Griffin

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The griffin,^[1] is a legendary creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. As the lion was traditionally considered the king of the beasts and the eagle the king of the birds, the griffin was thought to be an especially powerful and majestic creature. Griffins are normally known for guarding treasure.^[2] In antiquity it was a symbol of divine power and a guardian of the divine.^[3]

Most contemporary illustrations give the griffin the forelegs of an eagle, with an eagle's legs and talons, although in some older illustrations it has a lion's forelimbs; it generally has 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.

Infrequently, a griffin is portrayed without wings (or a wingless eagle-headed lion is identified as a griffin); in 15th-century and later heraldry such a beast may be called an alce or a keythong. In heraldry, a griffin always has aquiline forelimbs; the beast with leonine forelimbs is distinguished as the opinicus.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Early civilizations 1.2 Scythia 1.3 Ancient Greece 2 Medieval lore 3 In heraldry 3.1 Male griffin, alce or keythong 3.2 Opinicus 3.3 Other oddities 3.4 Similar heraldic beasts 4 In architecture 5 In literature 6 In natural history 7 As a first name and surname 8 Persian firstname 9 Notes and references 10 See also 11 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Early civilizations

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Several griffin-like creatures - beasts with the head of an eagle or some other bird of prey - occur in art, architecture and mythology of many early civilizations.

In Minoan Crete, such creatures were royal animals and guardians of throne rooms. ^[4]

In Ancient Egypt, a similar creature was depicted with a slender, feline body and the head of a falcon; this is tentatively identified as an axex.^[5] Early statuary depicts them with wings that are horizontal and parallel along the back of the body. During the New Kingdom, depictions of griffins included hunting scenes.^{[citation needed]}

Of the two sacred "birds" of Persian mythology, the homa and the simurgh, the homa is often described as griffin-like. Ancient Elamites used such a creature extensively in their architecture. During the Achaemenid Empire, homa were used widely as statues and symbols in palaces. Homa also had a special place in Persian literature as guardians of light.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Scythia

The griffin was a common feature of "animal style" Scythian gold. It was said to inhabit the Scythian steppes that reached from the modern Ukraine to central Asia; there gold and precious stones were abundant and when strangers approached to gather the stones, the creatures would leap on them and tear them to pieces. The Scythians used giant petrified bones found in this area as proof of the existence of these griffins and thus keep outsiders away from the gold and precious stones.

Adrienne Mayor, a classical folklorist, has recently suggested that these "griffin bones" were actually dinosaur fossils, which are common in this part of the world. In The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology in Greek and Roman Times, she makes tentative connections between the rich fossil beds around the Mediterranean and across the steppes to the Gobi Desert and the myths of griffins, centaurs and archaic giants originating in the Classical world. Mayor draws upon similarities that exist between the prehistoric Protoceratops skeletons of the steppes leading to the Gobi Desert, and the legends of the gold-hoarding griffin told by nomadic Scythians of the region.^[6]

[edit] Ancient Greece

Bronze griffin protome (Archaeological Museum, Delphi)

A satyr, a griffin and an Arimaspe. Detail from an Attic red-figure chalice-crater, c.375–350 BC, from Eretria

In archaic Greek art bronze cauldrons fitted with apotropaic bronze griffon heads ("protomes") with gaping beaks, prominent upstanding ears and often a finial knop on the skull appear with such regularity that they are considered a genre, the Griefenkessel, by specialists. The "griffin cauldrons" are discussed by Ulf Jantzen, Griechische Griefenkessel (Berlin) 1955. Based on Anatolian prototypes for bronze cauldrons with animal heads, Jantzen concluded that the griffon cauldron was a Greek invention of c.700 BC, the earliest examples hammered over moulds rather than cast. Such griffon cauldrons were developed simultaneously in Samos and in Etruscan territories from the earliest 7th through the 6th centuries BC. The earliest Etruscan example is the famous griffon protomes from the Barberini Tomb.^[7]

