“What kind of creature walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon and three in the evening?”
We can almost certainly say that this was the world's first riddle. It was invented by a vile creature that once appeared in the vicinity of the city of Thebes in Ancient Greece. The creature was called the Sphinx. He had the head of a woman, the body of a lion, the wings of an eagle and the tail of a snake. There was only one road leading to Thebes; no one could get into the city without going around the Sphinx. You could not pass by the creature (which was very large and fast) without it asking you a riddle.
One of the first to meet the Sphinx was a young man named Haemon. He was going to meet his uncle, who at that time was the Theban king. Many other people fled in fear from the strange cross between a bird, a lion, a snake and a woman, but Haemon, being of royal blood, was not afraid of anything.
- Stop where you are! - demanded the Sphinx in the voice of a formidable school teacher. His tail wriggled in the dust and his wings flapped the air.
- What do you want? - asked Gemon, grabbing his sword with his hand.
“I have a riddle for you,” said the Sphinx.
- Mystery? - Gemon calmed down. - Great. Which?
- What kind of creature walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon and three in the evening?
- Well... let me think. Four legs in the morning? Is it a dog or something? I once saw a goat with three legs, but it wasn't alive, so I guess that doesn't count. Maybe a frog? I don't know... I give up...
Before he could say a word further, the Sphinx attacked him. Flapping his wings, he jumped into the air. His tail wrapped around Haemon's neck and began to strangle him. And finally, while his female face laughed ominously, the claws tore him into several pieces, and in a second the road became slippery with blood, and this was one of the very first jokes, because “haemon” in Greek means blood. But Haemon, who was destroyed at that moment, clearly did not find her funny.
The inhabitants of Thebes thought the same. When they learned that it was impossible to get into the outskirts of the city without encountering a terrible monster who posed an impossible problem and tore them to pieces if they could not solve it, they were practically in despair. It was a bad year for the businessmen of Thebes. The city fell into decay, there were no tourists. Although King Laius and Queen Jocasta, who ruled the city, offered a large reward to anyone who would deliver them from the Sphinx, the prize never found its owner.
Of course, princes and warriors came from all over the world to measure their strength with the terrible creature, but it was impossible to destroy the Sphinx with a sword or arrows. His skin was as hard as steel. His huge claws were sharp as razors. The wings lifted it into the air, and the tail wrapped around the neck before the victim could blink. Some people tried to solve the riddle. After several months, we tried all the possible answers: rats, bats, cats, mosquitoes and ocelots - none of them were correct. Every day another scream rent the air and fresh blood poured onto the road.
Eventually the situation got so bad that the king decided he had to take some action himself.
“If only we knew why this terrible creature is here,” he said thoughtfully. “Then we could find a way to get rid of him.”
- Why not ask the oracle? - suggested Queen Jocasta.
The oracle was the name of a priestess who could not only predict the future, but also answer any question. As soon as the queen said this, Lai was surprised that he himself had not guessed about the oracle.
“Excellent idea, my dear,” he said. - I’ll go to her right away.
Now, if King Lai had reached the oracle, he would have been unpleasantly shocked. In fact, he himself was to blame for the appearance of the Sphinx, even if he had no idea about it.
Shortly before this, Lai went to his friend and fell in love with his son. And he went so far as to kidnap the young man Chrysippus, imprison him in the palace in Thebes and make him his servant. In the end, Chrysippus committed suicide, and everything would have been fine if Hera, the queen of the gods, had not found out about this story. She punished King Laius by sending the Sphinx to Thebes.
But King Laius never got to the oracle and, accordingly, did not find out about it, because on the way he met a young man heading to Thebes to fight the Sphinx. The road was narrow; the two of them could not pass each other. They had a fight. And then Lai drove his chariot over the young man’s leg. The young man, who was of quite a cruel disposition, responded by plunging his blade into the king's stomach before continuing on his way.
The young man's name was Oedipus. His character was complex. It wasn't that he was a bad person, no, but his character left much to be desired. He really wanted to become a hero, but didn't know how to do it. In any case, he now found himself in the vicinity of Thebes and fought with the Sphinx.
- Stop where you are! - shouted the Sphinx. - And tell me - if life is dear to you - what kind of creature walks on four legs in the morning, on two in the afternoon and on three in the evening?
Oedipus thought while the Sphinx licked his lips, opened and hidden his claws. But the monster was unlucky.
“I know,” Oedipus finally said. - The answer is a person. In the morning, when he is a baby, he crawls on all fours. During the day of his life he walks upright on two legs. And when he gets old, in the evening, he moves, leaning on a staff.
When the Sphinx heard that the riddle had finally been solved, he turned red with anger. The woman's head screamed, the lion's body wriggled, feathers fell from its wings, and the snake's tail curled into a ball.
As for Oedipus, as a reward he was made king of Thebes, and he married Queen Jocasta. Not for a minute did he think that in fact she was his long-lost mother, and that he killed his father on the road...
But that's a completely different story.

