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GRIFFIN, GRIFFON

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 596 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GRIFFIN, GRIFFON or GRYPHON (from Fr. griffon, See also:Lat. gryphus, Gr. ypG '), in the natural See also:history of the ancients, the name of an imaginary rapacious creature of the See also:eagle See also:species, represented with four legs, wings and a See also:beak,—the fore See also:part resembling an eagle and the hinder a See also:lion. In addition, some writers describe the tail as a See also:serpent. This See also:animal, which was supposed to See also:watch over See also:gold mines and hidden treasures, and to be the enemy of the See also:horse, was consecrated to the See also:Sun; and the See also:ancient painters represented the See also:chariot of the Sun as See also:drawn by griffins. According to Spanheim, those of See also:Jupiter and See also:Nemesis were similarly provided. The griffin of Scripture is probably the See also:osprey, and the name is now given to a species of See also:vulture. The griffin was said to inhabit See also:Asiatic See also:Scythia, where gold and See also:precious stones were abundant; and when strangers approached to gather these the creatures leapt upon them and tore them in pieces, thus chastising human avarice and greed. The one-eyed See also:Arimaspi waged See also:constant See also:war with them, according to See also:Herodotus (iii. 16). See also:Sir See also:John de See also:Mandeville, in his Travels, described a griffin as eight times larger than a lion. The griffin is frequently seen as a See also:charge in See also:heraldry (see HERALDRY, fig. 163); and in architectural decoration is usually represented as a four-footed beast with wings and the See also:head of a See also:leopard or See also:tiger with horns, or with the head and beak of an eagle; in the latter See also:case, but very rarely, with two legs. To what extent it owes its origin to See also:Persian See also:sculpture is not known, the capitals at See also:Persepolis have sometimes leopard or lion heads with horns, and four-footed beasts with the beaks of eagles are represented in bas-reliefs.

In the See also:

temple of See also:Apollo Branchidae near See also:Miletus in See also:Asia See also:Minor, the winged griffin of the capitals has leopards' heads with horns. In the capitals of the so-called lesser See also:propylaea at See also:Eleusis conventional eagles with two feet support the angles of the See also:abacus. The greater number of those in See also:Rome have eagles' beaks, as in the See also:frieze of the temple of See also:Antoninus and See also:Faustina, and their tails develop into conventional foliage. A similar See also:device was found in the See also:Forum of See also:Trajan. The best decorative employment of the griffin is found in the See also:vertical supports of tables, of which there are two or three examples in See also:Pompeii and others in the Vatican and the museums in Rome. In some of these cases the head is that of a lion at one end of the support and an eagle at the' ,other end, and there is only one strongly See also:developed paw; the wings circling See also:round at the See also:top See also:form conspicuous features on the sides of these supports, the surfaces below being filled with conventional See also:Greek foliage.

End of Article: GRIFFIN, GRIFFON

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GRIFFIN [O'GRIoBTA, O'GREEVA], GERALD (1803-1840) 		[next]
GRIFFITH, SIR RICHARD JOHN (1784-1878)

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