It first appeared somewhere in the Middle East about five thousand years ago. There is an assumption that people and dinosaurs "crossed" on some part of the historical path, and the griffin is the embodiment of the "collective memory" of mankind about the ancient flying reptiles.
The omnipresent monster
Even before the griffin appeared in written sources, its appearance was repeatedly captured on stones and ivory, silver and gold, silk and bronze. His image can be found on the walls of the palace and the mosaic floors of the Persian kings at Persepolis. With caravans of merchants, armies of conquerors and nomadic tribes, the evil and amazing monster spread throughout the ancient world.
The oldest image of him was found on the territory of modern Iran on a seal made about 3000 years before our era. Many of his images were found by archaeologists during excavations on the island of Crete, on the walls of the throne room of the palace in Knossos, the capital of the Minoan state, on tombstones and in sanctuaries. They were also found in the mounds of Altai.
The image of the griffin goes through millennia and is found in different cultures. Its Assyrian name is k'rub, meaning “fantastic winged creature,” and it figures frequently in the history of this cruel and tyrannical ancient power. The griffin, as it were, combined several types of animals. According to some descriptions, it is a mammal with four legs with wings, vicious and strong. He looks like a lion in body, and like an eagle with wings and head.
According to others, a griffin is a four-legged bird with plumage of different colors and a serpentine tail, often with ears and a number of spikes on its neck. In size and strength, it is equal to eight lions, stronger and larger than a hundred eagles. This is a much more powerful animal than all animals living on Earth. The griffin was perceived as a mysterious, mysterious and powerful creature, and people believed in its real existence.
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Traces in history
On the pages of ancient manuscripts of different cultures, the details of the image, the appearance of the griffin and its mores are noticeably different.
The ancient Greeks left us a myth that at the very edge of the oecumene, a real inhabited world for them, creepy griffins live. Aristeus of Proconnesus traveled across Central Asia in the 7th century BC in search of the Hyperboreans and the sanctuary of Apollo and reached the Immedonians. They told him that to the north of their lands there is a mountain range, there are constantly cold winds blowing, there are gold-bearing rivers and one-eyed people - Arimasps live. They steal gold from the fast and vicious monsters that guard it. It is not known what the Immedonians themselves called them, but Aristeus called them griffins.
Two centuries later, the story of Aristeus, according to modern scholars, who visited the foothills of Altai, was repeated by Herodotus. In myths, the fierce griffin became an indispensable companion of the goddess of vengeance, Nemesis. On four griffins, harnessed to a chariot, the god Apollo flew to Hyperborea to rest. According to legends, once Alexander the Great decided to take them to heaven, but God did not let him go there.
The griffin perfectly suited the role of a heraldic animal. It appeared on the coats of arms of many knights and rulers, on coins and royal seals as a symbol of power and ferocity. His image has spread widely in poetry, art and jewelry. Bird griffins, lion griffins, and serpent griffins with reptilian-like scales have appeared in numerous illustrated manuscripts.
The existence of monsters was considered a proven fact, and miraculous powers were attributed to various parts of his body. It was argued that the blind received their sight if the feather of a griffin was moved in front of their eyes, etc.
But usually the griffin was the personification of the demonic forces of evil and his activity destroyed people and entire nations. His temper matches the fierce appearance. In Christianity, he was associated with Satan. Incredibly, the undoubted influence of griffins on people's lives is evidenced by historical facts in the fate of peoples and individuals who used their images as a symbol or coat of arms.
Destructive symbol
The powerful Assyrian civilization was destroyed and absorbed by time. Scientists still cannot establish the cause of the death of the Cretan state and the destruction of the palace of Knossos. Alexander the Great crushed the Persian Empire and burned its capital, Persepolis. The griffin supported the coat of arms of Anne Boleyn, wife of the English king Henry VIII, who was executed. In Russia, the image of a griffin arose during the reign of Paul I (1796-1801). The king was brutally dealt with by the conspirators right in his bedroom.
During the reign of Alexander II, the coat of arms of the House of Romanov was officially approved, based on a griffin. Having reached the heights of power, he soon destroyed the dynasty. In 1881, Alexander II was killed, in 1894 Alexander III died a mysterious death. In 1918, Nicholas II was shot together with his entire family, and a bloody Civil War began.
After excavations in the XX century in Altai of large Pazyryk mounds, dozens of images of griffins appeared in scientific publications and journalist reports. Archaeologists have found out that the dynasty of the nomadic nobility of the leaders in Pazyryk ceased to exist in the 5th-4th centuries BC. The symbol of their power - a griffin with ram horns - did its dirty deed. In the mounds were also found images of "severed lion heads", as on the coat of arms of the Romanov dynasty. For nomads, the griffin is the lord of the world of the dead, and his image is found only in the burials of nobility and leaders.
Among tens of thousands of rock carvings of various animals in Altai, you will not find him. People's admiration for products in the Scythian-Siberian animal style breathed new "vitality" into the griffins. They began to "materialize" and rise to the level of power in the region, and strange accidents followed.
In 1993, the coat of arms of the Altai Republic was officially approved, the prototype of which was the image of a griffin from the Pazyryk mounds. The deputies adopted the coat of arms, apparently, as a symbol of the connection between the past and the present, without thinking about its essence. In 1997 V. Chaptynov, the first head of the republic, under whom the coat of arms was adopted, suddenly died. In 2005, the governor of the region M. Evdokimov died in an accident.
In Altai, earthquakes, other anomalous phenomena and disasters began to occur: severe frosts and unprecedented snows, various disasters. The shadow of the bloodthirsty ancient ruler of the world of the dead seemed to hang over the edge, and people need more and more strength to survive. All this smacks of mysticism, but the facts speak for themselves and it is difficult for them to give another explanation. We must be very careful about the choice of images used as symbols and emblems.
Valery PAK