The ancient Greeks adopted the griffin from the Near East, where it likely already had a long history of being associated with wealth and power. Medieval writers, therefore, saw the griffin as the most majestic of birds and a fitting symbol for noble families and proud cities.Īrtists of the Middle Ages were not the first to associate the griffin with nobility, though. The use of the griffin in medieval heraldry is one of the reasons the mythological hybrid bird remains so well-known today.īoth the lion and the eagle, the animals whose forms were included in the griffin’s image, were symbols of royalty and power. It sometimes had a dragon’s head, however. The Opinicus was another medieval form, usually used on coats of arms, that was similar to a griffin. While it was sometimes called a griffin, medieval heraldry recognized it as a different creature and called it an alke. One was a wingless animal with a lion’s body and only the head of an eagle. There were many mythological animals that were closely related to the griffin and were sometimes called by that name. The griffin usually had pronounced ears that were like those of a lion or horse but were feathered. While some older animals had four lion-like legs, most images had eagle’s talons on all four legs.

The most typical images of griffins have the hind lings of a lion with the head and chest of an eagle.

For thousands of years, the griffin was a hybrid animal that combined elements of a bird and a lion. These images are all identifiable as griffins because they share common traits. This happened early in Greek history, and griffins are found at both sites from Minoan Crete and Mycenaean Greece. The Greeks likely adopted the form from one of these cultures that they came in contact with through trade. They are found in carvings and reliefs from Iran, the Levant, Syria, and Turkey. In ancient Egypt and Iran, they were a common element in art.Īlthough the earliest known example of the griffin is from Egypt, archaeologists are unsure whether it originated there or in Mesopotamia. The first images of the griffin date back to before the year 3000 BC. The bird did not originally come from the Mediterranean, however. Like many of the fantastic creatures that were used in medieval art and heraldry, European artists learned of the griffin from ancient Greek and Roman sources. Its ancient origins, Greek legends, and medieval symbolism all helped carry the half-bird, half-lion creature into the modern world. One of the legendary animals that came to Greece was the griffin. Whether as noble animals or terrible monsters, they were fire thought of long before they were mentioned by Classical Greek writers. Many of these creatures did not originate in Greek mythology, however.

The Sphinx, Chimera, and others are remembered in the art and mythology of cultures like ancient Greece. Ancient mythology and legends are filled with fantastic hybrid creatures.

Griffin creature