Not every ancient coin collector is a mythologist. The
sphinx is certainly an interesting creature and it is usually more associated with
Egypt than
Greece, at least in today's minds. Yet, even the
Greeks seem to acknowledge that the
Sphinx came from
Africa. And, the Greek and
Egyptian versions are very different, with the Greek one being an evil monster and the
Egyptian version much more benevolent. In
Greece, it was a woman's
head, in
Egypt, usually a
man. The myth of Oedipus features the Greek
sphinx.
Interestingly, from what little I know, the
sphinx in ancient
Greece is most associated with
Chios. Caunos is not terribly far from that island and there
had to have been interaction between the two places. The
sphinx also guarded the entry to Thebes with her riddle, which if you could not answer correctly, she ate you. Oedipus was the first to answer correctly, so the story goes. All that to say that the
sphinx was widespread in ancient
Greece.
Virgil