Sphinx

Apologies - I caught the flu before recording this episode, so I sound a little rough!

in this week's episode, we're heading over to Egypt and Greece for the riddling minx, the Sphinx! Which mythology is it from anyway? Why is the Great Sphinx male? Find out in this episode!

Transcript

INTRO:
Hello and welcome to Myth Monsters, my name is Erin and I’ll be your host for these little snack bite size podcasts on folklore and mythical monsters from around the world. 

These podcasts focus on the actual cryptids, folklore and mythic monsters from global mythology, rather than focusing on full stories of heroes and their big adventures.

I’ll also be dropping in some references that they have to recent culture and where you can see these represented in modern day content so you can learn more, and get as obsessed as I am about these absolute legends of the mythological world.

Gosh as if it is halfway through April already. I had a very silly weekend with an ABBA tribute group at a hen party on a boat through Birmingham - so I have just recovered from feeling very rough from both sea and tremendous amounts of alcohol to get me through Voulez-Vouz. 

I say all this and I had a great time and I love ABBA - honestly I would fight anyone who doesn’t sing along to SOS with Pierce Brosnan.

DESCRIPTION:

But instead of the dreary English midlands, I’d prefer to picture myself on a day cruise driving down the Nile looking over to see the Great Pyramid of Gaza, sitting next to our monster of the week. Yes, we are over in Egypt this week for a wonder we only see now in limestone - the incredibly riddling Sphinx!

Most people will already know the myth of the Sphinx and what they look like as they’re an incredibly well known monster in our roster. But for those that don’t, the Sphinx is generally described as a half-woman, half lion and more specifically, a beautiful woman’s face, lion’s body with a snake’s tail and eagle’s wings. They are known to be extremely large and foreboding, with a wingspan of at least 40 feet and as tall as 20 feet, which they could fly with.

Sphinxes are able to speak all human languages and are incredibly intelligent, generally considered to have even more than a genius IQ. They are also known to be territorial and merciless to all those who come into their space, but due to their high intelligence, they stand out as a monster, as they would ask the invader a riddle in order to prove their worth. If the person answered correctly, they were able to pass, and the Sphinx was often known to commit suicide upon mental defeat. However, if the person failed to answer correctly, they would be torn limb from limb with lion claws and devoured on the spot. 

They were also considered to be the perfect guardians because of this skill and the difficulty of their riddles, also it meant that if they failed in their task to protect the thing they were guarding, they would take care of themselves in terms of punishment. Sphinxes were great guardians mostly though because they also really preferred to sit than do literally anything else - so once they were plonked in front of a tomb or treasure vault, they would generally remain there for as long as possible. 

They are immortal beings, however, not invulnerable - they can also be killed by usual human means, but good luck doing that when they’re 5 times the size of you and are a merciless hunter. They can go for decades without eating, but when they do - it’s a usual lion’s diet, anything meaty and most likely a large prey item such as a human or mammal that crosses their path. Sphinxes were not known to reproduce, and depending on what mythology you’re looking at them through - there was only one in existence. 

Speaking of which, probably one of the most debated questions about the Sphinx is where it is actually from. It’s a good trick question for a pub quiz and one that often trips people up. The Sphinx is actually known for being a member of both the Egyptian and Greek myths - however, which one came first and which one does it come from? Well my friends, the answer is still debated, but experts think that this was originally an Egyptian monster which was then adapted by the Greeks. But the Sphinx that we know from media and history is that of a female beast, but the Egyptian telling is that they are always men, without wings and they are the representatives of the pharaoh. 

Hence why, if you look at the architectural wonder of the actual physical Sphinx in Cairo, you’ll see that it’s male and even once had a beard before erosion. However, in Greek myth - the Sphinx does have a whole myth involving her, hence the popularity and default image of them in our media and history.

ORIGIN:

Now let’s move onto etymology, the word Sphinx is also Greek. It comes from the root word ‘sphingo’ meaning to squeeze or tighten up - which we believe is inspired by the way that lions kill their prey; by strangulation, biting their neck and holding them down til death. However, because of the location debate, there is also a belief that the word is actual Egyptian from the word shesepankh which means living image, referring to them being statues but not cut from their original source rock, which is the case with the Sphinx in Cairo, as it is built from the original rock, rather than placed onto it. 

I’m going on about the location thing, but that’s because it really shapes how we look at this monster. Their histories are actually slightly different depending on which mythos you look at, so we’ll start with the Egyptian, as we believe this came first.

