An ancient Greek riddle (very known)?

Question

What walks in the morning with 4 legs, at noon with 2 legs and at night with 3 legs? Who was the one to solve it?

Answer 1

Oedipus, in Greek mythology, king of Thebes, the son of Laius and Jocasta, king and queen of Thebes. Laius was warned by an oracle that he would be killed by his own son. Determined to avert his fate, Laius pierced and bound together the feet of his newborn child and left him to die on a lonely mountain. The infant was rescued by a shepherd, however, and given to Polybus, king of Corinth, who named the child Oedipus (swollen foot) and raised him as his own son. The boy did not know that he was adopted, and when an oracle proclaimed that he would kill his father, he left Corinth. In the course of his wanderings he met and killed Laius, believing that the king and his followers were a band of robbers, and thus unwittingly fulfilled the prophecy.

Lonely and homeless, Oedipus arrived at Thebes, which was beset by a dreadful monster called the Sphinx. The frightful creature frequented the roads to the city, killing and devouring all travelers who could not answer the riddle that she put to them: What walks on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon, and on three legs in the evening? The answer was a human being, who in infancy crawls on all fours, in adulthood walks upright on two legs, and in old age uses a cane. When Oedipus solved her riddle, the Sphinx killed herself. Believing that King Laius had been slain by unknown robbers, and grateful to Oedipus for ridding them of the Sphinx, the Thebans rewarded Oedipus by making him their king and giving him Queen Jocasta as his wife. For many years the couple lived in happiness, not knowing that they were really mother and son.

Then a terrible plague descended on the land, and the oracle proclaimed that Laius's murderer must be punished. Oedipus soon discovered that he had unknowingly killed his father. In grief and despair at her incestuous life, Jocasta killed herself, and when Oedipus realized that she was dead and that their children were accursed, he put out his eyes and relinquished the throne. He lived in Thebes for several years but was finally banished. Accompanied by his daughter Antigone, he wandered for many years. He finally arrived at Colonus, a shrine near Athens sacred to the powerful goddesses called the Eumenides. Oedipus died at this shrine, after the god Apollo had promised him that the place of his death would remain sacred and would bring great benefit to the city of Athens, which had given shelter to the wanderer.

Answer 2

at the beginning of your life you crawl on "4 legs" you get older and reach the middle of your life and walk on "two legs", when you are old, you walk with the aid of a cane, "three legs". it is well known, it was the sphinx's riddle

Answer 3

Hmm, I think it was Oedipus who solved her riddle,and in one version of the story the Sphinx threw herself off a high cliff and died.

Answer 4

Man. as a baby on 4 limbs crawling, as a man on two, as an old man with a walking stick =3. (hercules) ?

Answer 5

Oedipus, to both questions. He walked with a cane in the "night" because he was blinded.

Answer 6

Oedipus.

And I really wish I could quote the novel "Pyramids" for how the riddle should have gone.

Answer 7

Why did the Roman cross the road? They like it Greek.

Answer 8

It was Oedipus on his way to Thebes

Answer 9

It was Oedipus.

On the way back to marry his mother, maybe? -_- icky

Answer 10

man... i dunno, I think it was Odyssius.

edit: after researching: When Oedipus correctly answered "man" — who crawls on all fours in infancy, walks on two feet when grown, and leans on a staff in old age — the sphinx killed herself.