The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (; Classical Latin: gryps or grypus; Late and Medieval Latin: gryphes, grypho etc.; Old French: griffon) is a legendary creature with the body, tail, and back legs of a lion, and the head and wings of an eagle with its talons on the front legs.
In Greek and Roman texts, griffins and Arimaspians were associated with the gold deposits of Central Asia. The earliest classical writings on the topic were derived from Aristeas (7th century BC) and preserved by Herodotus and Aeschylus (mid 5th century BC).
Overview
Because the lion was traditionally considered the king of the beasts and the eagle the king of the birds, by the Middle Ages, the griffin was thought to be an especially powerful and majestic creature. Since classical antiquity, griffins were known for guarding treasures and priceless possessions.
In the Greek and Roman texts, the griffins and the Arimaspians were associated with gold deposits of Central Asia. The earliest classical writings were derived from Aristeas (7th cent. BC) and preserved by Herodotus and Aeschylus (mid 5th century BC), but the physical descriptions are not very explicit and from Herodotus to Aelian imply that griffins were creatures seen and known through artworks. Even though they are sharp-beaked, their being likened to "unbarking hounds of Zeus" has led to the speculation they were seen as wingless.
Pliny the Elder (1st century) was the first to state explicitly that griffins were winged and long eared. But Apollonius of Tyana wrote that griffins did not have true bird wings, but membranous webbed feet that only gave them the capability of short-distanced flight. Writers after Aelian (3rd century AD) did not add much new material to griffin lore, except for the later idea that griffins deposited agate stone among the eggs in their nest.
Pliny placed the griffins in Æthiopia and Ctesias (5th century BC) in greater India. Scholars have observed that legends about the gold-digging ants of India may have contaminated griffin lore.
In the Christian era, Isidore of Seville (7th century AD) wrote that griffins were a great enemy of horses. This notion may have developed from the tradition that horseback-riding Arimaspians raided the griffin gold.
Nomenclature Etymology
The derivation of this word remains uncertain. It could be related to the Greek word (grypos), meaning 'curved', or 'hooked'. Greek (gryph) from 'hook-nosed' is suggested.
It could also have been an Anatolian loan word derived from a Semitic language; compare the Hebrew kərúv.William H. C. Propp, Exodus 19–40, volume 2A of The Anchor Bible, New York: Doubleday, 2006, , p. 386; citing Julius Wellhausen, Prolegomena to the History of Israel, Edinburgh: Black, 1885, p. 304.Also see Robert S. P. Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek, volume 1, Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2010 , p. 289, entry for , "From the archaeological perspective, origin in Asia Minor (and the Near East: Elam) is very probable."
Persian names
In the modern Persian language, the griffin has come to be called šērdāl (), meaning 'lion-eagle'. However, the practice of referring to ancient Iranian griffin objects or monuments as sherdal, is not followed by other current archaeological scholarship (e.g., here).
Possible Old or Middle Iranian names for the creature have been discussed. Middle Persian Sēnmurw in Sasanian culture was a fabulous composite creature, and Russian archaeologist argued for the possibility that the application of this term may extend to the griffin. The term Sēnmurw is recognized as the etymological ancestor of simurgh, which is generally regarded as a mythological bird (rather than a composite) in later medieval Persian literature, though some argue that this bird may have originated from the Mesopotamian lion-griffin.
There is also the Armenian term Paskuč () that had been used to translate Greek gryp 'griffin' in the Septuagint, which H. P. Schmidt characterized as the counterpart of the simurgh. However, the cognate term Baškuč (glossed as 'griffin') also occurs in Middle Persian, attested in the Zoroastrian cosmological text Bundahishn XXIV (supposedly distinguishable from Sēnmurw which also appears in the same text). Middle Persian Paškuč is also attested in Manichaean magical texts (Manichaean Middle Persian: pškwc), and this must have meant a "griffin or a monster like a griffin" according to W. B. Henning.
Egyptian names The griffin was given names which were descriptive epithets, such as or tesh-tesh meaning "Tearer[-in-pieces]" inscribed on a griffin image found in a tomb at Deir El Bersha; and / "fiery one", attested at Beni Hasan (compare Hebrew saráf). The descriptive epithet "Tearer" is not uniquely applied to the griffin beast, and () has also been used to denote the god Osiris elsewhere.
Form
Most statuary representations of griffins depict them with bird-like forelegs and talons, although in some older illustrations griffins have a lion's forelegs (see bronze figure, right); they generally have a lion's hindquarters. Its eagle's head is conventionally given prominent ears; these are sometimes described as the lion's ears, but are often elongated (more like a horse's), and are sometimes feathered.
Cauldron figurines The griffin of Greece, as depicted in cast bronze cauldron protomes (cf. below), has a squat face with short beaks that are open agape as if screaming, with the tongue showing. There is also a "top-knob" on its head or between the brows.
Tendrils
There may also be so-called "tendrils", or curled "spiral-locks" depicted, presumably representing either hair/mane or feather/crest locks dangling down. Single- or double-streaked tendrils hang down both sides and behind the griffin's neck, carven on some of the Greek protomes. The tendril motif emerged at the beginning of the first millennium, BC., in various parts of the Orient. The "double spiral of hair running downwards from the base of the ear" is said to be a hallmark of Iranian (Uratrian) art. The Etruscan cauldron-griffins (e.g., from , figure right) also bear the "curled tresses" that are the signature of Uratrian workmanship. Even the ornate crests on Minoan griffins (such as the fresco of the Throne Room, figure top of page) may be a development of these curled tresses. and note 22.
