For the stone sculpture in Egypt, see The Great Sphinx. For the breed of cat, see Sphynx cat.
The Great Sphinx of Giza is a famous archaeological structure
A sphinx is a mythological figure, which looks like a lion with a human head. It dates back to the Old Kingdom of Egypt, and its name comes from the Ancient Greek name for a "stranger". The Sphinx is also common in South and South-East Asia, and was popular in Europe from the times of the Renaissance. The Sphinx was famous for posing riddles. It was used to guard the pyramids of Giza. Giza has a head of a man, and a body of a lion. One notable sphinx appears in the legend of Oedipus, and killed travellers who failed to correctly answer a riddle about the three agrs of man ("Which creature has one voice, but travels on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon and three in the evening?"). Oedipus correctly solved it ("Man-he crawls on all fours as a baby, in adulthood, he walks upright, and in old age, he walks with a cane"). The sphinx then killed herself.
