Enigma is a masculine noun in the Portuguese language and means something or something difficult to understand, difficult to define or to know in depth, and which is characterized by being ambiguous or metaphorical. The enigma is related to the obscure, the unknown and the darkness. Related to what is cryptic.
In a figurative sense, the word enigma is used to characterize an obscure phrase or text, malicious in content, or with unknown intent.
The riddle can also be related to the mystical, the inexplicable, or the supernatural. Something mysterious, which has no clear traces to be unraveled.
The riddles and the riddles they are associated because they both have a sense of guesswork.
In the Christian bible, the word "riddle" appears 14 times, mainly in the book of Judges, which tells the story of Samson and Delilah. According to legend, Samson threw a riddle to the guests at his wedding feast, in exchange for thirty sheets and thirty changes of clothing.
One rebus is an example of riddles or riddles, where images and figures replace texts and numbers.
sphinx puzzle
The famous sphinx riddle is present in legend of Oedipus, son of King Laios, who lived in the region of Thebes.
According to legend, a winged creature, with the body of a lion and the head of a woman, installed itself at the entrance to the city of Thebes, causing terror among the inhabitants. The sphinx did not let anyone in or out of the city, challenging everyone with its riddle that, if the person did not guess the answer, would be immediately devoured by the creature.
The sphinx's riddle was as follows: "What animal walks in the morning on four legs, in the afternoon on two and at night on three?" As no one could unravel the mystery, everyone was being devoured by the monster.
Oedipus, however, managed to face the sphinx and solve his riddle. The answer is "the human being" because "crawls in childhood, walks upright in adulthood and needs a cane in old age".
According to legend, the sphinx suffered a deep depression and killed himself by throwing himself off a cliff.