In Greek literature, Scythian mythology is reflected by Hellenic writers' tales of griffins and the Arimaspi of distant Scythia near the cave of Boreas, the North Wind (Geskleithron), such as were elaborated in the lost archaic poem of Aristeas of Proconnesus (7th century BC), Arimaspea. Bedingfeld and Gwynn-Jones infer that Aristeas's griffin was, "the bearded vulture or lammergeyer, a huge bird with a wingspan of nearly three metres (ten feet), which nests in inaccessible cliffs in the Asiatic mountains. ... The gold of the region is real enough and is still mined today." They also suggest that Aristeas conflated the Scythian griffin with a similar creature - a composite of lion and eagle or lion and griffon vulture - already known to Greek culture. ^[8]

In any case, Aristeas's tales were eagerly reported by Herodotus (484 BC–c.425 BC) and in Pliny the Elder's Natural History (77 AD), among others. Aeschylus (525–456 BC), in Prometheus Bound (804), has Prometheus warn Io: "Beware of the sharp-beaked hounds of Zeus that do not bark, the gryphons..."^[9] In his Description of Greece (1.24.6), Pausanias (2nd century AD) says, "griffins are beasts like lions, but with the beak and wings of an eagle."^[9] The griffin was said to build a nest, like an eagle: instead of eggs, it lays sapphires, and thus griffins are supposed to be female. The animal was supposed to watch over gold mines and hidden treasures, and to be the enemy of the horse. The incredibly rare offspring of griffin and horse was called a hippogriff.

Stephen Friar notes that the griffin was regarded as an animal of the sun and pulled Apollo's chariot across the sky; but it pulled Nemesis's chariot too.^[2]

Arimaspe on horseback fighting a griffin. Attic red-figure pelike in the Kerch style, c.375–350 BC, from Italy(?)

Facing griffins guard a chalice, on a 12th century capital from the abbey of Mozac in the Auvergne

[edit] Medieval lore

A 9th-century Irish writer by the name of Stephen Scotus asserted that griffins were strictly monogamous. Not only did they mate for life, but if one partner died, the other would continue throughout the rest of its life alone, never to search for a new mate. The griffin was thus made an emblem of the Church's views on remarriage.

Being a union of a terrestrial beast and an aerial bird, it was seen in Christianity to be a symbol of Jesus Christ, who was both human and divine. As such it can be found sculpted on churches.^[2]

The egg-laying habits of the female were first clearly described by St. Hildegard of Bingen, a German nun author of the 12th century. She outlined how the expectant mother would search out a cave with a very narrow entrance but plenty of room inside, sheltered from the elements. Here she would lay her three eggs (about the size of ostrich eggs), and stand guard over them.

According to Stephen Friar, a griffin's claw was believed to have medicinal properties and one of its feathers could restore sight to the blind.^[2] Goblets fashioned from griffin claws (actually antelope horns) and griffin eggs (actually ostrich eggs) were highly prized in medieval European courts.^[8]

By the 12th century the appearance of the griffin was substantially fixed: "All its bodily members are like a lion's, but its wings and mask are like an eagle's."^[10] It is not yet clear if its forelimbs are those of an eagle or of a lion. Although the description implies the latter, the accompanying illustration is ambiguous. It was left to the heralds to clarify that.

[edit] In heraldry

The griffin is often seen as a charge in heraldry. According to the Tractatus de armis of John de Bado Aureo (late fourteenth century), "A griffin borne in arms signifies that the first to bear it was a strong pugnacious man in whom were found two distinct natures and qualities, those of the eagle and the lion." Since the lion and the eagle were both important charges in heraldry, it is perhaps surprising that their combination, the griffin, was also a frequent choice.

Bedingfeld and Gwynn-Jones suggest a far more bellicose reason for its choice as a charge: That because of the bitter antipathy between griffins and horses, a griffin borne on a shield would instill fear in the horses of his opponents. They also note the first appearance of the griffin in English heraldry, in a 1167 seal of Richard de Redvers, Earl of Essex.^[8] (However, other writers quote later dates for its first appearance.^[11][2])

The heraldic griffin establishes the contemporary depiction of the beast: Parker says, "The lower part of its body, with the tail and the hind-legs, belong to the lion; the head and the fore-part, with the legs and talons, to those of the eagle, but the head retains the ears of the lion. It has large wings, which also closely resemble those of the eagle."^[12] (The variant with the forelimbs of a lion is distinguished as the opinicus, described below.)