The Great Sphinx of Egypt looks like a sculpture with a human (male) head and the body of a lion, 73 meters long. It reaches a height of 20 m. Along the perimeter, the Sphinx is surrounded by a moat, the width of which is more than 5 meters and the depth is 2.5 meters.

Is the Sphinx really that terrible?

Initially, this was the image of the Egyptian Sphinx. He devoured travelers and townspeople while near Thebes. This terrible image perhaps resonates, oddly enough, with the symbolic meaning of human sacrifices to pay for the protection of the Universal order. Perhaps the riddle of the Sphinx will not provide the answer itself.

According to one version, the Sphinx is animated. This is a demigod and guardian of the order of the Higher Power, who reacts to the destructive behavior of people by denying and withdrawing into the desert. By the way, his name is translated as “Living Image” or “Essence”.
According to another version, the Sphinx watches the sunrise and the process of planetary movement. But his job as guardian of the universe requires certain sacrifices, and here the second part is revealed, dark and terrifying, with legends that are still remembered in Egypt today. The sacrifices involve human lives, and the mythical riddle of the Sphinx has deep roots in Greek tales and the records of travelers, geographers and scientists.

According to the third, found in Greek mythology, the Sphinx is an eerie winged monster with a female head named Sphingo (the roots of the word “strangle” can be traced in this name). This lioness bird lived near Thebes, posed a riddle to travelers it met, and swallowed those who could not answer alive. The riddle was simple: “Who leans on four limbs in the morning, on two legs at the zenith of the sun, and on three at sunset?”

Oedipus vs. Sphinx - an epochal battle of the mind

The legend of the king of Thebes, sung for centuries, in particular Oedipus’ answer to the riddle of the Sphinx, is reflected in creativity and epic, in ancient painting and myths. The savior of Thebes, Oedipus, went to try his luck in solving the riddle of the Sphinx and intended to get the hand of the widowed queen. Along the way, he met his real father, who told him the answer. The riddle of the Sphinx to Oedipus and the answer to it are now known to many. Answering the Sphinx's question, Oedipus wisely decided that the monster was asking about a person at different periods of his life: a baby crawls on all fours, a mature person walks on two legs, and old age forces him to rely on a cane. The defeated Sphinx drowned in the sea, and King Oedipus was known throughout the centuries as a wise ruler. And of course, Oedipus’ answer to the riddle of the Sphinx teaches imagination and logic. It gives you the opportunity to reflect and see beyond ordinary words to the true meaning.

Has the "Riddle of the Sphinx" been solved?

Today, the expression “riddle of the Sphinx” is used, of course, allegorically: it refers to a complex and insoluble problem. However, in the literal sense, there are no fewer mysteries around sculpture today than in the ancient world. The laboratory built by UNESCO is finding more and more of them. One of the scientists' assumptions is that the sculpture was built by a civilization that disappeared long before our era.

The construction of the Sphinx can be dated back to the 15th millennium BC. e., this is supported by the missing signs of civilization of the 5-7th millennium BC in archaeological research near the statue. The Sphinx is carved from natural stone into the rock, so it is impossible to find an accurate and objective method for dating its construction. This means that the Egyptian Sphinx still gives riddles today, and humanity is struggling to solve them with the help of high-tech means.

