What Is the Riddle of the Sphinx?
The ancient people of Egypt, Greece, and the Near East all had legends about imaginary creatures with human heads and animal-like bodies. These people built statues of these creatures, called sphinxes, to guard their temples and tombs. The sphinx in Greek mythology had the head of a woman and the body of a lion. She is said to h
• “What goes on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon, and on three legs in the evening?” • What is the answer to the riddle of the Sphinx • “A man. He crawls on all fours as a baby, walks on two legs as an adult, and walks with a cane in old age.” • The Sphinx riddle refers to morning, noon, and night which are metaphors for the times in a man’s life • What was a Pharoah? A Pharaoh was a king of ancient Egypt – the most famous of the Pharaohs are detailed on the Timeline below. • Facts about Egyptian Mummys: • Ancient Egyptians believed that when the pharaoh died that his spirit stayed within his body and that he became Osiris, king of the dead. • The Ancient Egyptians believed that if they did not take proper care of the corpse then the dead Pharoah would not be able to perform his duties in the Afterworld and that disaster would befall Egypt. • The dead pharaoh was therefore mummified, which preserved his body. • The process of mummification involved removing all moisture an
