The Dream [P 064 / Stela] of Thutmose IV commemorates the digging of the Great Sphinx out of the sand in 1,450BC. It describes a legend which claims that while a young man, Thutmose rested in the shade of the Sphinx when he tired of hunting. The Sphinx commanded the young Thutmose to clear away the desert sand that had buried it for centuries and in return he would be rewarded with the kingship of Egypt for doing so. The future king obliged the Sphinx and was duly rewarded.
A Greek legend speaks of a Sphinx with the head of a woman and the body of a winged lion that terrorized Thebes. The Sphinx put a riddle to its citizens and would devour those who failed to solve it. The city was saved from this curse by [G 018/ Oedipus] who managed to answer the riddle:
[G 001/ What goes on four feet, on two feet and on three, but the more feet it goes on the weaker it be?]
