sphynx

The Sphynx appears in Greek, Egyptian and Babylonian mythology.
In Greek mythology the Sphynx was a creature with the head of a woman, the body of a lion and the wings of an eagle. It could also be mixed with a dog or a serpent.
The Sphynx blocked the road to Thebes, and would tear it's victims apart unless they answered it's famous riddle:
What creature has two legs,
three legs,
and four legs,
and is weakest when it walks
on more than two limbs?
Oedipus was offered the throne if he got rid of the Sphynx, which he did, by answering the riddle. The answer was, of course man.
In Egyptian mythology, the Sphynx was a lion with the head of a man, and it represented Pharoahs, or the Gods.
Cats were of course sacred in Egyptian mythology. There still exist today many of the Egyptian architectural works illustrating what they believed a Sphynx looked like.