In the scene depicted here, Oedipus ponders the riddle of the sphinx, which was: 'What walks on four legs at dawn, two at noon and three at dusk?' (Man) Oedipus solved the riddle and the sphinx, in despair at being outwitted, hurled herself from a rock to her death.
The image is based on an original from an amphora by the Achilles Painter dating to ca 440-430 BC, which is now in the Staatliche Antikensammlungen in Munich.