The obscure gloss Phix, which is attested in Hesiod’s Theogony, is thought to denote the same Theban monster that bears the name Sphinx in later sources and appears in the Oedipus saga. The present paper argues, however, that the word Phix cannot be convincingly shown to be cognate with the word Sphinx, since the origin of the latter seems to be a Greek word for a strangling monster – as linked with the verb σφίγγω – whereas the former is probably of non-Greek and possibly even non-Indo-European origin. Subsequently, the article proceeds to discuss a number of ancient Near Eastern sources, in particular those featuring infant-killing spirits, in order to demonstrate the emergence of the sphinxes in Greece from the Levant.

Thinking of the earth as feminine derives from the oldest ideas as to the four rudimentary elements. Bipolarity, which is present in the take on the earth as an archetypical element, one giving life and finally absorbing it back, has not lost its relevance to this day. It is therefore myths, followed by philosophical considerations valuing the distinction between divine and human qualities, which have always been in conflict and cooperation, and these have marked the path Nikolai Berdyaev, the Russian religious thinker, takes. The problem of the nature of man’s gender is the fundamental issue of his philosophical anthropology. The stance represented by the author of The Meaning of the Creative Act is based on the conviction that the structure of the world constitutes two opposing elements, two opposing forces: good and evil, with good being linked to the male and evil to the female. The male to him is anthropological and personal, the female – cosmic and collective. One of Berdyaev’s most important beliefs is that the earth should be treated in a mystical sense as a principle female in matter and body. The driving force behind the world is the clash of both principles, the contact and interaction between the solar male and the terrestrial female. Through the prism of the cosmic battle of the genders, Berdyaev explains Freud’s concept of the Oedipus complex, giving it a mystical- ‑symbolic dimension.