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Greek Name Transliteration Latin Spelling Translation
Γρυψ Gryps Gryps, Gryphis Griffin
Web Theoi Γρυπες Γρυφοι Grypes, Gryphoi Gryphi Griffins
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Griffin, Der Naturen Bloeme manuscript

c. 1350, National Library of the Netherlands

THE GRYPS (also, Gryphon or Griffin) was a beast with the head and wings of an
eagle and the body of a lion.
A tribe of the beasts guarded rich gold deposits in certain northern or eastern
mountains. Their one-eyed neighbours--the Skythian Arimasp tribe--battled them
for these riches.
Decorative griffins were popular in Greek art and occur later in medieval
bestiaries and heraldic devices.

Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 802 ff (trans. Weir Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th
B.C.) :
"[Prometheus warns the wandering maiden Io:] But now listen to another and a
fearsome spectacle. Beware of the sharp-beaked hounds of Zeus that do not
bark, the Grypes (Griffins), and the one-eyed (monôpoi) Arimaspoi, mounted on
horses, who dwell about the flood of Plouton's stream that flows with gold. Do
not approach them."
Aristophanes, Frogs 929 825 (trans. O'Neill) (Greek comedy C5th to 4th B.C.) :
"Euripides : 'Twas all Skamandros, moated camps, and Grypaietoi (Griffin-Eagles)
flashing in burnished copper on the shields."

ENCYCLOPEDIA
GRYPS or GRYPHUS (Grups), a griffin, a fabulous, bird-like species of animals,
dwelling in the Rhipaean mountains, between the Hyperboreans and the one-
eyed Arimaspians, and guarding the gold of the north. The Arismaspians
mounted on horseback, and attempted to steal the gold, and hence arose the
hostility between the horse and the griffin. The body of the griffin was that of a
lion, while the head and wings were those of an eagle. This monstrous
conception suggests that the origin of the belief in griffins must be looked for in
the east, where it seems to have been very ancient. (Herod. iii. 116, iv. 13, 27;
Paus. i. 24. § 6. viii. 2, § 3; Aelian, H. A. iv. 27; Plin. H. N. vii. 2, x. 70.) Hesiod
seems to be the first writer that mentioned them, and in the poem "Arimaspae
" of Aristeas they must have played a prominent part. (Schol. ad Aeschyl.
Prom. 793.) At a later period they are mentioned among the fabulous animals
which guarded the gold of India. (Philostr. Vit. Apollon. iii. 48.) 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. (Herod. iv. 152; comp. 79.) They were
also represented on the helmet of the statue of Athena by Phidias. (Paus. l. c.)
Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

Herodotus, Histories 3. 116. 1 (trans. Godley) (Greek historian C5th B.C.) :

"But in the north of Europe there is by far the most gold. In this matter again I
cannot say with assurance how the gold is produced, but it is said that one-eyed
men called Arimaspoi steal it from Grypes. The most outlying lands, though, as
they enclose and wholly surround all the rest of the world, are likely to have
those things which we think the finest and the rarest."
Herodotus, Histories 4. 13. 1 :
"There is also a story related in a poem by Aristeas son of Kaüstrobios, a man of
Prokonnesos. This Aristeas, possessed by Phoibos [Apollon], visited the
Issedones; beyond these (he said) live the one-eyed Arimaspoi, beyond whom
are the Grypes (Griffins) that guard gold, and beyond these again the
Hyperboreoi, whose territory reaches to the sea. Except for the Hyperboreoi, all
these nations (and first the Arimaspoi) are always at war with their neighbors;
the Issedones were pushed from their lands by the Arimaspoi, and the Skythians
by the Issedones."
Herodotus, Histories 4. 27. 1 :
"Of these too, then, we have knowledge; but as for what is north of them, it is
from the Issedones that the tale comes of the one-eyed men [Arimaspoi] and the
Grypes (Griffins) that guard gold; this is told by the Skythians, who have heard it
from them; and we have taken it as true from the Skythians, and call these
people by the Skythian name, Arimaspoi; for in the Skythian tongue 'arima' is
one, and 'spou' is the eye."
Herodotus, Histories 4. 79. 1 :
"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."
Herodotus, Histories 4. 152. 4 :
"The Samians took six talents, a tenth of their profit, and made a bronze vessel
with it, like an Argolic cauldron, with Grypes' (Griffins) heads projecting from the
rim all around; they set this up in their temple of Hera, supporting it with three
colossal kneeling figures of bronze, each twelve feet high."
Ctesias, Indica (summary from Photius, Myriobiblon 72) (trans. Freese) (Greek
historian C4th B.C.) :
"There is also gold [in India], not found in rivers and washed, as in the river
Paktolos, but in many large mountains which are inhabited by Grypes (griffins).
These are four-footed birds as large as a wolf, their legs and claws resembling
those of a lion; their breast feathers are red, those of the rest of the body black.
Although there is abundance of gold in the mountains, it is difficult to get it
because of these birds."

