An oil lamp in the shape of a bronze sphinx
Mother of the sphinx was the demonic Echidna living in Hades, a being half man and half woman.
The man and brother of Echidna, who also existed in the underworld, was the giant monster Typhon (also Python) with 100 dragon heads and snake feet. In ancient Greece it was also regarded as a manifestation of the destructive forces of nature, such as volcanism.
Typhon and Echidna were also parents of the beasts Zerberos, Chimaera, Hydra and Ladon.
The Sphinx was in trouble in Thebes. She puzzled those passing by: "What has a voice, walks on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon and on three legs in the evening?" She devoured everyone who could not solve her riddle.
The tragic hero Oedipus, who unknowingly killed his father and married his mother, solved this mystery. "The human being is meant. He crawls in his childhood, on his morning of life, on all fours; in his manhood he walks on two legs and in his old age, at the end of his life, he uses a stick as a third leg to help".
Thereupon the sphinx threw itself from a rock into an abyss.
Bronze oil lamp with green patina (patina caused by a chemical reaction for a short time), late 6th century BC, museum in Olympia.
Replica in original size and condition.
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