Heraldic griffins are usually shown rearing up, facing dexter (to the right of the bearer of the shield)*, standing on one hind leg with the other hind leg and both forelegs raised (as shown in the image on the right and those in the gallery below). This posture is described in the Norman-French heraldic blazon as segreant, a term usually applied only to griffins (but sometimes also to dragons^[3]). The generic term for this posture, used to describe lions and other beasts, is rampant.

A griffin's head is also seen as a charge in its own right, and it is distinguished from an eagle's head solely by its ears (see the Kartuzy and Filisur arms in the gallery below).

Medieval figure of a heraldic griffin	Arms of Słupsk, Poland	Arms of Białogard, Poland	Arms of Saint-Brieuc, France
Arms of Greifswald, Germany	Arms of Ueckermünde, Germany	Arms of Hither Pomerania, Germany	Arms of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
Arms of Rostock, Germany	Arms of West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland	Arms of Mecklenburg-Schwerin	Arms of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Arms of Södermanland, Sweden	Arms of the former municipality of Donath, Switzerland	Arms of Montepulciano, Italy	Arms of Perugia, Italy
Arms of Deruta, Italy	Arms of Volterra, Italy	Arms of Troms, Norway	Colour of Utti Jaeger Regiment, Finnish Army

Griffin head as a charge

Arms of Kartuzy, Poland

Arms of Szczecin, Poland

Arms of Filisur, Switzerland

Griffin as a supporter

Arms of Baden-Württemberg, Germany	Arms of Stralsund, Germany	Arms of Genoa, Italy	Arms of Latvia
Arms of Austria-Hungary(1915-18)

A heraldic griffin was included as one of the ten Queen's Beasts sculpted for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 (following the model of the King’s Beasts at Hampton Court) and this is now on display at Kew Gardens.

[edit] Male griffin, alce or keythong

Parker says, of the griffin, "It may be represented as without wings, and then with rays or spikes of gold proceeding from several parts of its body. Sometimes it has two long straight horns. The term Alce is given, as if used by writers for a kind of griffin, but no example can be quoted." ^[12]

But the term alce is rare in modern heraldry reference books; this wingless, spiked variant is almost invariably called the male griffin - although this must be a very unusual case of dimorphism because, as Stephen Friar puts it, "both creatures possess the usual male attributes".^[2]

The male griffin itself is quite rare. It occurs as the dexter supporter (to the right of the bearer of the shield/ to the left of the viewer) in the arms of St. Leger entered at the visitation of Devon and Cornwall 1531 (College of Arms G 2, folio 24v) and as the supporter of the banner of a mid-16th-century Knight of the Garter in College of Arms Vincent 152 (pp 107-8). ^[11] In the late 19th century, Sir Henry William Dashwood was granted supporters: two male griffins Argent [white] gorged with a collar flory counter flory.^[13] One was also recently granted as a crest in the arms of the City of Melfort, Saskatchewan (image).^[14]

The term keythong is rarer still. The definitive instance comes from James Planché, who notes, under the badge of the Earl of Ormonde (first creation) as recorded in a College of Arms manuscript from the reign of Edward IV, the single contemporary reference: "A pair of keythongs." Planche's footnote: "The word is certainly so written, and I have never seen it elsewhere. The figure resembles the Male Griffin, which has no wings, but rays or spikes of gold proceeding from several parts of his body, and sometimes with two long straight horns. ­­Vade [see] Parker's Glossary, under Griffin." ^[15]

At the end of the 20th century the term keythong began to be taken up enthusiastically among adherents of heraldry - at least, among members of the Society for Creative Anachronism.

[edit] Opinicus

The opinicus is a heraldic beast that differs from the griffin principally in that all four of its legs are those of a lion.^[2] It is typically shown with the short tail of a camel and sometimes with a longer neck like a camel's (but still feathered). An heraldic opinicus is shown as a male creature, whereas the winged griffin is female.

However, Parker says, "[it] is allied more nearly to the dragon in the forepart and in the wings; but it has a beaked head and ears, something between the dragon and the griffin. The hind part and the four legs are probably intended to represent those of a lion, but the tail is short, and is said to be that of the camel."^[12]

It was granted as a crest in 1561 to City of London's Company of Barber Surgeons (now the Worshipful Company of Barbers)^[2][16], but is otherwise rare in British heraldry. A modern example can be found in the arms of Jonathan Munday: Azure an opinicus rampant Or armed Gules.^[17] (Note that it is described as rampant rather than segreant.)

