Which Creature Is Master of Both Earth and
Sky?
HARRY’S HOGWARTS HOUSE, GRYFFINDOR, literally
means “golden griffin” in French. (Or is
French for “gold.”) It’s an appropriate name for a house
characterized by courage and virtue.
Griffins (sometimes spelled “gryphons”) are
magical creatures, part lion, part eagle. They originated in India,
where they guarded huge treasures of gold. In the third century AD
a historian named Aelian wrote:
I have heard that the Indian animal the Gryphon is a quadruped 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.
Griffin, from the seal of
an Austrian town, about 1315.
In Alice in Wonderland,
Alice meets the Gryphon, who is anything but fierce. He and the
Mock Turtle tell Alice about their old school days and teach her an
unusual dance, the Lobster Quadrille.
And Ctesias [an ancient Greek historian] 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. Although
it is not possible to capture the full-grown animal, hunters do
take the young ones. Gryphons engage too with other beasts and
overcome them without difficulty, but they will not face the lion
or the elephant.
THE MEANING OF GRIFFINS
Griffins have been part of litterature and
Griffins have been part of literature and mythology for dozens of
centuries. In that time, their symbolic meaning has changed
greatly. Scholar Hans Biedermann explains:
A fabulous animal, symbolically significant for its domination of both the earth and the sky because of its lion’s body and eagle’s head and wings. In Greece the griffin was a symbol of vigilant strength; Apollo rode one, and griffins guarded the gold of Hyperborea [a mythical land of perpetual sunshine and happiness “beyond the north wind”]. The griffin was also an embodiment of Nemesis, the goddess of retribution, and turned her wheel of fortune. In legend the creature was a symbol of superbia (arrogant pride), because Alexander the Great was said to have tried to fly on the backs of griffins to the edge of the sky.
At first also portrayed as a satanic figure
entrapping human souls, the creature later became a symbol of the
dual nature (divine and human) of Jesus Christ, precisely because
of its mastery of earth and sky. The solar associations of both the
lion
and the eagle favoured this positive reading. The griffin thus also
became the adversary of serpents and basilisks, both of which were
seen as embodiments of satanic demons.
In Paradise Lost, John
Milton refers to the griffin’s continuous struggle against a tribe
of thieves: “As when a gryphon, through the wilderness . . .
Pursues the Arimaspian, who by stealth Had from his wakeful custody
purloined The guarded gold.” (Book II, lines 943-46)
For the last thousand years, the griffin has been a favorite on family crests. An expert in heraldry says, “The griffin is very popular, for it has numerous virtues and apparently no vices. Notable among the former are vigilance, courage, and strength.” These are the very qualities embodied in the founder of Hogwarts whose name comes from this creature, Godric Gryffindor, and of the members of Gryffindor House.
See also: Beasts
Hippogriffs
