The riddle of Oedipus: feet, horseman and living statue

Object of the article: The article discusses the structure and meaning of the riddle of the Sphinx in the Oedipus myth. Subject of the article: The author describes the semantic similarity between the riddle and Oedipus, based on the common motif of the feet. The riddle of the Sphinx and Oedipus's answer to it are analyzed as a single narrative sequence, consisting of two descriptions of the riddle's object: one figurative - of the developmental stages of human life; one literal - of the figure of a horseman, conveying one of the central motifs which repeats itself throughout the story of Oedipus. This recent finding indicates an added dramatic motif to underscore the decline and disgrace of the tragic figure of Oedipus. Goal of the research: The author argues that the motif of a horseman emerges in the riddle as a result of combining the properties from two objects belonging to different classes (a “two-footed” creature - a baby, human being; with a “four-footed” creature - an animal, e.g., horse) into one single object. This becomes possible due to the predicate ὀχούμενον, a participle form of the verb ὀχέω, which has various meanings: “ride”, ”let another ride”, ”have oneself borne”, ”to be borne or carried”, for example, on a horse's back. The article shows that the same pattern, based on the combination of a two-footed (human being) with a four-footed (animal) into a single image of a horseman, is reproduced and revealed at different levels of the myth. As the story unfolds, the motif of a horseman, camouflaged in the riddle of the Sphinx, develops and reveals itself many times in different images: ”Laius riding a horse-drawn chariot”, ”Ismene riding on a horse”, before it culminates at the end of Oedupus's life in the equestrian statue of Colonus. Research methodology: The author employs linguistic data and adopts a structural-semantic approach in his analysis. Results: The article shows that the image of a horseman, coded in the riddle by merging the properties of two objects - “two-footed” (human being) and “four-footed” (animal) - is a symbolic microcosm in which the macrocosm of the myth as well as of its central figures - Oedipus and the Sphinx - are reflected. Analyzing the common features of the equestrian statue of Colonus and the image of the Sphinx, the author argues that the motif of a “horseman” is related to the motif of a “living statue” through the ability to use “voice”. Field of application: literary studies, structural poetics, mythological studies, classics. Conclusion: The motif of a centaur-like horseman (as a combination of “human” and “animal”) concealed in the riddle of the Sphinx, reappears and repeats itself throughout the story. This recurrent motif foreshadows the decline and disgrace of the tragic hero who violates the separation of human and animal by committing patricide and incest, thus becoming half-human and half-animal. The same motif recapitulates at the end of the story in the centaur-like statue of Colonus atop a horse, who embodies Poseidon, the god of horses and the guardian of the sacred site where Oedipus finds his final resting place after a long pilgrimage from pollution to rutual purification. The recurrent horseman motif illuminates the sub-surface Oedipus's drama containing the riddle of the ambiguity between human, animal and god.