How the Ancient Greeks Missed the Egyptian Sphinx

Although the presence of temples and sanctuaries from this period suggests the existence of a civilization in the vicinity of the sculpture at the time of its creation, there is no record of them, perhaps because they lived in slightly different time periods - earlier than archaeological research has determined. More ancient settlements, as the previous version said (the creation of the Sphinx in the era of Cheops, Djoser and Khafre) and the records of the Greek scientists Herodotus, Hecataeus and Strabo, which did not mention the Sphinx, already used mythological references to the entities of the Sphinx in different forms.

According to the theory of astronomers, it is believed that the Sphinx served as an equatorial marker, indicating with accuracy the position of the Sun in the ecliptic. The previously existing theory of Egyptologists that the sculpture is about 2.5 thousand years old has little support: even in the texts of the Ancient Kingdoms nothing is said about the construction of such a large object. Perhaps because he was simply no longer seen then under the layers of sand.

Sphinx - witness of Atlantis

They say that the desert climate changed about 11 thousand years ago, and in place of the Mediterranean Sea there was a desert, so research is simply impossible to carry out on such a scale to say whether civilization has definitely moved to another area, or whether those layers of soil have not yet been excavated where they could be discovered. Traces of water and wind erosion on the body of the Sphinx also support the version that the Sphinx is older. It is curious that the head of the Sphinx was not damaged by such influences of nature. French archaeologists have hypothesized that the date of creation of the Sphinx coincides with the existence of Atlantis, and the catastrophe that led to climate change and the transformation of a green hill into a lifeless desert corresponds to the estimated time of the Biblical Flood.

The mysterious creature with a lion's body has no ascription to a specific culture and a specific gender. The most famous Egyptian sphinx guarding Giza is male.

In Egyptian mythology, sphinx heads were not only human. Sphinxes with the head of a falcon were dedicated to the god Horus, and sphinxes with the head of a ram were dedicated to the solar deity Amun. There are even sphinxes with the head of a crocodile, apparently glorifying Sebek, the god of the Nile. All Egyptian sphinxes are depicted on the walls of temples or guard tombs, sacred places for people. It can be concluded that the male Egyptian sphinx was a positive figure, a protector and guardian of the mysterious world of the gods. The hieroglyph used to designate the sphinx also meant “master”, “ruler”.

A contemporary of the Egyptian sphinx, it is a monster from Sumerian legend, which the supreme goddess Tiamat gives birth to in order to take revenge on her husband. Here the sphinx is the embodiment of malice, anger and horror.

The image of the Sphinx, which migrated from Egypt to Greece, has undergone significant changes. Firstly, he changed gender and instead of the pharaoh's crown, he acquired a naked woman's crown. Secondly, he grew wings. It is this sphinx that has become widespread in world culture along with its owner from Egypt. Even the word “sphinx” itself comes from the Greek “sphincter” - to squeeze, “sphinga” - strangler. According to legend, the Greek sphinx was the daughter of the ancient monsters Typhon and Echidna, the product of the abyss and chaos.

A riddle for the future King Oedipus

Gradually, the road to the city became deserted; no one wanted to risk their lives by guessing the ingenious riddle of the Sphinx. Only Oedipus, during his fateful journey to Thebes, was able to solve the riddle, which sounded like this: “What creature walks on four legs in the morning, on two in the afternoon, and on three in the evening?” Oedipus replied that this is a man - as a child he crawls on all fours, growing up, he walks on his feet, and in old age he leans on a cane. The defeated sphinx threw himself into the abyss from the Phycean Mountain.

The legends have not preserved any other riddles of the Sphinx. Some philosophers, studying ancient myths, suggested that the Sphinx asked each person a riddle intended only for him. The riddle about the man's age hinted at the sad fate of Oedipus, who, in ignorance, killed his father and married his own mother.

Sources:

• Why does the Sphinx ask Harry a riddle?

