Oedipus and the Sphinx Oedipus and the Sphinx Oedipus and the Sphinx is an 1864 oil on canvas painting by Gustave Moreau that was first exhibited at the French "Salon" of 1864 where it was an immediate success. It is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The work was a fresh treatment of the established subject of the meeting between Oedipus and the Sphinx on the road to Delphi, notably portrayed at Sophocles' play Oedipus Rex. The painting depicts Oedipus meeting the Sphinx at the crossroads on his journey between Thebes and Delphi. Oedipus must answer the Sphinx's riddle correctly in order to
Oedipus Rex many Greek myths, and similarities to Oedipus can for example be seen in the myth of the birth of Perseus. Two oracles in particular dominate the plot of "Oedipus Rex". In lines 711 to 714, Jocasta relates the prophecy that was told to Laius before the birth of Oedipus. Namely: "(The oracle) told him" "that it was his fate that he should die a victim" "at the hands of his own son, a son to be born" "of Laius and me." The oracle told to Laius tells only of the patricide; the incest is missing. Prompted by Jocasta's recollection, Oedipus