Riddle of the Sphinxes

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 31 Oct 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Kyrielle	31 Oct 2002
This was the one thing about 78DW that really bugged me. In her discussion of the Chariot, Pollack gives a lot of attention to the sphinxes in terms of the Oedipus myth, as riddlers who must be controlled by outsmarting them. This makes sense in the context of the tarot card. BUT... Oedipus, as well as the sphinx in his story, were Greek. So why are the sphinxes in the RWS Chariot, and most other sphinx-drawn Chariots, the Egyptian version? The Greek sphinx, for those who may not know, has the body of a winged lion with the head and breasts of a woman. The Egyptian sphinx has the head of a man (the pharaoh) on a lion's body. I'm not absolutely positive, but I think it was considered an incarnation of the pharaoh.

Diana	31 Oct 2002
edited

Kath	31 Oct 2002
I just had a look at the Chariot from my RWS deck. Those sphinxes look like they have breasts to me (the white one anyway, the black one is hard to see). No wings however, and their head-dress is very Egyptian. Their faces, to me, look more feminine that masculine. I'd say that these sphinxes are a hybrid of both Greek and Egyptian ones. Perhaps Waite wanted to be able to draw from both cultures, or he was a tad confused ;) As for why other cards have Egyptian sphinxes instead of Greek ones, I guess most people recognise the Egyptian ones easier. Cheers Kath

The Riddle of the Sphinxes thread was originally posted on 31 Oct 2002 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.