Top-knob One prominent characteristic of the cauldron griffins is the "top-knob between the brows" (seemingly situated at the top of the head).
The top-knob feature has clear oriental origins.: "the top-knob on the cauldron griffin is a straight-forward carryover from its oriental counterparts". Jack Leonard Benson says these appendages were "topknots" subsequently rendered as "knobs" in later development of the cauldron Griffins. Benson's emphasis is that the Greeks attached a stylized "anorganic" topknot or an "inorganic" plug on the griffin's head (due to lack of information), while in contrast, a known oriental example (stone protomes from Nimrud) is simple but more "plausible" (naturalistic), resembling a forelock. and Fig. 5, griffin protome of stone, from Nimrud.
Warts A cluster of "warts" between the eyes are also mentioned. One conjecture is that these derive from the bumps (furrows) on a lion's snout.: "wart-like protuberances between the eyes..natural property of the lion". An example from the east is given as Fig. 10: "Lion-griffin. Middle Assyrian (after Corpus 596)". Another view regards the wart as deriving from the bumpy cockscomb on a rooster or other such fowls.
Art in antiquity
Mesopotamia Griffin-like animals were depicted on cylinder seals in Mesopotamia 3000 BC, perhaps as early as the Uruk period (4000–3100BC) and subsequent Proto-Elamite (Jemdet Nasr) period. An example of a winged lion with beaks, unearthed in Susa (cf. fig. right) dates to the 4th millennium B.C., and is a unique example of a griffin-like animal with a male lion's mane. However, this monster then ceased to continue to be expressed after the Elamite culture.
What the Sumerians of the Early Dynastic period portrayed instead were winged lions, and the lion-headed eagle (Imdugud).
In the Akkadian Empire that succeeded Sumer, early examples (from early 3rd millennium BC) of lions with bird heads appeared on cylinder seals, shown pulling the chariots for its rider, the weather god. The "lion-griffin" on Akkadian seals are also shown as fire-belching, and shaggy (at the neck) in particular examples. and pl. 90, fig. 15
The bronzeworks of Luristan, the North and North West region of Iran in the Iron Age, include examples of Achaemenid art depicting both the "bird-griffin" and "lion-griffin" designs, such as are found on horse-bits. Bernard Goldman maintains the position that Luristan examples must be counted as developments of the "lion-griffin" type, even when it exhibits "stylization .. approaching the beak of a bird". and Pl. 90, Fig. 12 "Luristan lion head" (which has the beak-like feature) The Luristan griffin-like creatures resemble and perhaps are descended from Assyrian creatures, possibly influenced by Mitannian animals,Cf. : "The immediate source of non-Mesopotamian motives in Assyrian art is the kingdom of Mitan"; "The griffin is as common in Mitannian (Figs. 21, 22) as in Assyrian art, and the question arises whether it was peculiar to the ephemereal kingdom, or reached it from one of the sources". or perhaps there had been parallel development in both Assyrian and Elamite cultures.
Iran Bird-headed mammal images appeared in art of the Achaemenian Persian Empire. Russian jewelry historian Elena Neva maintained that the Achaemenids considered the griffin "a protector from evil, witchcraft, and secret slander", who cites but no writings exist from Achaemenid Persia to support her claim. R.L. Fox (1973) remarks that a "lion-griffin" attacks a stag in a pebble mosaic at Pella, from the 4th century BC, perhaps serving as an emblem of the kingdom of Macedon or a personal emblem of Antipater, one of Alexander's successors.
A golden frontal half of a griffin-like animal from the Ziwiye hoard (near Saqqez city) in Kurdistan province, Iran resembles the western protomes in style. and Pl. 2, #3 (monochrome photograph) They were of Urartian workmanship (neither Assyrian or Scythian), though the hoard itself may have represented a Scythian burial.Ghirshman (1958) BibO 15 p. 259, apud , note 3 The animal is described as having a "visor" (i.e., beaks) made by Urartian craftsmen, similar to what is found on Greek protomes.
Egypt Representations of griffin-like hybrids with four legs and a beaked head appeared in Ancient Egyptian art dating back to before 3000 BC. The oldest known depiction of a griffin-like animal in Egypt appears as a relief carving on slate on the cosmetic palette from Hierakonpolis, the Two Dog Palette dated to the Early Dynastic Period, BC.
Near East elsewhere Griffin-type creatures combining raptor heads and mammalian bodies were depicted in the Levant, Syria, and Anatolia during the Middle Bronze Age, dated at about 1950–1550 BC.
Greece
Griffin-type animals appeared in the art of ancient Crete in the MM III Period (1650–1600 BC) in Minoan chronology, found on sealings from Zakro and miniature frescos dated to this period. One early example of griffin-types in Minoan art occurs in the 15th century BC frescoes of the Throne Room of the Bronze Age Palace of Knossos, as restored by Sir Arthur Evans.