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XVIII.—Remarks on the Gryphon, Heraldic and Mythological

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2012

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Extract

The science of heraldry has faithfully preserved to modern times various phases of some of those remarkable legends, which, based upon an accurate study of natural phenomena, exhibit the process whereby the greater part of mythology has come into existence. There we find the lunar Unicorn, the wild, white, fierce, chaste moon, whose two horns, unlike those of mortal creatures, are indissolubly twisted into one, a most remarkable myth, which I have recently fully considered; and there, also, as in every department of ancient thought, the solar power is fully represented. I now propose to examine, briefly, the ancient and widely-spread heraldic myth of the Gryphon.

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Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1885

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References

page 355 note a Jun., Vide Robert Brown, The Unicorn, a Mythological Investigation (Longmans, 1881).Google Scholar

page 356 note a Cussans, Handbook of Heraldry, 95.

page 356 note b Vide Brown, Robert, Jun. The Great Dionysiak Myth, ii. 112Google Scholaret seq. Mr.Dennis, (Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria, i. 401)Google Scholar gives a representation of a two-horned and bearded Bacchus, whose head with large ox-ears appears in the centre of a bronze disk, like the sun in the solar system. The artistic treatment, including the moustache, is strikingly similar to that shown in the head of a two-horned personage also forming the centre of a disc, a picture of which is given in Strahlenberg's Description of the North and Eastern Parts of Europe and Asia, 1738. It is possible that these representations show a link between Etruria and the Turanian East.

page 356 note c Wright, The Roll of Caerlaverock, 17.

page 356 note d Vide Leigh, Accidence of Armory, 1562, in voc.

page 356 note e Display of Heraldrie, edit. 1660, p. 258.

page 356 note f Sir Harris Nicolas, The Siege of Carlaverock, 243.

page 356 note g Ap. Planché, The Pursuivant of Arms, 128.

page 356 note h Ibid. 129.

page 357 note a Vide Planché, , The Conqueror and his Companions, ii. 45Google Scholar.

page 357 note b Heylyn, Help to English History, 1773, p. 220.

page 357 note c Vide Planché, The Pursuivant of Arms, 127. The pedigree of the family with notice of their Gryphon seal, etc. is given liy Ellis, Antiquities of Heraldry, 107.

page 357 note d Planché, The Pursuivant of Arms, 223.

page 357 note e Ellis, Antiquities of Heraldry, 241, note.

page 357 note f Guillim, Display of Heraldrie, 401.

page 357 note g The famous heraldic double-headed eagle affords a good instance of the persistence of an established symbol. Prof. Sayee, when treating of the monuments of the Hittites, observes: “At Eyuk … on the eastern bank of the Halys … we find a representation of a double-headed eagle, which seems the prototype of the Seljukian eagle of later days” (Trans. Soc. Bib. Archaeol. vii. 250Google Scholar). And again, he says: “If Boghaz Keui represents the Pteria of the Greeks, it is possible that, as Longperier suggested, the city may have been symbolised by it, pteris being the Greek name of the pteris aquilina, or fern with leaves like a double eagle. However this may be, the Seljukian Sultans adopted the old symbol of the Hittites after taking possession of Kappadokia and Lykaonia in the eleventh century, and from them it was carried by the Crusaders into Europe” (Ibid. 263). “Herodotus expressly states that the Greeks had borrowed their helmets as well as the ‘emblems’ on their shields from the Karians; and the Karians, as we now know, were once subject to Hittite influences. I am tempted to see in the emblems or symbols on the shields a reminiscence of the Hittite hieroglyphics” (Ibid. 303–304). Thus through hundreds and even thousands of years do archaic ideas, passed on from race to race and from land to land, variant in phase, yet maintaining a true identity, continue to exist. From the non-Semitic tribes of western Central Asia, who at an early period descended into the Euphrates Valley, through Hittite and Phœnician to Greek, Turk and Crusader, is handed down a mysterious symbol, originally representing some natural analogy deduced by a childlike mind.

page 358 note a Guillim, Display of Heraldrie, 259. Opinions were divided respecting the possibility of capturing the unicorn alive. Some, following Pliny and other ancient authorities, stoutly maintained that “the unicorne is never taken alive; and the reason being demanded, it is answered, that the greatness of his mind is such that he choseth rather to die than to be taken alive” (Ibid. 176). But it was more generally held that he would come gently and lay his head in a virgin's lap, “sicque deprehenditur a venatoribus” (Vide Robert Brown, Jun. The Unicorn, 2, and authorities cited). This incident is shown on a miserere at Stratford-on-Avon. There the crescent-moon appears on tile shield over the unicorn's head. The basis of the myth is the sway of the chaste virgin Moon-goddess, Artemis-Diana, over the lunar orb.