The Ancient Egyptians had these creatures built into statues as early as the Bronze Age, which was between 3300-1200 BC. The first that we know of was built in 2723 BC and depicted a female pharaoh, Queen Hetepheres II. Unfortunately, we’re not sure where the Sphinx comes from within their mythology other than as an architectural feature and a representative of royalty and the pharaoh so in terms of when they first appeared, we assume that the first time they were created was around the time of this first statue. 

The Great Sphinx which still stands mostly intact in Cairo was built not long after in 2558 BC, and it is the oldest known monumental sculpture in history. It stands at 241 feet long, 63 feet wide and 66 feet tall and is only really missing a few chunks - but very famously, it’s nose and beard. It is also a guardian of a tomb, but we’ve yet to uncover all of its secrets out of fear of structural integrity and fear that we might damage the iconic sculpture. 

The Greeks were equally impressed by the Sphinx, and were very intertwined with the Egyptians as ancient cultures go, and they first made good relations around the same time within the Bronze Age. They loved the idea of this guardian monster, and good old Pliny the Elder, who is one of our favourite Greek philosophers even wrote about the Great Sphinx in his famous book, Natural History back in 79 AD, stating that the Egyptians looked upon the statue as a divinity that has been passed over in silence and that King Harmais was buried in it. 

The Greeks were SO inspired that they borrowed the Sphinx from the Egyptians for one of the most famous epic plays of all time, Oedipus, whilst always stating that this monster came from Egypt and Ethiopia. In this version, the Sphinx was a demon of destruction and bad luck, and was generally always covered in gore. She was the only Sphinx child of the monster mother of Greek mythology, Echidna or potentially Ceto, a sea goddess, and Orthrus, a multi-headed dog like his sibling, the guardian of Hades, Cerberus - who was also mothered by Echidna, making the Sphinx a kind of incest monster, which wasn’t massively unusual within Greek myth.

This Sphinx was sworn to block the path from Ethiopia to Thebes in Greece, and one of these people trying to get past was Oedipus, the shamed and self-blinded Greek king, exiled for marrying his mother and killing his father. The Sphinx was tasked to ask two riddles, the first being one of the most recognised riddles in history - which creature has one voice, and yet becomes four-footed, two-footed and three-footed? The answer which Oedipus gave was man, who crawls on four legs as a baby, two as a man and three as an elder. 

The Sphinx, infuriated, asks him another - there are two sisters: one gives birth to the other and she, in turn, gives birth to the first. Who are the two sisters? The answer Oedipus gave was the day and the night - with each sun and moonrise as the birth of the other. Bested, the Sphinx threw herself from the path into the crashing rocks beneath the cliff. There are other tellings of this myth for example, the very slight adaptation is that the Sphinx devoured herself in her little shame protest. But in both tellings, the death of the Sphinx is meant to represent the transition between the death of the Titans and the rise of the new Olympian gods. 

In another retelling, Oedipus doesn’t even answer the riddles and the Sphinx tells him the answers so that she will stop killing others and to force her to kill herself and to make him love her. He leaves without thanking her for the answer, and she descends to the heavens with Anubis, the god of the dead in Egyptian mythology. 

The Sphinx has continued to be used in modern media and in architecture, and is used in the Freemasons to represent mystery and is often engraved or printed onto their most important documents. They are most commonly used in French Renaissance art and were really common within the Baroque era, with Sphinxes commonly used as palace garden statues to represent higher class protection. The writer Oscar Wilde loved the French version of the Sphinx, writing a poem about them chasing a man who is anxious about a beast following him.

The riddle of the Sphinx as a thing in itself and the man riddle are some of the most recognisable parts about the Sphinx, with even mythology fans knowing what both are and where they came from, although I’d be impressed if anyone with no mythology, classics or theatre interest knew the story of Oedipus beyond the Fruedian mother loving reference.

Of course, we also have Sphynx cats which are the hairless breeds of cats which I think look like little naked old men, but are super cute. They were officially named after the Sphinx monster in the 1960’s, although it was more a nod to a mythical cat than anything specifically to do with their intelligence. 

Now for mythical comparisons, there are a few we can compare to the Sphinx, such as the Manticore from Greek mythology. I covered these ages ago, but these are another Greek hybrid monster, with significantly different animals making up their hybrid-ness, such as goat, snake, lion and eagle. They’re equally ferocious, however, they’re not particularly known for their smarts. 

Another example is the Griffin, which is another Greek hybrid, being made up of the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. They were more intelligent and were also very often linked to European royalty. These are probably the most similar to Sphinxes, as they would often be found lazing about in the sun with their winged lion bodies, but you wouldn’t be able to have a civilised conversation with one unfortunately. I’ve not done an episode on these legendary monsters yet, but it’s on my to-do list.

