sigmund freud's collection an archaeology of the mind

Athenian black-fi gured Lekythos
Haimon Painter (Workshop)
Greek, Classical period, c. 490–470 BC
terracotta, 16.2 cm
LFRD 3683
Collection Freud Museum London
A scene from the tale of Oedipus and the Sphinx is shown on this
lekythos. A lekythos is an oil or perfume fl ask, cylindrical in shape with
a narrow handle attached to the neck. Timothy Ganz points out, ‘This
type of scene with numerous men gathered around the column and no
single fi gure identifi ed as Oedipus repeats itself often in the late sixth
and early fi fth century.’ 1
The Sphinx, elegant as a cat, sits on a small column between
Theban elders. In the story, the Sphinx alights at Thebes and asks her
riddle, prepared for her by the Muses. Each man who fails to correctly
answer is promptly devoured. Why was the Sphinx terrorising Thebes?
There are confl icting accounts. Was she sent by the gods to avenge a
crime or was she merely a literary device, added by Sophocles to his
play for dramatic fl air? This scene shows the dilemma the town faced.
Before Oedipus arrived, the Thebans gathered daily in their assembly
to ponder the riddle, since the gods had decreed the Sphinx would
stay until the riddle was solved.
1. Timothy Ganz, Early Greek Myth, A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Viking Arkana,
London, 1996, pp.495-6.
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