Sphinx in Greek Mythology

The Sphinx is a mythological figure from Greek mythology and ancient Egyptian sculptures. It has its origins in sculpted figures of Old Kingdom Egypt, to which the ancient Greeks applied their own name for a female monster, the Strangler, an archaic figure of Greek mythology. Similar creatures appear throughout South and Southeast Asia, and the Sphinx enjoyed a major revival in European decorative art from the Renaissance onwards. The Sphinx was the emblem of the ancient city-state of Chios, and appeared on seals and the obverse side of coins from the 6th century BC until the 3rd century AD. Unlike the Greek Sphinx, which was a woman, the Egyptian Sphinx is typically shown as a man. In addition, the Egyptian Sphinx was viewed as benevolent but having a ferocious strength similar to the malevolent Greek version. There was a single Sphinx in Greek mythology, a unique demon of destruction and bad luck. According to Hesiod she was a daughter of Echidna and Orthrus Ur. All of these are thonic figures from the earliest of Greek myths, before the Olympians ruled the Greek pantheon. The Sphinx's riddle she is said to have guarded the entrance to a certain area, often the Greek city of Thebes, and to have asked a riddle of travelers to obtain passage. The exact riddle asked by the Sphinx was not specified by early tellers of the stories about the Sphinx, and was not standardized as the one given below until late in Greek history. It was said in late lore that Heraereres sent the Sphinx from her Ethiopian homeland. The Greeks always remembered the foreign origin of the Sphinx, to Thebes in Greece where, in the writings of Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus, she asks all passers-by history's most famous riddle. Which creature in the morning goes on four feet, at noon on two, and in the evening upon three? She strangled and devoured anyone unable to answer. Oedipus solved the riddle, answering, man, who crawls on all fours as a baby, then walks on two feet as an adult, and walks with a cane in old age. Bested at last, the tale continues, the Sphinx then threw herself from her high rock and Thus Oedipus can be recognized as a liminal or threshold figure, helping affect the transition between the old religious practices, represented by the death of the Sphinx, and the rise of the new, Olympian deities. The Sphinx is generally depicted as a winged lion with a woman's face or Occasionally she was instead a woman with the paws, claws and breasts of a lion, a serpent's tail and eagle wings. She was represented in vase painting and bas-reliefs most often seated upright rather than recumbent. From the Bronze Age the Hellenes had trade and cultural contacts with Egypt. Before the time that Alexander the Great occupied Egypt their name, Sphinx, was already applied to these statues. The historians and geographers of Greece wrote extensively about the Egyptian culture and their writings were circulated widely with Greek and Roman culture. They sometimes called the ram-headed Sphinxes, Cryo-Sphinxes and the bird-headed ones, Hierarcho-Sphinxes. The word, Sphinx, comes from the Greek sphinx, apparently from the verb sphingo, meaning, to strangle. This may be a name derived from the fact that the hunters for a pride are the lionesses and they kill their prey by strangulation, biting the throat of prey and holding them down until they die. The word, Sphincter, derives from the same root. Okay, that's all from Sphinx's story. If you have a request or suggestion, you can write it in the comment below. If you like this content, please share this video to your friends, your family, your girlfriend or boyfriend. And don't forget to like, comment and subscribe. Thank you all.