Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 November 1887 — What Was the Sphinx? [ARTICLE]

What Was the Sphinx?

The sphinx was a monster, having the head and breasts of a woman, wings like a bird, body of a dog, tail of a snake, paws of a lion, and a human voice. She infested the neighborhood of Thebes, proposing riddles and murdering all who could not guess them. At last she asked this riddle:. What goes on four feet, on two feet and three, But the more feet it goes on, the weaker it be? (Edipus solved it and the sphinx put herself to death.