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: 

Now onto modern media, we have a load of Sphinxes because they’re a great trope in any mythical media and are almost overused in video games, so there’s that.

For art, have a look at Caresses by Fernand Khnopff from 1896, Oedipus and the Sphinx by Gustave Moreau from 1864 or Oedipus and the Sphinx by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres from around 1827. Otherwise, check out independent and D&D art for this one - they’re all pretty cool. And duh, if you can go and see the actual Sphinx, then go see it, it’s an incredible feat of human creation.

In movies, we have; Gods of Egypt, Hercules, The Mummy, Aladdin, Pleasant Goat and Big Bad Wolf, Mirror Mask, Oedipus Rex & The Never Ending Story.

For TV, we have; Monster High, Xena: Warrior Princess, Beetlejuice, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Hercules, The Adventures of Puss in Boots, The Mummy, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Star vs the Forces of Evil, The Legend of Vox Machina, Danny Phantom, Extreme Ghostbusters, Ultraman Ace,  Class of the Titans, Chip ‘n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers, Fate/Prototype, Digimon Adventure, One Piece & Unico.

In video games, we have ones such as; Dragon's Dogma 2, Heroes of Might and Magic, Banjo-Kazooie, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, King’s Quest, God of War, Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy 1 & 8, Age of Wonders, Fate/Grand Order, Poseidon: Master of Atlantis, Fantasy Quest, Shadowgate, The Pagemaster, Red Earth, Last Armageddon, Age of Mythology, Shin Megami Tensei, Mythic Blades, Will Rock, EverQuest: The Buried Sea, EarthBound, RiME, Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2, Persona 5, Injustice 2, Assassin’s Creed Origins, Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy, Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap, The Time Machine & Super Mario Odyssey.

My book recommendation this week is for Sphinx Mystery: The Forgotten Origins of the Sanctuary of Anubis by Robert Temple for the mythological and literal Sphinx or for more mythical views; for Egyptian myths I would recommend The Egyptian Mythology Bible: Discovering the Secrets of Egyptian Myths by Thomas Hedlund and for Greek myth, Greek Myths: Meet the Heroes, Gods, and Monsters of ancient Greece by Jean Menzies.

DO I THINK THEY EXISTED? 

Now it’s time for, do I think they existed?

Do I think there’s a slightly sexy cat lady out there giving out riddles? Probably not, but it was nice to dream I suppose - and don’t give me that look, we all know how everyone feels about Catwoman from Batman. 

Joking, kinda, aside - we know that the Sphinx was so ingrained into mythology within the Eastern European and East African world that they married two mythologies so intensely that people didn’t know which one they came from, which is a testament to its believability on its own. And so much so that there is still one of the biggest structures in the world carved and missing a nose in their honour, so big up the Ancient Egyptians and Greeks for that. 

I’ve never been lucky enough to go to Egypt, although I would absolutely love to go for the Pyramids and the Sphinx - and worth it for one of the original seven wonders and for something so ingrained into culture and mythology that it still stands and is beloved around 4,500 years later. What a feat.

I guess I must ask the most famous riddle of them all - what goes on four feet in the morning, two feet in midday, and three feet in the evening? It’s obviously a human, dummy - and if you know any riddles it should be that one, jeez.

But what do you think? Did the Sphinx perplex travellers across the world with riddles? Let me know on Twitter!

OUTRO: 

I love this monster - it’s one of my absolute favourites and I’m thrilled we’ve covered it. I will also state at this point that the Sphinx as in the monster and Sphynx as in the hairless cats, are spelt two different ways and I thought they were interchangeable but they’re not - for anyone listening Y is for the cat, I is for the monster. You’ll thank me at a pub quiz one day.

Next week, we’re heading over to the beautiful islands of the Philippines for an interesting monster with a neighing disposition. See if you can tame the wild and weird Tikbalang with me next Thursday!

For now, thank you so much for listening, it’s been an absolute pleasure. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a rating on the service you’re listening on - I’ve got the twitter for any questions, or suggestions on what monsters to cover next and I’d love to hear from you. The social media handles for Tiktok, Youtube, Threads and Instagram are mythmonsterspodcast, and twitter is mythmonsterspod. But all of our content can be found at mythmonsters.co.uk, including some very cool merchandise - you can also find us on Goodpods, Buymeacoffee and Patreon if you want to help me fund the podcast too.

Come join the fun though and share this with your pals, they might love me as much as you do.

But for now, stay spooky and I’ll see you later babes.