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)
