The Riddle of Sphinx

Oedipus was the son of Laius and Jocasta, who was abandoned at birth and unintentionally killed his father and married his mother.-A Greek Myth.

From Oedipus we have the phrase ‘Oedipus complex’-(n) Unconscious libidinal (sexual appetite) feelings in a child, esp. a male child, for the parent of the opposite sex, gender appearing in the ages of 3-5 years.

The story:

Thebes is a city in central Greece. It played an important role in Greek myths, as the site of the stories of Cadmus, Oedipus, Dionysus, Heracles and others. Thebes was ruled by a king called Laius. Once, Laius, the king of Thebes, was warned by a sage that there was danger to his throne and life if his new-born son should be suffered to grow up. He, therefore, committed the child to the care of a herdsman with orders to destroy him; but the herds man, moved with pity, yet not daring entirely to disobey, tied up the child by the feet and left him hanging to the branch of a tree. In this condition the infant was found by a peasant, who carried him to his master and mistress, by whom he was adopted and called Oedipus, or Swollen-foot.

Many years afterwards king Laius, was on his way to Delphi. He was accompanied by only one attendant. While moving on a chariot in a narrow road he met a young man  who was also driving in a chariot driven by two horses. The king’s attendant asked the young man to clear the way for the king. On his refusal to leave the way at their command the king’s attendant killed one of his horses. The stranger, filled with rage, slew both Laius and his attendant. The young man was Oedipus, who thus unknowingly became the slayer of his own father, and unwittingly marries his own mother.

Shortly after this event the city of Thebes was afflicted with a monster which infested the highroad. It was called the Sphinx. It had the body of a lion and the upper part of a lady. It lay crouched on the top of a rock, and arrested all travelers who came that way, proposing to them a riddle, with the condition that those who could solve it should pass safe,. But, those who failed should be killed. Not one had yet succeeded in solving it, and all had been slain.

Oedipus was not frightened by these alarming accounts, but boldly advanced to the trial. The Sphinx asked him, "What animal is that which in the morning goes on four feet, at noon on two, and in the evening upon three?"

Oedipus replied, "Man, who in childhood creeps on hands and knees, in manhood walks erect, and in old age with the aid of a staff." The Sphinx was so horrified and humiliated  at the solving of her riddle that she cast herself down from the rock and perished.

(From The Age of Fable)