The Sphinx
The riddle that must be answered.
The Sphinx: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
In Symbols of Transformation Jung read the Theban Sphinx, woman, lion, and bird in one, as a figure of the Terrible Mother: the fear that lies in wait and devours those who cannot answer. Oedipus answered her riddle, man, and she threw herself down; Jung noted that he answered with his wit alone, and did not see that the Sphinx herself was the danger, and so walked on into his fate.
The Sphinx: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
The Great Sphinx of Giza, man and lion; the Sphinx of Thebes and her riddle of the four, two, and three legs; the sphinxes that guard the temples of Egypt.
From the Sources
Jung writes that the word Sphinx means riddle, a creature standing at the portal of Oedipus' fate, and that the Sphinx is a half-animal representation of the mother-image he calls the 'terrible mother'.
“The word Sphinx in the whole civilized world signifies the same as riddle: a puzzling creature who proposes riddles, like the Sphinx of Oedipus, standing at the portal of his fate like a symbolic proclamation of the inevitable. The Sphinx is a semi-theriomorphic representation of that “mother image” which may be designated as the “terrible mother,””
Dr. C. G. Jung, Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido, Part II, Chapter IV, 'The Unconscious Origin of the Hero'. Authorized translation, with introduction, by Beatrice M. Hinkle, M.D.; New York: Moffat, Yard and Company, 1916. The text, read in part
Bulfinch tells that the Sphinx asked what animal goes on four feet in the morning, two at noon and three in the evening, and that Oedipus answered, man.
“The Sphinx asked him, "What animal is that which in the morning gees on four feet, at noon on two, and in the evening upon three?" OEdipus replied, "Man, who in childhood creeps on hands and knees, in manhood walks erect, and in old age with the aid of a staff."”
Thomas Bulfinch, Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Fable, The Age of Chivalry, Legends of Charlemagne, The Age of Fable, 'The Sphinx'. Complete in one volume, Project Gutenberg eBook #4928. The text, read in part
Each passage is quoted from the text named, which the press fetched and read, and was checked word for word against a fresh copy of it; the link opens that copy. Passages are given as printed, without the editors’ footnote numbers, and with words broken across lines joined.
Where to Read
- Symbols of Transformation, CW 5
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
Also among Monsters and Hybrids
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“The Sphinx.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/sphinx.
Nearby in the alphabet: The Spear: The wound that pierces, and the wound that heals. The Sphere: Wholeness in three dimensions, with no beginning and no end. The Spider: The weaver at the centre of the web. The Spine: The axis of the body, climbed by the serpent power.