More on Oedipus and the Sphinx

A few more thoughts inspired by Philostorgius' explanation of the legend of Oedipus and the Sphinx. He believes that the story derives from an exotic ape that found its way to central Greece. It is likely, however, that the concept of the Sphinx developed elsewhere than Greece (Egypt, perhaps), and was later imported to Boeotian Thebes, like so much else in Greek mythology.

The issue of the riddle goes a bit further. The famous answer to the enigma doesn't just illustrate Oedipus' wisdom, but it applies to him more specifically than to most men. As Apollodorus puts it in Book III, Chapter 8 of his Library of Greek Mythology (Robin Hard's translation for Oxford World Classics), "The riddle ran as follows: what is it that has a single voice, and has four feet, and then two feet, and then three feet?" As a baby, Oedipus' ankles were pierced, so he had to crawl longer than normal. As an adult, he was a king and stood up with pride, but very straight due to the old injury. As an old man, he was blind and so relied on his walking stick more than others.

While, in this case, I assume that the stories of Oedipus and the Sphinx developed separately, then came together, and then later the riddle was introduced, it is interesting to think if something like Philostorgius' chronology is possible (with this story, or any other), such that maybe a non-descript man killed the ape, then the noises were turned into the riddle, and then the riddle becomes the story for the man.