Griffin

Origin and myth

The griffin is far older than Greece. Griffin-like creatures appear on Mesopotamian cylinder seals around 3000 BC, at Susa in Elam, on Egyptian slate carvings of the late 4th millennium BC and in the 15th-century BC frescoes of the Throne Room at Minoan Knossos. The Greeks inherited the image and gave it a story. Aeschylus calls griffins the "sharp-beaked hounds of Zeus", and Herodotus, writing in the 5th century BC, reports that in the far north lived the one-eyed Arimaspians, who were said to steal gold from the griffins that guarded it. Part of the tale came, he says, from a poem by Aristeas of Proconnesus, who claimed to have visited the Issedones, a people beyond the Scythians; modern scholars often place them somewhere in Central Asia.

That detail matters to Central Asia. Griffins are a favourite motif of Scythian animal-style art of the 6th-4th centuries BC, and griffin variants appear on the carvings and even the tattoos of the Pazyryk culture of the Altai Mountains. The folklorist Adrienne Mayor has proposed that fossil skeletons of beaked dinosaurs such as Protoceratops, found along old Central Asian gold routes, helped shape the legend, though palaeontologists such as Mark Witton dispute the idea.

Medieval Europe made the griffin a symbol of Christ - lion of the earth and eagle of the sky - most famously in Dante's Purgatorio, and a heraldic beast signifying courage and vigilance. Supposed griffin claws, in reality the horns of cattle or antelope, were mounted as precious drinking cups.

Appearance

The griffin has the hindquarters of a lion and the forequarters of an eagle, and the join should be at the shoulders. The hind legs are a lion's, with heavy thighs, a tufted tail and padded, clawed paws. The forelegs are an eagle's: scaled, with four long taloned toes, thinner than the hind legs but powerful.

The head is an eagle's, with a large hooked beak and forward-facing eyes under a heavy brow. Many Greek and medieval depictions add tall pointed ears, a feature that distinguishes the griffin from a plain eagle-headed hybrid. Feathers cover the head, neck and chest, transitioning to fur along the flanks. The wings are feathered, broad and long, rooted at the shoulders above the eagle forelegs.

Proportions are roughly those of a large lion, with the wingspan about two and a half times the body length. Colours in classical art are natural: golden-brown fur, dark brown or black feathers with lighter edges, a yellow beak and talons. Some Scythian pieces show the crest and wing feathers stylised into scrolls, which is worth borrowing for a steppe-themed model.

In modern fantasy

The griffin is a staple flying mount or monster in tabletop role-playing games, strategy and fantasy video game series such as Warcraft and Heroes of Might and Magic, and fantasy fiction, where it lends its name to Harry Potter's Gryffindor house. It appears on countless game logos, guild crests and fantasy heraldry. Modern portrayals keep the creature dignified and usually place it on the side of order, in keeping with its history as a guardian.

3D printing notes

A griffin's spread wings are the main challenge. At 28-32 mm, resin is the only way to get the feather detail, and the wings should be printed either folded or as separate parts with a peg at the shoulder. Tilt the model 30 degrees and support the beak, ear tips, wing edges and the underside of the belly.

At 75 mm, resin still wins for feathers, but FDM with a 0.4 mm nozzle at 0.12 mm layers can handle the lion body and folded wings with acceptable results if you plan to sand and prime. Print separately: body, two wings, head. This lets each wing lie flat on the bed and print with few or no supports.

For a 150 mm or larger centrepiece, FDM is practical for the body and rock base; print the head and wing tips in resin for detail. A griffin on a rock outcrop with wings raised makes a classic pose and a stable model, and a rearing pose needs a strong rock or tail contact to avoid a fragile two-point stand.

Painting and display

The natural scheme is hard to beat: a tawny lion body dry-brushed with ochre and washed with sepia, chest and neck feathers in a warm brown fading to cream at the tips, and wing feathers in dark brown or slate with a pale edge on each feather. A gold beak and talons tie the creature to the guardian-of-gold legend. For a Scythian look, paint the crest and wing edges in metallic gold over a red-brown base.

A base with scattered gold nuggets or a broken treasure chest fits the myth; a mountain ledge with snow suits an Altai theme.

Related creatures

The Hippogriff is the griffin's literary offspring, half griffin and half horse. The Sphinx is the other great lion hybrid of the ancient world, the Roc is a giant bird of the same eastern trade routes, and the Kazakh Samruk guards the world tree much as the griffin guards gold.

Sources

• Herodotus, Histories 4.13 (trans. A. D. Godley), Perseus Digital Library, https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0126:book=4:chapter=13
• Theoi Greek Mythology, Grypes (Griffins), https://www.theoi.com/Thaumasios/Grypes.html
• Wikipedia, Griffin, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griffin

If you would like a griffin printed as a mount, a guardian or a crest, get in touch with Fantasy Lab 3D through the contact form.