Since ancient times, the Greek myth about the monstrous Sphinx, who amused himself by asking riddles to travelers, has been passed down from generation to generation. Those who could not answer correctly were killed by the Sphinx. And only one person managed to solve the complex riddle of the Sphinx. The fate of this man, King Oedipus, was truly tragic.

Oracle prediction

Legend has it that an oracle predicted to King Laius, who ruled in Thebes, that he would be killed by his own son. When the king's son was born, Lai decided to kill him in order to thus avoid a terrible fate. But the child, who was destined to be torn to pieces by wild animals, was adopted by the Corinthian king Polybus and his wife. They raised the boy as Oedipus and raised him as their own son.

As a young man, Oedipus went to Delphi to find out his fate. And he was predicted that he would take the life of his father and marry his own mother. The children from this marriage will be cursed by the gods.

Oedipus listened to the oracle with horror and decided not to return to Corinth so as not to meet his parents.

Oedipus went to seek his fortune in other countries. On the way to Thebes, the young man met a chariot in which there was some noble old man, accompanied by servants. The angry old man, to whom Oedipus did not want to give way, hit the young man with a scepter. Enraged, Oedipus killed the old man with a blow from his traveling staff, after which, driven by anger, he killed the servants accompanying the old man. It later turned out that in that road quarrel Oedipus took the life of his real father, King Laius.

Oedipus and the Sphinx

Approaching Thebes, Oedipus found its inhabitants sad and depressed. It turned out that a monster, the Sphinx, had settled near the city gates, constantly demanding victims. The Sphinx had the body of a lion, the head and wings of an eagle. The monster forced travelers passing by to solve the same riddle. But no one could guess it. And then the Sphinx tore the unfortunate losers apart with iron claws.

The riddle of the Sphinx sounded like this: “What living creature walks in the morning on four legs, in the afternoon on two, and in the evening on three?” Oedipus, to whom the Sphinx asked this question, replied that we were talking about a person. At the dawn of life, a person crawls on all fours, in adulthood he walks on his feet, and with the onset of old age he leans on a staff.

Hearing this correct answer, the Sphinx in despair rushed into the abyss, where he died, falling to his death.

The tragedy of Oedipus

Oedipus, who defeated the formidable Sphinx, was greeted in Thebes with honors and even gave him the widowed queen, the wife of the deceased Laius, as his wife. For two decades Oedipus reigned happily in Thebes. But then a terrible epidemic broke out in the city, claiming many lives. The oracle in Delphi, to which the townspeople turned, replied that their city was cursed. To lift the curse, you need to drive away the one who killed King Laius.

Oedipus heeded the oracle's advice and cursed the unknown killer of the former king, sentencing him in absentia to exile and vowing to find him at any cost. Great was the amazement of Oedipus when soon the wise blind old man called him the very murderer whom Oedipus was looking for.

The king was seized with horror. Everything that was previously predicted for him came true. He actually killed his own father and married his mother. Having learned the truth, the Theban queen committed suicide in despair. Oedipus, completely mad with grief, gouged out his own eyes with his own hands so as not to see either his hometown or his children. Having become blind and decrepit, Oedipus went into exile.

Riddles and puzzles have long been part of the Western literary tradition. Some of them are designed to emphasize the ingenuity of the main character, others allow him to pass tests with honor and get out of a difficult situation. There are also those that are simply impossible to solve - they remind us that there are still questions in the world to which there is no answer.

Can you solve these riddles from books without clues?

1. Tragedy “Oedipus the King”, Sophocles

This is one of the most famous mysteries in Western literature. In the work, a winged monster named the Sphinx asked the same riddle to all passers-by, and killed those who did not give the correct answer. No one could solve this riddle. To save the city, Oedipus went to the Sphinx.

The monster asked: " Who walks on four legs in the morning, on two legs in the afternoon, and on three legs in the evening?"

"Human“- answered Oedipus, having found the right solution.

For in infancy (morning of life) he crawls on four limbs, walks on two legs in the prime of his life, and in old age he is helped to walk by a “third leg” - a stick or staff.

And the Sphinx threw himself from a cliff into the sea, because it was decided by the gods that he would die if anyone solved his riddle.