[edit] Other oddities

Arms of Östergötland, Sweden

Arms of the Duchy of Pomerania

• The "griffin" in the arms of Östergötland has dragon's wings. This is essentially a composite of two older arms, one charged with a lion, the other a dragon.
• The arms of the Duchy of Pomerania features several typical griffins. However, the white "griffin" in the gules (red) sinister fess (middle right) piece has a fish's tail - only its lion's ears confirm that it's a fish-tailed griffin rather than a fish-tailed eagle.

[edit] Similar heraldic beasts

The following heraldic beasts are not griffins, but might be mistaken for them.

Dragon supporters of the arms of the City of London

A winged lion in the arms of Lostallo, Switzerland

A winged lion in the arms of the Province of Grosseto, Italy

• The cockatrice, the king of the serpents, has a rooster's head, only two legs (rather like an eagle's or dragon's), dragon's wings, and a serpent's tail.^[2]
• The dragon supporters of the arms of City of London, including the single statues holding the arms that stand in each road leading into the City of London to mark its boundaries, are frequently misidentified as griffins. A heraldic dragon has a scaly body, membranous wings, no feathers and no eagle's beak.
• A winged lion is the symbol of Saint Mark the Evangelist.

[edit] In architecture

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (July 2007)

In architectural decoration the griffin is usually represented as a four-footed beast with wings and the head of a leopard or tiger with horns, or with the head and beak of an eagle.^{[citation needed]}

The griffin is the symbol of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and you can see bronze castings of them perched on each corner of the museum's roof, protecting its collection.^[18][19]

[edit] In literature

For fictional characters named Griffin, see Griffin (surname)

• John Milton, in Book II of Paradise Lost, refers to the legend of the griffin in describing Satan:

“

As when a Gryfon through the Wilderness With winged course ore Hill or moarie Dale, Pursues the ARIMASPIAN, who by stelth Had from his wakeful custody purloind The guarded Gold [...]

”

• Griffins are used widely in Persian poetry. Rumi is one such poet who writes in reference to griffins (for example, in The Essential Rumi, translated from Persian by Coleman Barks, p 257).
• In Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy, a griffin pulls the chariot which brings Beatrice to Dante in Canto XXIX of the Purgatory.
• In Voltaire's La Princesse de Babylone (The Princess of Babylon; 1768), two griffins transport princess Formosante.
• Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), the Queen of Hearts orders the Gryphon to take Alice to see the Mock Turtle and hear its story.

• In L. Frank Baum's The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904) the evil witch Old Mombi transforms herself into a griffin to escape from the good witch Glenda.
• Although no Gryphons are referenced in C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, the movie, "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" portrays a griffin,

Gryphon

• In T. H. White's The Once and Future King (1958), young Arthur and his stepbrother Kay battle a fierce griffin with aid from Robin Wood A.K.A. Robin Hood soon after freeing captives of Morgan le Fay.
• In Geoff Ryman's The Warrior Who Carried Life (1980), a huge, white griffin know as "The Beast Who Talks to God" is one of the major characters.
• In the Dragonlance series (1984 onwards), griffins are under the command of Elves.
• In Neil Gaiman's Sandman comic book series (1988-1996), a griffin is one of three guardians of Morpheus's palace in The Dreaming.
• In Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon's The Mage Wars Trilogy - The Black Gryphon (1994), The White Gryphon (1995) and The Silver Gryphon (1996) - gryphons known as Skandranon, and, later, his son Tadrith are among the lead characters. In this series gryphons have human level intelligence and can use magic.
• Griffins are among the magical creatures in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series (1997-2007). Harry Potter's house at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is called Gryffindor after its founder Godric Gryffindor. Fans have speculated that "Gryffindor" may come from the French gryffon d'or (golden griffin)^{[citation needed]}, but, oddly, its emblem is not a griffin, but a lion - which represents the supposed courageous nature of a true Gryffindor. In the movie versions, the gargoyle guarding the headmaster's office is depicted as a half-phoenix, half-lion griffin and the door-knocker is a griffin.

