We are all familiar with the tragedy of Oedipus and more familiar with his encounter with the Sphinx (I believe all humans they see the picture posted with the message: Attic cup, Museo
Sphinx was considered, not only – in common belief – as man strangler and slayer of young men, but also as representation of the human psyche. Freud was the first individual after Plato that clearly and openly states the communion in principle of the tripartite human soul with the tripartite Sphinx’s existence (human, lion and bird).
Plato in his Republic book nine (588c) compares the tripartite nature of human soul with the Sphinx. The part of human’s bodily appetites with the Sphinx’s lion body. The head of the Sphinx with the controlling intelligence and so on.
At the same line of comparison Freud and his school seek to discover the subconscious under the veil of mythology. As he said, mythology is the dream of the young humanity, and therefore the soul of all humans is covered under the folk and tales. Therefore, every myth reveals a primarily concept of human social and mental behavior. The Sphinx uncovers the truth to Oedipus – the truth for all humans the autoerotism. Oedipus kills Sphinx and that is an action of his denial – a denial of his actions, fears and unconscious wishes – and at the same time extinguishes the animal part (the bodily appetites of men) of the Sphinx. But Oedipus does not only slay the animal part but also the Sphinx’s human part (the ‘repressor’ of the unconscious – the ego or the platonic intellect) and that underlines his own distraction and death.