These are some of the earliest non-deity life powers. As middle layer life powers they have wings and are associated with the sun and storm god Hu and the life network editor and crescent moon goddess Ayu. During a drought they were considered to be out of the control of these gods. "Griffin" is the preferred spelling in American English, while "gryphon" is more commonly used in British English.
(July 7, 2025) Greek mythology gave us the name "griffin or gryffin." The following seem to be the earliest written record in Greek about Griffins.
"Beware of the sharp-beaked hounds of Zeus that do not bark, the gryphons, and the one-eyed Arimaspian folk, mounted on horses, who dwell about the flood of Pluto’s stream that flows with gold. Do not approach them."
in Prometheus Bound, fifth-century BCE tragedy, attributed to Aeschylus. Translation in McClanan, A. L.. Griffinology: The Griffin’s Place in Myth, History and Art (p. 36). REAKTION BOOKS. Kindle Edition.
This Aristeas, possessed by Phoibos, visited the Issedones; beyond these (he said) live the one-eyed Arimaspoi, beyond whom are the Grypes 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. (Herodotus 4.13.1, c.484–c.425 BCE)
Pliny the Elder (1st century) was the first to state explicitly that griffins were winged and long eared yet we have many ancient art works showing that was indeed the case.
The word "Griffon" derives from Ancient Greek: γρύψ, Classical Latin: gryps or grypus, Late and Medieval Latin: gryphes, grypho, Old French: griffon.
As a Druid Akkadian phrase it would be: GR.UŠ meaning "Aid.Foundation or "Aid to the earth" where "foundation" is an epithet for the earth. The following are their Druid Akkadian dictionary entries:
(July 3, 2022) Not all ancestral pillar stones have carvings but pillar 43 has an extensive set illustrating the Ancient Pagan Paradigm as a background to a drought indicated by dying birds.
Pillar 43 is known as the vulture stone because of its vulture image in the left middle position. That central section represents the middle connective layer of the Ancient Pagan Paradigm. The three large bricks making up its ceiling is the sky-shell.
Right below the sky-shell and mixed in with the eagle vultures is a network represented by a fishing net similar to that shown below. According the Alphabetic Akkadian Mediterranean texts the eagle-vultures trim the network to direct the fertility fluids flowing within its links from the source layer to the proper place on earth. In the image, the eagle-vulture is holding the masculine sun in one wing which represents the connective power of the network and its fluids, sunlight, heat, and rain (when hidden).
To the right of the network are Sacred Ibis which because of the shape of their beak and black head represent the feminine crescent moon against the night sky (it was popular in Egypt). The crescent moon power is the feminine complement to the sun and it guides the eagle-vultures and hence the flow of the fertility fluids. Significantly these ibises are lying down dead or weak indicating the crescent moon power has failed or is weak. To the right of the birds seems to be a dead snake. Snakes representing the power of life and death in ancient mythologies.
The image section below the connective layer represents the manifestation layer of the Ancient Pagan Paradigm. While partly hidden it contains a scorpion which represents paralysis. This would indicate that the life powers on earth are paralyzed due to the problems with the high powers.
The later agricultural settlement period at Gobekli Tepe is represented by “Level II” having remains belonging to 8800-8000 BCE. It consists of buildings with rectangular rooms made from stone walls and terrazzo floors. It had less elaborate ritual places consisting only of large stone rings. Some of these buildings had smaller pillars being only 1.5 meters (5 feet) tall. This smaller scale indicates a smaller and more local population was supporting the rituals at this time instead of the larger population from festival gatherings (see Calleti 2020 for the latest update)
(July 7, 2025) This important image captures both the transition of eagle-vultures into griffins and the personification of eagle-vultures into divine spirits. This happened during around the time of the Great Drought which ended the Bronze Age. This seal is just after that time during the rise of the Mesopotamian empires who took advantage of their weakened neighbors.
The out of control, drought-causing eagle-vulture is shown with a lion's golden body which associates it with the sun but it also turns it into a wild beast. In contrast, the controlling eagle-vulture representing the order of normal times is shown as a human. They are fighting over the fertility of the cow herds represented by the calf.
This was acquired by the American banker J. Peirpont Morgan between 1885 and 1908. It is now at the Morgan Museum and Library in New York. Online at: https://www.themorgan.org/seals-and-tablets/84236
(July 7, 2025) This would have been a plaque inlay applied to some furniture. It was found in Room SW 12 of Fort Shalmaneser along the southern edge of the city of Kalhu which was a fort and workshop for Assyrian king Shalmaneser III (reigned 858-824 BCE)
This object is now in the collection at British Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, accession number 1965A451.2 (ND 11099).
https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/nimrud/ancientkalhu/thecity/fortshalmaneser/
(July 8, 2025) Fresco from Akrotiri (Xeste 3, Room 3, 1st floor) dating to the 1600's BCE. Now at the Prehistoric Museum of Thira, Fira, Santorini. The remains of the original fresco is shown to the right. Notice the Druid spirals on the wings.
Drawing from: A.L. McClanan (2024) Griffinology - A Griffins Place in Myth, History, and Art. Reaktion Books Ltd, London
(July 8, 2025) Fresco from Akrotiri (Xeste 3, Room 3, 1st floor), 17th century BC. Prehistoric Museum of Thira, Fira, Santorini.
Wikimedia Commons at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monkey,_Goddess,_griffin,_fresco_from_Akrotiri,_17th_c_BC,_MPTh,_226307x.jpg
(July 8, 2025) The cauldron was found in a dismantled state with five long rectangular plates, seven short plates, one round plate (normally called the "base plate"), and two fragments of tubing stacked inside the curved base. Everything indicates it was hidden away. Where it was actually made is uncertain due to the extensive trade networks of the time.
These 2 griffins are located beneath 2 elephants seemingly created sight unseen from descriptions. They flank a helmeted goddess placed above a wolf. Such wolves typically represent times of starvation when they become desperate hunters. Between the wolf and the griffins are sun symbols.
Gundestrup cauldron, interior plate 4. Copy by galvanoplasty, museum of Bibracte, exhibition at the Cité des Sciences, Paris ("Les Gaulois, une expo renversante").
(Jan. 20, 2023) This text is blaming magic for opening up the astrological powers of fate which in turn are causing a drought by making the sun too strong. In this it parallels text 11 found on the island of Naxos.