page 358 note b Early History of Mankind, 3rd edit. 319–320.

page 358 note c E. J. Millington, Heraldry in History, Poetry and Romance, 278.

page 358 note d Rev. J. G. Wood, Illustrated Natural History, 85–86.

page 358 note e Display of Heraldrie, 175. The representation of the Unicorn in Conrad Gesner's Historiae Anima ium, shows exactly the narwhal's horn arbitrarily attached to an imaginary beast.

page 359 note a Herod, iv. 15. Another famous mythical inhabitant of the unknown north-east, Abaris, is similarly connected with the Sun-god. “Abaris is said to have been a Hyperborean, and to have gone with his arrow all round the world without once eating” (Herod, iv. 36. Canon Rawlinson's translation). The cycling progress of the arrow-armed sun is evidently the basis of the story; and it is quite unnecessary to suppose that the arrow of Abaris represents the magnet, or that Abaris was “a Scythian, who wished to make himself acquainted with Greek customs.”

page 359 note b Herod, iv. 27.

page 359 note c Pausanias, i. xxiv. 6.

page 359 note d Ibid. VIII. ii. 3.

page 359 note e Herodotos, it will be remembered, regards the north of Asia as forming part of Europe.

page 359 note f Herod, iii. 116.

page 359 note g Ibid. iv. 13.

page 359 note h Prof. Sayce, when speaking of the Laws of Akkad, remarks that the “importance of the mother in family-life is still a distinguishing feature of the Finnic-Tatar race” (Records of the Past, iii. 21Google Scholar). According to Akkadian law a married woman's property was her own, a principle to which we are slowly but surely tending (vide Stat. 45 & 46 Vict. cap. 75).

page 360 note a Herod, iv. 26–27. Herodotos gives a derivation of the name ‘Arimaspi,’ “arima being the Scytliic word for ‘one,’ and spû for the eye.” Prof. Rawlinson is of opinion that these words are Aryan (Herod, iii. 161; vide inf. Appendix).

page 360 note b Indika, xii.

page 360 note c Prometheus Desmotês, 822–825. Aischylos is derided (Aristophanes, Batrachoi, 929) for using highsounding words such as grupaetos, ‘gryphon-eagle.’

page 360 note d Vide Brown, Robert, Jun. The Great Dionysiak Myth, i. 337Google Scholar.

page 360 note e Hist. Nat. vii. 2Google Scholar. Vide also Ibid. x. 70.

page 360 note f Vide Monstrorum Historia, 341.

page 360 note g Ecloga, viii. 2728Google Scholar.

page 361 note a E. T. Millington, Heraldry, 279.

page 361 note b Pharsalia, iii. 280Google Scholar.

page 361 note c Vide Priaulx, Apollonius of Tyana, 52–53.

page 361 note d Egypt. Αἴγυπτος (according to Brugsch) = Ha-Ka-Ptah (“House-of-the-cult-of-Ptah”).

page 361 note e Vide Wilkinson, , Ancient Egyptians, ii. 93Google Scholar.

page 362 note a Bunsen, , Egypt's Place, i. 529Google Scholar.

page 362 note b Ibid. v. 368.

page 362 note c Tiele, History of the Egyptian Religion, 75.

page 362 note d Ibid. 51.

page 362 note e Gemmae et Sculpturae Antiquae, 1694, No. 205.

page 362 note f Ancient Egyptians, ii. 10Google Scholar.

page 362 note g Coptic Kahinoub, χρύσεον ἔδαϕος; kaa = ‘floor,’ and nub, ‘gold’ (Vide Dr. Birch in Bnnsen's Egypt's Place, i. 441Google Scholar; Wilkinson, , Ancient Egyptians, ii. 10Google Scholar).

page 362 note h Ap. Brugsch, , Egypt under the Pharaohs, i. 371Google Scholar.

page 362 note i Vide Fergusson, Tree and Serpent Worship; Brown, Robert, Jun., The Great Dionysiak Myth, ii. 92Google Scholar.

page 363 note a Chaldean Account of Genesis, 1st edit. p. 90. Prof. Sayce has judiciously omitted this passage, and observes: “The dragon itself, according to the representations of the monuments, was a composite monster, with the tail, horns, claws, and wings of the mediæval devil” (Ibid. 2nd edit. p. 113).

