was happy, and Oedipus was the best and wisest king it had ever had. Or so everyone believed.

Talk and write

Discussion and writing

Riddle contest. In groups, write three riddles in the present simple (What has… but can’t…?), and ask another group.

Discuss. 1. Why do people love riddles? 2. Oedipus was clever. Was he also wise? What is the difference? 3. Do you know any riddles in your language?

Write (60–80 words). Describe a monster for a story: what it looks like, what it can do, where it lives, and the riddle it asks.