SPHINX

(cla ical myth.), she monster of Bosotia who propounded the riddle: ‘What animal has four feet, two feet, three feet, and one voice; when it has most feet it is weakest?’ C£dip us answered: ‘Man; he crawls on all fours when a child, and in age uses a third foot —a staff.’ On hearing the answer she slew herself. In Egypt ft is represented as @ Wingle lion with a human head, whereas in Greece it is a winged lion with female bust. 'The most famous example is the Great 8. of Gizeh, near the group of pyramids; a rock carved into this shape, 189 ft. long, and probably the work of the fourth dynasty. ‘The face looks out due E. over the Nile valley. The S. of Sais, formed of a block of red granite, 22 ft. long, is in the Egyptian museum of the Louvre.