page 363 note b Ap. Bonomi, Nineveh and its Palaces, 118.

page 363 note c Lajard, Culte de Mithra, Pl. xliii. Fig. 21. Cf. also Figs. 12, 13; and Pl. xlv. Fig. 18. Vide inf. p. 376, note d.

page 364 note a Herod, iv. 79.

page 364 note b Herodotus, iii. 20Google Scholar.

page 364 note c Vide Ancient Monarchies, i. 137Google Scholar.

page 364 note d Leake, Numismata Hellenica, in voc. Panticapœum.

page 365 note a Cf. Pindar, , Pyth. ix. 116Google Scholar; Brown, Robert, Jun., The Great Dionysiak Myth, i. 402Google Scholar.

page 365 note b Mycenœ and Tiryns, 177–8.

page 365 note c Vide Brown, Robert, Jun., The Great Dionysiak Myth, i. 334Google Scholaret seq.; 409–410; ii. 58.

page 365 note d Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria, ii. 174Google Scholar.

page 365 note e Ibid. 448.

page 366 note a Srabo, VIII. iii. 12.

page 366 note b Pausanias, I. xxiv. 5.

page 366 note c Vide British Museum Vase Catalogue, Nos. 377, 379.

page 366 note d Ibid. No. 435.

page 366 note e Iliad, iii. 277Google Scholar.

page 366 note f British Museum Vase Catalogue, No. 182.

page 366 note g Ibid. No. 946.

page 366 note h Ibid. No. 953.

page 366 note i Ibid. No. 934.

page 366 note k Δάϕνη, “the Burning.”

page 366 note l Birch, Ancient Pottery, 205.

page 366 note m Ibid. 239.

page 366 note n British Museum Vase Catalogue, No. 1368.

page 366 note o Birch, Ancient Pottery, 265.

page 366 note p As to the Amazon-Myth, vide inf. sec. v.

page 366 note q British Museum Vase Catalogue, No. 1393.

page 366 note r Ibid. c. 21.

page 367 note a British Museum Vase Catalogue, No. 1471.

page 367 note b Ibid. No. 1524.

page 367 note c Birch, Ancient Pottery, 287.

page 367 note d Ibid. 403.

page 367 note e Ibid. 432.

page 367 note f Ibid. 514.

page 367 note g Montfaucon, Vol. v. Pt. ii. Pl. cxl. Fig. 3.

page 367 note h Caylus, Antiquités Gauloises, Vol. iii. Pl. xcviii. Fig. 6.

page 367 note i Numismata Hellenica, in voc. Assus.

page 368 note a “Deae Nemesi, sive Fortunae” (Gruter, i. 80).

page 368 note b Pausanias, iv. xxx. 4.

page 368 note c Dionysiak. xlviii. 375Google Scholaret seq.

page 368 note d L'Antiquité Expliquée, Vol. v. Pt. ii. Pl clxii. Fig. 2.

page 368 note e Cf. No. vii.

page 368 note f Museum, Jesuits’ College, Rome.

page 368 note Ancient Art and its Remains, 449; cf. No. vii.

page 369 note a Queen of the Air, i. 41.

page 369 note b King, Antique Gems and Rings, Vol. ii. Pl. lv. Fig. 7.

page 369 note c Gubernatis, , Zoological Mythology, ii. 83Google Scholar.

page 369 note d Caylus, Recueil d'Antiquités, Vol. i. Pl. lxv. Fig. 3.

page 369 note e Müller, Ancient Art and its Remains, 449.

page 369 note f Cesnola, Salaminia, 50.

page 369 note g Montfaucon, Vol. v. Pt. i. Pl. xxix. Fig. 1.

page 369 note h Ibid. Pl. xxxi.

page 369 note i Ibid. Pl. xlix.

page 369 note k Ibid. Pl. lxiv. Fig. 2.

page 369 note l Vide inf. No. xiv.

page 369 note m Montfaucon, Vol. v. Pt. i. Pl. lxxix. Fig. 2.

page 369 note n As to the solar character of the Goat, vide Robert Brown, Jun., The Law of Kosmic Order, sec. xix. Capricomus, the Sea-goat.

page 369 note o Montfaucon, Vol. v. Pt. i. Pl. xxxvii. lxxviii.

page 370 note a Archaeologia, XLVII. 207Google Scholar.

page 370 note b King, The Gnostics and their Remains, 61.

page 370 note c Waring, Ceramic Art in Remote Ages, Pl. xxxvi. Fig. 2.

