The Griffin, Guardian of Gold between the East, Greece and Dante

The griffin unites the two animals regarded as sovereign: the lion, king of the earth, and the eagle, queen of the sky. This simple and powerful combination appears very early in the art of the ancient Near East and spreads to the Aegean world, to Persia, to Greece and then throughout medieval Europe. The name comes from the Greek gryps, from which derive the Latin gryphus and the Italian grifo or grifone, and its history spans at least four millennia.

From Eastern Courts to the Palace of Knossos

Figures of winged lions with the heads of birds of prey already appear in remote times on seals and objects from Mesopotamia and Elam. In the Aegean world the griffin played a leading role: in the so-called throne room of the palace of Knossos, on Crete, painted griffins flank the stone seat, lying among stylised plants. Their function seems to be that of guardians of a sacred or royal place, and the same motif recurs at Pylos, in Mycenaean Greece.

In Achaemenid Persian art the griffin appears on the capitals and reliefs of Persepolis, while in the steppes of Central Asia the Scythian peoples depicted it on gold ornaments, tattoos and harnesses. Many of these works have come down to us thanks to the kurgans, the burial mounds, such as those of Pazyryk in the Altai mountains, where the frost has preserved even textiles, carved wood and decorated leather.

The Arimaspians and the Gold of the North

Herodotus, in the third and fourth books of the Histories, reports that in the northernmost regions of the world there was a great deal of gold guarded by griffins, and that the Arimaspians, one-eyed men, tried to steal it. The historian draws on a lost poem, the Arimaspea, attributed to Aristeas of Proconnesus, and does not hide his doubts about the existence of one-eyed men and of such singular animals.

Pliny the Elder considered griffins fabulous, while other authors went on describing them as real animals. The American scholar Adrienne Mayor has suggested that the legend may have been fed by dinosaur fossils, such as Protoceratops, visible in the deserts of Central Asia along ancient gold routes. It is an evocative hypothesis, debated and unproven, which shows how myth can also arise from observing the landscape.

The Christian and Civic Griffin

In the Middle Ages the griffin took on opposite meanings. Some bestiaries describe it as a fierce animal, able to lift an ox into the air and hostile to horses. Other authors instead made it a symbol of Christ, because it unites the earthly nature of the lion with the heavenly nature of the eagle. Dante adopted this second reading: in the final cantos of the Purgatorio a griffin draws the triumphal chariot of the Church, its bird parts golden and the others white mixed with vermilion.

The griffin also became the emblem of cities and families. Perugia has it as its civic symbol, and on the façade of the Palazzo dei Priori the bronze sculptures of a griffin and a lion, made in the late thirteenth century, are still preserved. In heraldry the rampant griffin signified vigilance and courage, and it was often chosen by those who wished to unite in their arms military strength and the idea of a higher protection.

From the Minoan palace to the emblems of the communes, the griffin has kept a constant role: that of the guardian. It watches over gold, the throne, the sacred chariot or the city. Its double nature, earthly and heavenly, makes it fit to keep watch over boundaries, where what is precious must be defended from those unworthy of it, and explains why it continues to appear on doorways, coats of arms and monuments.