1. Nicole Childs

2.  Physical Characteristics  Head of a human  Body of a lion  Wings of an eagle  Serpent-headed tail  Always a women in Greek Mythology.  Is male in Egypt  Often viewed as a vicious guardian.

3.  Background  Greece was in contact with Egypt.  Sphinx ( Σφίγξ ) comes from the Greek verb σφίγγω ( sphíngō).  “to squeeze”  Riddle of the Sphinx not standardized until later.  Sphinx’s found in many cultures.  Oldest Sphinx from Turkey (9,500 B.C.E)

4.  Legend  Daughter of Orthus/the Chimera/Echidna/Typhon.  Demon of misfortune and bad luck.  Sent by Hera or Ares to Thebes.  Kreon offered the throne to those that could solve her riddle.  Told a riddle to travellers.  Those unable to answer were killed.  Some accounts say it asked two riddles.  When the riddle was answered correctly by Oedipus, it threw itself off a cliff.  Or it devoured itself.

5.  Which creature in the morning goes on four legs, at mid-day on two, and in the evening upon three, and the more legs it has, the weaker it be? There are two sisters: one gives birth to the other and she, in turn, gives birth to the first. Can You Solve the Sphinx's Riddle? Man Day and Night

6.  Oedipus  Bested the Sphinx by answering the riddle.  Oedipus made King after solving the riddle.  Riddle of the Sphinx foreshadowing to Oedipus’ fate.  Cane  Sphinx sent by the gods.  Sphinx symbol of bad luck.

7.  Other  Her homeland is Ethiopia.  Sphinxes were often used by Greek artists and architects.  The Egyptian Sphinx is almost always lying down.  Kreon’s son was killed by the Sphinx  The Sphinx’s death followed that predicted by an oracle.  The Sphinx learned the riddle from the Muses.

8.  Sources  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphinx http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphinx  https://oncourse.iu.edu/access/content/user/mda lingh/Filemanager_Public_Files/Mythology/Perse us%202007/Sphinx.pdf https://oncourse.iu.edu/access/content/user/mda lingh/Filemanager_Public_Files/Mythology/Perse us%202007/Sphinx.pdf  http://sahilachangebringer.blogspot.com/2010/12 /magical-thinking.html http://sahilachangebringer.blogspot.com/2010/12 /magical-thinking.html  http://www.siddeley.com/sphinx.html http://www.siddeley.com/sphinx.html  http://thepoliticizer.com/blog/2010/09/29/storm- from-oedipus-to-obama/ http://thepoliticizer.com/blog/2010/09/29/storm- from-oedipus-to-obama/