If you are interested in the legends and myths of ancient peoples, we recommend purchasing the book " 200 myths of the peoples of the world", which tells what gods and heroes were worshiped by the ancient Sumerians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Chinese, Japanese, Celts, Scandinavians, Slavs, Aztecs, and Australians!

2. The story "The Hobbit", John R. R. Tolkien.

Gollum and Bilbo play a game, telling each other riddles, with the hobbit's life at stake.

“Gollum decided that the time had come to ask something truly overwhelming and terrifying. And this is what he asked:

Destroys everything around:
Flowers, animals, high house,
Will chew iron, eat steel
And he will grind the rocks into powder,
The power of cities, the power of kings
His powers are weaker.

Poor Bilbo sat and turned over in his mind the names of all the monsters and monsters he had heard about, but none of them had done so many horrors at once. He had a feeling that the answer was not about monsters at all and he knew it, but his head refused to cook. He fell into a panic, and this always makes it difficult to think. Gollum again threw his paws overboard, jumped into the water and splashed towards the shore. His eyes kept getting closer to Bilbo... Bilbo’s tongue stuck to his larynx, he wanted to shout: “Give me more time! Give me time!” But all that came out of him was a squeak: "Time! Time!»

Bilbo was saved by chance: that was the solution."

3. Bible

There are many riddles and parables in the Bible, but one of the most famous is the one that Samson asked his “marriage friends”:

"And Samson said to them:
- I’ll tell you a riddle; if you guess it for me during the seven days of the feast and guess it correctly, then I will give you thirty sindons and thirty changes of clothes; if you cannot guess it for me, then give me thirty sindons and thirty changes of clothes.

They told him:
- Tell me your riddle, let's listen.

And he said to them:
—From the eater came the poisonous, and from the strong came the sweet..

And they couldn’t solve the riddle in three days. On the seventh day they said to Samson's wife:
- Persuade your husband to solve the riddle for us; Otherwise we will burn you and your father’s house with fire; did you call us to rob us?

And Samson’s wife wept before him and said:
- You hate me and don’t love me; You have asked a riddle for the sons of my people, but you will not solve it for me.

He told her:
“I didn’t figure it out for my father and my mother; and will I tell it to you?

And she wept before him for seven days, during which their feast continued. Finally, on the seventh day, he revealed it to her, for she strenuously asked him. And she unraveled the riddle to the sons of her people.

And on the seventh day before sunset the citizens said to him:
—What is sweeter than honey, and what is stronger than a lion!"

The whole solution was that shortly before this, Samson killed a lion with his bare hands, and after a while he discovered that bees lived in the lion’s corpse and there was honey in it.

4. The play "The Merchant of Venice", William Shakespeare

The contender for the hand and heart of the rich beauty Portia must choose one of three caskets. But only one of them has a happy fate.

"Here is the first, golden casket, and the inscription:
“With me you will get what many desire.”
The second is silver and with a promise:
"With me you will get what you deserve."
Lead, the third, sharply declares:
“With me you will give everything, risk everything you have.”
Which one will you take?"

It turns out that in the golden casket there is a skull and a warning: "All that glitters is not gold". In silver there is a caricature portrait and a message:

"Reason has been tested seven times
Who had no mistakes.
The one who wanted to catch the shadow,
Happiness is the shadow of that destiny".

But in the lead casket there is a scroll on which it is written: " You didn’t look at your appearance - be just as lucky in the future!"

5. Novel "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", JK Rowling

In the third round of the Triwizard Tournament, Harry Potter had to guess the riddle of the Sphinx so that she would let him into the clearing where the Goblet of Fire, the main prize of the competition, stood. The riddle was written in the form of a rebus:

"My first syllable is rightfully reputed to be the quickest of all
He is very quick with his hand, his foot and his swing;
My second syllable is the fruit of a circle of decisions
Her with the diameter of legal relations.
My third syllable is an abstractly named man
No skin color, no last name, no rank.
Putting them together, you form a being,
Which one would you rather die than kiss?.

The answer was the word " scorpion" Harry guessed this riddle and successfully passed on.

What literary riddles do you know? Share with us!