SPHINX, in sculpture, &c. a figure or representation of a monster of that name, famed among the ancients, now mostly used as an ornament in gardens, terraces, &c. It is represented with the head and breasts of a woman, the wings of a bird, the claws of a lion, and the rest of the body like a dog. It is supposed to have been engendered by Typhon, and sent by Juno to be revenged on the Thebans. Its office, they say, was to propose dark enigmatical questions to all passers-by; and if they did not give the explication thereof, to devour them. It made horrible ravages, as the story goes, on a mountain near Thebes; and could not by any means be destroyed, till after Oedipus had solved the following riddle, "What animal is it that in the morning walks on four legs, at noon on two, and at night on three?" The answer was "Man."
Among the Egyptians, the sphinx was the symbol of religion, by reason of the obscurity of its mysteries: and on the same account the Romans placed a sphinx in the porch of their temples.