In George Bernard Shaw's play Caesar and Cleopatra, the Sphinx refers to a monument in the Egyptian sand of the mythical beast that has the head of a woman and the body of a great cat. Egypt's queen, Cleopatra, is a young girl at the time of the play's opening, and she is devoted to the Sphinx, sacrificing to it and spending time between its paws. To her, it seems to be a place of safety and comfort. She counts on the Sphinx to protect her from Caesar and the Romans, whom she greatly fears, thinking they will eat her and her precious cats.

Ironically, though, Cleopatra meets Julius Caesar at the Sphinx. To Caesar, the Sphinx is a symbol of greatness, and he identifies himself with the Sphinx. Just like the creature is not merely human or merely cat, Caesar is not merely man. He is special. He is powerful. He is a conqueror. He feels as though he knows the Sphinx's riddle well because they are companions. They are both above regular humanity, "strangers to the race of men" but "no strangers to one another." To Caesar, the Sphinx stands for what he wants to become: the most powerful man in the world.

When Cleopatra hears Caesar talking to the Sphinx, she calls out to him, calling him "old gentleman" and telling him not to run away. At first, Caesar thinks the Sphinx is speaking to him, but then he meets Cleopatra, and they converse while sitting on the Sphinx's paws. The Sphinx thus becomes an unlikely meeting place for an unlikely pair who will change history, and perhaps it actually becomes a symbol of the couple themselves, for they are a mixed pair, as strange together as the head of a woman and the body of a cat.