A sphinx is a mythical creature with the body of a lion and a human head. In Greek tradition it is a female with the haunches of a lion, sometimes with the wings of a great bird, and the face of a human, and is mythicised as treacherous and merciless; those who cannot answer her riddle are killed and eaten. Unlike the Greek sphinx, the Egyptian sphinx is typically shown as a man and viewed as benevolent. Both were thought of as a guardian often flanking entrances to temples.

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