GRIFFIN (from OF. grif on, Fr. griffon, ML. grypho, from Lat. gryphus, griffin, variant of gryps, from Gk. lin' gryps, griffon, from 'ypirter, grypos, hook-nosed; confused by popular etymol ogy with Gk. yen//, gyps, vulture). A fabulous creature, half animal, half bird, imagined by the ancients. It was usually described in literature and represented in art as having the head, beak, and wings of an eagle and the body and legs of a lion. This creature was conceived by the peoples of the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates as one of the chimerical genii or natural forces in the service of the powers of good, like the bull and the lion, either animal-headed or human headed, but less material than these, and like them a guardian and protector of man and the treasures of earth. Among the Babylonians its evil counterpart was the dragon Tiamat. In Assyrian sculpture it is represented in colossal size on a slab from Koyunjik in the British Mu seum and in the embroidered figures on the royal robes. It was even more popular in Persian art, being given as rampant, with high crest, on re liefs from the royal palaces (e.g. Persepolis), and on cylinders and seals.
Thence the myth passed to the iEgean peoples and to the Greeks, as well as to the Hittites and Egyptians. The griffin appears on the battle-axe of King Antasis, in Syrian and Phoenician gems, and on bas-reliefs from Myeenn. The form of the legend in historic Greek times betrays its Oriental derivation. It appears on the great bronze Phoenician shields from Mount Ida in Crete, on the imported Phaliician and Greek ob jects in early Italian graves, on Corinthian vases —usually in a long procession of griffins. It is recorded that griffins formed part of the decoration of the bronze paters ordered by the Samians (c. 640 n.c.). (Herodotus iv. 152.) Later it appeared on the helmet of Phidias's famous statue of Athena. It was also con nected by the Greeks with other deities, such as Dionysus and Nemesis, but especially with the twin gods Artemis and Apollo. Artemis, in her form adapted from the Persians, holds in each hand a griffin, on archaic Greek vases and on archaistic sculptures such as the throne in the Dionysus Theatre at Athens. Even more close was the association with the sun-god, Apollo, whose chariot it is often represented as drawing, especially in that form of his myth which repre sents him as withdrawing each year to the re gions of the north. The early Greek writers,
such as Hesiod and Aristeas, describe the griffins as dwelling in the Rhipxan mountains at the north, near the Hyperboreans and the evil one eyed Arimaspeans, who, mounted on horses, seek to seize the treasure of gold guarded by the griffins. At a later period the scene of this guarding of the gold was transferred to India. This idea of guardianship was transferred to other spheres, and we find griffins on sarcophagi as keepers of the dead. Many Greek cities of Asia Minor adopted them as types on their coins, as guardian genii of the city, such as Assos, Smyrna, Panticapieum, and Phoexa, evidently under Persian influence.
The Romans lost the poetry and significance of the myth, using the griffin as a mere decorative motif, in friezes, on table-legs, altars, and can delabra, as well as in wall paintings. But the symbolism was never entirely lost in the East, and reappeared in Christian times in the Bes tiaries, so called, of Saint Basil and Saint Am brose, as part of the peculiar animal symbolism that penetrated the Middle Ages. The heraldic affronted griffins were common in Mohammedan, in Persian, and in Byzantine art—especially in stuffs, ivories, and metal-work—passing to the West in the Middle Ages, as is shown, for in stance, in many Anglo-Saxon illuminated manu scripts. The legend itself was transformed by Moslem story-tellers, and the form it took is related by those incomparable story-tellers, Marco Polo and Sir John Mandeville, who describe the griffin as a real creature, whose home is in Mada gascar, in the form of a powerful and colossal eagle, several times the size of a lion, which it could lift into the air.
The Renaissance rehabilitated the classic form of the griffin, using it, like Roman art, for decorative purposes very freely. It also became popular on family arms and heraldic devices, especially in Great Britain, with the old idea of guardianship, several hundred families (espe cially in \Vales) adopting it as their emblem, but usually replacing the fore paws of the lion by the eagle's claws. In a few instances the griffin ends in a serpent's tail. The attributes of the griffin were swiftness and strength in the service of watchfulness.