They once carried a sun god through the sky, kept watch over golden treasures and even protected the mighty Zeus with their sharp beaks; myths about griffins flourished in many ancient civilizations and continue in popular culture to this day.
The prevalence of such monstrous, beaked hybrids in various cultures has led some researchers to believe that the inspiration for these fantastical beasts lies in reality. They attribute the origin of their mythical existence to the discovery of fossilized dinosaur bones in Asia.
Two researchers from the University of Portsmouth have now argued that the dinosaur griffin origin story is itself a myth.
“Not all mythological creatures require fossil explanation,” says paleontologist Mark Witton.
“By including dinosaurs in griffin theory, particularly distant species such as Protoceratops, not only is unnecessary complexity and inconsistency introduced into their origins, but it also leads to reliance on interpretations and proposals that will not stand up to scrutiny.”
Stories about a beast with the head and forelimbs of a bird of prey and the body of a lion were attributed to Central Asia by ancient Greek and Roman authors. The spread of such stories along international trade routes led classical folklorist Adrienne Mayo to suggest that they had been invented some thirty years ago by Scythian prospectors who had stumbled upon beaked dinosaurs like protoceratops. This has since become the popular theory as to how griffin myths began.
In re-evaluating fossil data, Witton and his colleague Richard Hing discovered a number of inconsistencies in this idea.
Griffins were regarded as protectors in ancient Greece, often associated with guarding gold deposits – hence the suggested connection with prospectors.
There’s one problem: Protoceratops fossils have never actually been discovered near gold.
“It is believed that dinosaur skeletons are discovered half-naked and lying around almost like the remains of recently deceased animals,” Witton explains. “But generally only a fraction of an eroding dinosaur skeleton will be visible to the naked eye, unnoticed by all but sharp-eyed fossil hunters.”
Moreover, the myth of the griffins existed in the Mediterranean, as depicted by a Mycenaean vase from at least the 12th century BC, hundreds of years before news of the dinosaurs could have reached the same area.
Witton and Hing also point out that dinosaurs such as Protoceratops are only griffin-like because they have four limbs and a beak.
“There is nothing wrong with the idea that ancient peoples found dinosaur bones and incorporated them into their mythology,” Hing explains.
“But we must base such proposals on the realities of history, geography and paleontology. Otherwise they are just speculation.”
There are examples of geomythology that are based on fragments of truth. For example, stories about magical stone swallows with healing properties that fly freely during thunderstorms are likely shellfish fossils from the Chinese Devonian period, which resemble the spread wings of a bird.
Later in their history, fossil remains were also associated with griffins. In the Middle Ages, the horns of ungulates and extinct rhinoceroses were identified as the claws of the mythical beast. But this was centuries after griffin myths were well established.
The outline of an engraved Mesopotamian stamp found in present-day Iran is the oldest known depiction of a griffin, dating to 3000 BC.
“Everything about the origin of griffins is consistent with their traditional interpretation as imaginary beasts, just as their appearance can be fully explained by them being the chimeras of big cats and birds of prey,” Witton concludes.
Sometimes a fantasy is just that, even when shared across vast amounts of time and cultures.
This research was published in Interdisciplinary scientific reviews.