The Greek Theban Sphinx is the scary dame who interrogated Oedipus. She asked him a question, as she did everyone else, and would have eaten him if he didn't give the right answer. She is a winged lion with a mature woman's head. She posed the riddles of life, to guard the entrance to the temple of the old Greek religion. She asked Oedipus, "What creature goes on four feet in the morning, at noon on two, and in the evening on three?" For more on her, and the answer, see wikipedia. See pics by Ingres, Moreau.

Gustave Moreau's:

Muriel Rukeyser's poem on the story:

MYTH (2000)

Long afterward, Oedipus, old and blinded, walked the
roads. He smelled a familiar smell. It was
the Sphinx. Oedipus said, "I want to ask one question.
Why didn't I recognize my mother?" "You gave the
wrong answer," said the Sphinx. "But that was what
made everything possible," said Oedipus. "No," she said.
"When I asked, What walks on four legs in the morning,
two at noon, and three in the evening, you answered,
Man. You didn't say anything about woman."
"When you say Man," said Oedipus, "you include women
too. Everyone knows that." She said, "That's what
you think."

(thanks to Leslie Hartten for telling me about this)

at Blenheim Palace near Oxford