• In Tamora Pierce's Squire, part of the Protector of the Small quaret, the main character Kel stumbles upon a baby griffin kidnapped from his parents and is forced to care for him until they can be found.
• In Patricia McKillip's Song for the Basilisk (1998), a griffin is one of the book's main characters and appears as a symbol of the ruling house.
• In Bruce Coville's Song of the Wanderer (1999), the second book of The Unicorn Chronicles series, a gryphon named Medafil is a character.
• In Wilanne Schneider Belden's Frankie! (1987), a human baby turns into a griffin.
• In Collinsfort Village by Joe Ekaitis (2005), a gentlemanly griffin resides on a mountain overlooking an imaginary Colorado suburb.
• In Bill Peet's The Pinkish Purplish Bluish Egg (1984) a dove finds an odd egg, and raises the griffin that hatches from it. The griffin has the head of a bald eagle rather than the more usual golden eagle.
• In Katherine Robert's "The Amazon Temple Quest" a gryphon is connected with the Amazons and it is the one to give them power and to give them the ability to reproduce without men.

(unknown dates)

• In Nick O'Donohoe's Crossroads series (including The Magic and the Healing, Under the Healing Sign, and Healing of Crossroads) about veterinary students called upon to help mythological creatures, griffins play a significant role.
• In James C. Christianson's Voyage of the Basset, a griffon saves Casandra from the trolls.

• In The Spiderwick Chronicles, Simon Grace, Jared Grace's twin brother, befriends a wounded Griffin and names it Byron.

[edit] In natural history

Some large species of Old World vultures are called gryphons, including the griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus), as are some breeds of dog (griffons).

The scientific species name for the Andean Condor is Vultur gryphus; Latin for "griffin-vulture".

The name of an oviraptoran dinosaur Hagryphus giganteus is Latin for "gigantic Ha's Griffin".

[edit] As a first name and surname

In the mid-1990s, "Griffin" steadily became more popular as a baby name for boys in the U.S. In 1990, it was ranked 629th. In 2006, it was ranked 254th. Also rising in popularity is the various other spellings of the name such as Griffen or Gryphon.

Main article: Griffin (surname)

"Griffin" occurs as a surname in English-speaking countries. It has its origins as an anglicised form of the Irish "Ó Gríobhtha", "O' Griffin", and "Ó Griffey".

Welsh people who were anglicised, changed the name to "Griffith" and similar names. This shift is reinforced where the family has taken canting arms charged with a griffin.

"Griffin" (and variants in other languages) may also have been adopted as a surname by other families who used arms charged with a griffin or a griffin's head (just as the House of Plantagenet took its name from the badge of a sprig of broom or planta genista). This is ostensibly the origin of the Swedish surname "Grip" (see main article).

[edit] Persian firstname

The creature griffin is known as Homa in Persian. The name Homa is a well-known firstname for girls in Iran and is also featured as a story in Iranian textbooks for third graders in the story about Homa who has lost one of her milkteeth.

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] See also

• Gallery of flags with animals#Griffin
• Griffin (surname)
• Griffon (Dungeons & Dragons)
• Hippogriff
• Sphinx
• Simurgh
• Homa
• JAS 39 Gripen, a fighter aircraft built by Saab
• SAAB Automobile Badge/Logo built by SAAB/General Motors Saab Automobile

[edit] External links

• The Gryphon Pages, a repository of griffin lore and information
• Gryphon's Guild, a community site for gryphon fans
• Volkan Yuksel's Griffin relief 3D Cross-Eyed stereoview

v • d • e Heraldic creatures Beasts Bear • Boar • Bull • Camelopard • Hind • Lion • Ox • Stag • Tiger • Wolf Birds Cock • Dove • Eagle • Pelican • Rook Legendary Creatures Alce • Basilisk • Biscione • Cockatrice • Dragon • Enfield beast • Griffin • Keythong • Manticore • Martlet • Opinicus • Phoenix • Salamander • Unicorn • Wyvern Fish Dolphinfish • Ged • Luce • Scallop Others Bee • Crapaudy • Emmet • Serpent

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