page 370 note d De Asino Aureo, lib. xi.

page 370 note e Figured in Poole and Hugall's York Cathedral, York, 1850, facing p. 191.

page 370 note f Vide Robert Brown, Jun., The Unicorn, in which the unicorn on this horn is fully noticed, and a picture of it given.

page 370 note g Figured in Wildridge's, Misereres of Beverly Minster, Hull, 1879.Google Scholar

page 370 note h Vide Brown, Robert, Jun., The Great Dionysiah Myth, i. 336Google Scholar.

page 370 note i Vide Hesychios, in voc.

page 370 note j Minsheu.

page 370 note k Cotgrave.

page 371 note a Dictionary, 1627, in voc. Gryffen.

page 371 note b English Etymological Dictionary, in voc. Griffin.

page 371 note c Fick, , Wōrterbuch, i. 74Google Scholar.

page 371 note d The Great Dionysiak Myth, ii. 58Google Scholar.

page 371 note e Monier Williams, Sanskrit English Dictionary, in voc.

page 371 note f History of Indian Literature (English translation), 1878, p. 250.

page 371 note g Ap. Prof. Sayce, , in Trans. Soc. Bib. Archaeol. iii. 181Google Scholar.

page 371 note h Ireland, ii. 18Google Scholar.

page 371 note i Livius, p. 1109.

page 372 note a Vulgar Errours, iii. 11Google Scholar.

page 372 note b Bundahis, xiv. 11Google Scholar. Ap. E. W. West, Pahlavi Texts, pt. i.

page 372 note c Ibid. xix. 18.

page 372 note d Ibid. xxiv. 11.

page 372 note e Ibid. xxiv. 29.

page 372 note f Fox, in the Notes to Southey's Thalaba.

page 372 note g Gubernatis, , Zoological Mythology, ii. 205Google Scholar.

page 372 note h Dictionary, 1724.

page 373 note a Early History of Mankind, 3rd edit. p. 319.

page 373 note b Vide sup. sec. ii.

page 373 note c As to the leonine sun, vide Robert Brown, Jun. The Unicorn, secs. xi. xii.; The Law of Kosmic Order, sec. xiv. Leo, the Lion.

page 374 note a Prof. Müller, Max, Lectures on the Science of Language, ii. 564Google Scholar.

page 374 note b Vide inf. Appendix: On the meaning of the name “Arimaspian.”

page 374 note c Robert Brown, Jun. The Unicorn, sec. iv. Deus Lunus; The Law of Kosmic Order, sec. xi. Taurus, the Bull.

page 374 note d Muir, , Sanscrit Texts, v. 49Google Scholar.

page 374 note e Funereal Ritual, cap. xlii.

page 374 note f Myths of the Odyssey in Art and Literature, 1882, pp. 30–31.

page 375 note a Principles of Comparative Philology, p. 321 et seq.

page 375 note b On the Origin of Solar Myths, Dublin Review, July, 1879, p. 109.

page 375 note c Mythology of the Aryan Nations, edit. 1882, p. 309.

page 375 note d Vide Iliad, iii. 189; Herod, iv. 110–117

page 376 note a Murray, Manual of Mythology, 256.

page 376 note b Sir G. W. Cox, Mythology of the Aryan Nations, 309, note p. 3.

page 376 note c The historical basis, as distinguished from the Natural Phenomena basis, of the Amazon-legend is supplied by the Hittite cult (rather than by the Phœnician cult, as Duncker, , History of Greece, i. 62Google Scholaret seq., holds) of the great non-Aryan goddess of Asia Minor, known as Kybelê, Kybêbê, Omphalê, Ma, and Artemis Ephesia. Thus Prof. Sayce remarks:—“Her handmaids and ministers, the Amazons, are certainly of Hittite origin, and are usually connected with places where there are Hittite remains.” (Trans. Soc. Bib. Archaeol. vii. 273Google Scholar.)

page 376 note d Apropos of the Gryphon in the Purat Valley (vide sup. p. 363), “twenty-four gold gryphons of Assyrian workmanship” have been “discovered near Kiev on the Dnieper” (Rev. Is. Taylor, , The Alphabet, ii. 216, note 1Google Scholar); and, in illustration of the non-evil nature of the Gryphon, and of his being on the side of the gods against the powers of evil (vide sup. p. 358), we find that in Indian mythology “the shades of the blessed” were said to be conveyed to the paradise “on the summit of Mount Meru … in celestial chariots drawn by winged gryphons” (Murray, Manual of Mythology, 380).