How do they know they have solved the riddle of the Sphinx?

Question

Everyone assumes they have got it correct but they might have it wrong.

I know what the Riddle is gregory_dittman, but the person who made it up isn't around to tell us if it is the right answer or not.

kevin k, just spinning my wheels

kevin k, you started me thinking there, I wonder if it would be possible to come up with a reasonable alternative.

Answer 1

hmm hey its very possible. You know never know.

Answer 2

Gregory is right. That's the riddle and that's the answer.

The riddle was devised by none other than the fella who wrote the play in which it appears. That play is Oedipus Rex, and the guy who wrote the play and came up with "the riddle of the Sphinx" is Sophocles. In the play Oedipus's answer, also given by Gregory, is correct, and he is awarded with the throne to Thebes for his cleverness.

So, we can say that we know we have the riddle solved correctly because, well, both the riddle and the answer originate in that play. It's not like a great unsolved mystery or anything. It's just something that appeared in a play.

Answer 3

The "riddle" has not been solved as yet. You might say the jury is still out.
It is yet to be agreed by all schools of thought,who built it,when and why?
Most Egyptologists now agree, that the most likely candidate of ownership would be Khafre.
The Sphinx stands in a quarry, where masonry for building the inner core of the pyramid of Khufu was taken.
So it could not have been built before, the Great Pyramid .
It is also linked by a causeway to the pyramid and mortuary complex of Khafre.
It is very unlikely that Khafre would have built it as a memorial to Khufu.As this is not something the Pharaohs did.They did not build memorial effigies to former Pharoahs, unless it was related to a deification cult.No cult of Khufu is known to have existed.
The name Sphinx, derives from the Greek translation of an Egyptian word shepsed-ankh,meaning "living image".
Some debate that it is an image of the Sun God, Ra-Atum.
While other think it may represent a living image of the Pharaoh, presenting an offering to the Sun God.
Or it could represent a Guardian of the Royal tombs and the mortuary complexes, that dominates the Giza plateau.
My personal theory sways towards the main school of thought. That it is a representation of a Pharaoh, and it is most likely that of Khafra builder of the second pyramid.
The fact that a Pharonic beard of the Sphinx has been located and identified on the site in recent years,would push the theory that it depicted a God further from a possibility.
Until all these theories can be resolved and the debate is over. The Sphinx will remain silent regarding his secret.
At times I feel he relishes in this, as much as he does in his Pharonic name, "Father of Terror"

Answer 4

The riddle of the Sphinx is Greek and it's, "What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon and three legs in the evening?" The answer is man. A baby crawls, a man in his prime walks on two legs and an elderly man uses a cane. You will find it in the play Oedipus.

Answer 5

Have any of you actually even read the play? The riddle is NOT in it.

Answer 6

I know they have soled the riddle of the Sphinx, if you mean how it was built. How do I know it? Because it's the most reasonable determination.

Answer 7

Do you have an alternate solution or are you just spinning your wheels?

Answer 8

Whom are "they" and what is the "riddle" to which you refer?