Since ancient times, the Greek myth of the monstrous Sphinx has been passed down from generation to generation, which amused itself by asking travelers riddles. Those who could not answer correctly were killed by the Sphinx. And only one person was able to solve the complex riddle of the Sphinx. The fate of this man, King Oedipus, was truly tragic.
Oracle prediction
Legend has it that the oracle predicted to King Lai, who ruled in Thebes, that he would be killed by his own son. When the king had a son, Lai decided to kill him in order to avoid a terrible fate in this way. But the child, who was destined to become torn to pieces by wild beasts, was adopted by the Corinthian king Polybus and his wife. They named the boy Oedipus and raised him as their own son.
As a young man, Oedipus went to Delphi to inquire about his fate from the oracle. And it was predicted to him that he would take the life of his father and marry his own mother. The children who are born of this marriage will be cursed by the gods.
Oedipus listened with horror to the oracle and decided not to return to Corinth, so as not to meet with his parents.
Oedipus went to seek his fortune in other countries. On the way to Thebes, the young man met a chariot in which there was some noble old man, accompanied by servants. An angry old man, to whom Oedipus did not want to give way, struck the young man with a scepter. Furious, Oedipus killed the old man with a blow of the traveling staff, after which, driven by anger, he interrupted the servants accompanying the old man. Subsequently, it turned out that in that road quarrel, Oedipus took the life of his real father - King Lai.
Oedipus and the Sphinx
Approaching Thebes, Oedipus found its inhabitants gloomy and depressed. It turned out that a monster settled near the city gates - the Sphinx, constantly demanding sacrifices. The Sphinx had the body of a lion, the head of a woman, and the wings of an eagle. The monster forced travelers passing by to solve the same riddle. But no one could guess it. And then the Sphinx tore apart the unfortunate losers with sharp iron claws.
The riddle of the Sphinx sounded like this: "What living creature walks on four legs in the morning, on two in the afternoon, and on three in the evening?" Oedipus, to whom the Sphinx asked this question, replied that it was about a person. At the dawn of life, a person crawls on all fours, in adulthood he walks on his feet, and with the onset of old age he leans on a staff.
Hearing this correct answer, the Sphinx in despair threw himself into the abyss, where he died, crashing to death.
The tragedy of Oedipus
Oedipus, who defeated the formidable Sphinx, was greeted in Thebes with honors and even gave him a widowed queen, the wife of the deceased Laius. For two decades Oedipus reigned happily in Thebes. But then a terrible epidemic broke out in the city, claiming many lives. The oracle in Delphi, to which the townspeople turned, replied that their city was cursed. To remove the curse, you need to drive away the one who killed King Lai.
Oedipus heeded the advice of the oracle and cursed the unknown murderer of the former king, sentencing him in absentia to exile and vowing to find him at all costs. Oedipus was amazed when soon a wise blind old man called him the very murderer Oedipus was looking for.
The king was seized with terror. Everything that had been predicted to him earlier came true. He actually killed his own father and married his mother. Upon learning the truth, the Theban queen committed suicide in despair. Oedipus, completely distraught with grief, gouged out his own eyes so as not to see either his hometown or his children. Becoming blind and decrepit, Oedipus went into exile.
