According to Greek mythology, the sphinx was placed by Hera at Thebes to ask passersby a riddle: "Which creature goes about on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening?" Anyone who failed to solve the riddle was killed and devoured; [[Oedipus]] correctly answered that the creature of the riddle was man in his three stages of life: as a baby, an adult, and as an old man with a cane. Upon hearing the answer the sphinx killed herself. | According to Greek mythology, the sphinx was placed by Hera at Thebes to ask passersby a riddle: "Which creature goes about on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening?" Anyone who failed to solve the riddle was killed and devoured; [[Oedipus]] correctly answered that the creature of the riddle was man in his three stages of life: as a baby, an adult, and as an old man with a cane. Upon hearing the answer the sphinx killed herself. |