M16.1 GRIFFIN K12.8 GRIFFIN, K5.7 GRIFFIN, M16.5 GRIFFINS,

DECORATIVE DIONYSOS APOLLON ARIMASPIANS
 M16.2 GRIFFIN, M16.3 GRIFFINS,
ARIMASPIAN ARIMASPIANS

Strabo, Geography 8. 3. 12 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st

A.D.) :
"Near the outlet of the river [the River Alpheios in Elis] is the sacred precinct of
Artemis Alpheionia . . . In the temple of Artemis Alpheionia are very famous
paintings . . . by Aregon the 'Artemis Borne Aloft on a Gryps (Griffin)."
Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 24. 6 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd
A.D.) :
"Grypas (Griffins), Aristeas of Prokonnesos says in his poem, fight for the gold
with the Arimaspoi beyond the Issedones. The gold which the Grypas guard, he
says, comes out of the earth; the Arimaspoi are men all born with one eye;
Grypas are beasts like lions, but with the beak and wings of an eagle."
Pausanias, Guide to Greece 8. 2. 7 :
"I have also heard that Gryphoi (Griffins) have spots like the leopard."
Pausanias, Guide to Greece 1. 31. 2 :
"At Prasiai [in Attika] is a temple of Apollon. Hither they say are sent the first-
fruits of the Hyperboreans, and the Hyperboreans are said to hand them over to
the Arimaspoi, the Arimaspoi to the Issedones, from these the Skythians bring
them to Sinope, thence they are carried by Greeks to Prasiai, and the Athenians
take them to Delos."
Aelian, On Animals 4. 27 (trans. Scholfield) (Greek natural history C2nd A.D.) :
"I have heard that the Indian animal the Grupa (Gryphon) is a quadraped like a
lion; that it has claws of enormous strength and that they resemble those of a
lion. Men commonly report that it is winged and that the feathers along its back
are black, and those on its front are red, while the actual wings are neither but
are white. And Ktesias records that its neck is variegated with feathers of a dark
blue; that it has a beak like an eagle’s, and a head too, just as artists portray it
in pictures and sculpture. Its eyes, he says, are like fire. It builds its lair among
the mountains, and although it is not possible to capture the full-grown animal,
they do take the young ones. And the people of Baktria, who are neighbours of
the Indians, say that the Grypes (Gryphons) guard the gold in those parts; that
they dig it up and build their nests with it, and that the Indians carry off any that
falls from them. The Indians however deny that they guard the aforesaid gold,
for the Grypes have no need for it (and if that is what they say, then I at any rate
think that they speak the truth), but that they themselves come to collect the
gold, while the Grypes fearing for their young ones fight with the invaders. They
engage too with other beasts and overcome them without difficulty, but they will
not face the lion or the elephant. 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. Now the region where the
Grypes live and where the gold is mined is a dreary wilderness. And the seekers
after the aforesaid substance arrive, a thousand or two strong, armed and
bringing spades and sacks; and watching for a moonless night they begin to dig.
Now if they contrive to elude the Grypes they reap a double advantage, for they
not only escape with their lives but they also take home their freight, and when
those who have acquired a special skill in the smelting of gold have refined it,
they possess immense wealth to requite them for the dangers described above.
And they return home, I am told, after an interval of three or four years."
Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 3. 48 (trans. Conybeare) (Greek
biography C1st to C2nd A.D.) :
"As to the gold which the Grypes (Griffins) dig up, there are rocks which are
spotted with drops of gold as with sparks, which this creature can quarry because
of the strength of its beak.
`For these animals do exist in India,’ he [the C1st AD Indian sage Iarkhas] said,
`and are held in veneration as being sacred to Helios the Sun; and the Indian
artists, when they represent Helios, yoke four of them abreast to draw the
images; and in size and strength they resemble lions but having this advantage
over them that they have wings, they will attack them, and they get the better of
elephants and of Drakones. 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. 1 :
"And the Grypes (Griffins) of the Indoi and the Ants of the Aithiopes, 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."
Apuleius, The Golden Ass 11. 235 ff (trans. Walsh) (Roman novel C2nd A.D.) :
"Hyperborei Grypes (Griffins) which look like winged birds and are produced in
another world."
Nonnus, Dionysiaca 48. 395 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) :
"Round her [Nemesis, the goddess of retribution's] throne flew a bird of
vengeance, a Gryps (Griffin) flying with wings, or balancing himself on four feet,
to go unbidden before the flying goddess and show that she herself traverses the
four separate quarters of the world."
Nonnus, Dionysiaca 48. 449 ff :
"She [Nemesis] had harnessed racing Grypes (Griffins) under her bridle; quick
through the air she coursed in the swift car, until she tightened the curving bits of
her fourfooted birds, and drew up on the peak of Sipylos in front of the face of
Tantalos’s daughter [Niobe] with eyeballs of stone."
For MORE information on Grffins see Griffins in Art and on the Web
(External Link)

Z46.1 GRIFFIN Z46.2 GRIFFIN Z46.4 GRIFFIN Z49.2 GRIFFIN,

ORIENTAL STYLE WITH HORSE WITH BOX ORPHEUS

Sources:
○ Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound - Greek Tragedy C5th B.C.

○ Aristophanes, Frogs - Greek Comedy C5th-4th B.C.

○ Herodotus, Histories - Greek History C5th B.C.

○ Ctesias, Indica - Greek History C5th B.C.

○ Strabo, Geography - Greek Geography C1st BC - C1st A.D.

○ Pausanias, Guide to Greece - Greek Geography C2nd A.D.

○ Aelian, On Animals - Greek Natural History C2nd - C3rd A.D.

○ Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana - Greek Biography C2nd A.D.

○ Apuleius, The Golden Ass - Latin Epic C2nd A.D.

○ Nonnos, Dionysiaca - Greek Epic C5th A.D.

○ Photius, Myriobiblon - Byzantine Greek Scholar C9th A.D.

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