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"He had in the city of the Borysthenites [in Asia Minor] a spacious house, grand and costly (the same house I just mentioned), all surrounded by Sphinxes and Grypes (Griffins) worked in white marble. Their one-eyed neighbours, the Arimaspians, battled them for these riches. In C.S. Athenian Red Figure Vase Painting C4th B.C.
Some stories said that griffins would seek out hidden treasure and prevent others from taking it. 10 (trans. Another story said that Alexander the Great once harnessed eight griffins to a chair and flew them through the air. 116.
A heraldic griffin (or gryphon) has the hind parts (including legs and tail) of a lion, the upper parts (including feathered neck, wings, claws, and head with beak) of an eagle and also ears. Apollon. Accordingly the natives, dreading the strength of these animals, do not set out in quest of the gold by day, but arrive by night, for at that season they are less likely to be detected. : Ctesias, Indica (summary from Photius, Myriobiblon 72) (trans. Seen as guardians of secretly buried wealth, the griffin evolved from a ferocious animal of antiquity to become a symbol of strength and valor. The body of the griffin was that of a lion, while the head and wings were those of an eagle. to C1st A.D.) : The Griffin (sometimes spelled gryphon or griffen, gryphos in Ancient Greek or شیردال shirdal in Persian) is a legendary creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. "And the Grypes (Griffins) of the Indoi (Indians) and the Ants of the Aithiopes (Ethiopians), though they are dissimilar in form, yet, from what we hear, play similar parts; for in each country they are, according to the tales of poets, the guardians of gold, and devoted to the gold reefs of the two countries. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here: The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia: Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed. "There is also a story related in a poem by Aristeas son of Kaüstrobios, a man of Prokonnesos (Proconnesus). ", Nonnus, Dionysiaca 48. 31. 3. The earliest references to griffins come out of ancient Persia. It was said to have the head and wings of an eagle, the body of a lion, and the tail of a serpent or a lion.
§ 6. viii. The figures of griffins were frequently employed as ornaments in works of art ; the earliest instance of which we have any record is the bronze patera, which the Samians ordered to be made about B. C. 640.
Homa also had a special place in Persian literature as guardians of light. Early statuary depicts them with wings that are horizontal and parallel along the back of the body. They were also represented on the helmet of the statue of Athena by Phidias. In about 2000 bc people in western Asia began using griffins in art. Echoing the classical depictions, in Dante Alighieri's Purgatorio a griffin pulled the chariot that brought Beatrice to Dante in Canto XXIX. ", Herodotus, Histories 4. But they have no great power of flying, not more than have birds of short flight; for they are not winged as is proper with birds, but the palms of their feet are webbed with red membranes, such that they are able to revolve them, and make a flight and fight in the air; and the tiger alone is beyond their powers of attack, because in swiftness it rivals the winds.’", Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 6. Griffins were consecrated to the Sun; and ancient painters represented the chariot of the Sun as drawn by griffins. Griffins continue to appear in art and literature. 2, x. iv. One suggested set of associations extends from the rich fossil beds around the Mediterranean across the steppes to the Gobi Desert and on to the myths of griffins, centaurs, and archaic giants originating in the classical world. Although there is abundance of gold in the mountains, it is difficult to get it because of these birds. Griffins appear in the art of ancient Persia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome.
70.) In Paradise Lost, John Milton makes use of their very wondrous nature in a variety of metaphors and similes through his retelling of Man's downfall in the Garden of Eden: A griffin (spelled "gryphon") is featured in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland in which the Queen of Hearts' orders the gryphon to take Alice to see the Mock Turtle and hear its story.
Tales of griffins and the Arimaspi of distant Scythia near the cave of Boreas, the North Wind (Geskleithron), were elaborated in the lost archaic poem of Aristeas of Proconnesus, Arimaspea, and eagerly reported by Herodotus and in Pliny's Natural History. Beware of the sharp-beaked hounds of Zeus that do not bark, the Grypes (Griffins), and the one-eyed (monôpoi) Arimaspoi (Arimaspians), mounted on horses, who dwell about the flood of Plouton's (Pluton's) stream that flows with gold.