Editing Sphinx (section)

==Mythology==
The Egyptian sphinx, from little we know, is always portrayed as a lion (to symbolize strength) with the head of a human (symbolizing intelligence); with these combined aspects, the sphinx as a whole was often used to symbolize power. Rather like the [[Lamassu]] and Shedu of Sumeria, it is a protector spirit. There are several kinds of sphinx from Egypt; the human-headed ones, falcon-headed ones (hieracosphinxes) and ram-headed ones (criosphinxes). Though it should be noted that they weren't called sphinxes at the time; we don't know ''what'' they were called, the Greeks just decided to call the statue that because of the resemblance to the monster from their mythology.

The Greek sphinx is the most famous version. This is the version that sometimes incorporates eagle wings, and is always female. Set itself up on a rock leading to Thebes and demanded that people guess the answer to her riddle or be eaten. If they got it wrong, she ate them anyway. Finally, Oedipus answered it correctly, whereupon she <s>came up with a different riddle to use from then on.</s> <s>stopped bothering with riddles and just jumped straight to eating her prey from then on</s> got so pissed that she ragequitted life and jumped off a cliff. Because of how popular Greek myths are, everybody's heard the riddle - "what goes on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three legs in the evening?" For those of you who've been living under a stump, the answer is "man", since he crawls on all fours as a baby (morning), walks upright as an adult (noon) and uses a walking stick as a third leg as an old geezer (evening).

The Asiatic sphinx, like the Egyptian sphinx, is a protector spirit, but may have wings like the Greek sphinx.

===Riddles on the Tabletop===
The Sphinx in general is one of those monsters that can be hard for the DM to use correctly. The idea of a game of riddles is a cool one on paper, but unless the DM is good at creating riddles, it can often turn into a game of "guess-what-the-DM-is-thinking". A good DM should make sure to leave hints earlier in the adventure, or to at least make the sphinx susceptible to bribery.