The Devon and Exeter Daily Gazette, 10 December 1889, Page 7.
In Greek mythology, gryphons were said to guard the gold of the Hyperboreans, a mythical people who lived in the far north. They were also said to be the mounts of the gods Apollo and Zeus.
Gryphons have also been featured in many other cultures around the world. In Egypt, they were associated with the sun god Ra. In Persia, they were seen as symbols of the king. And in China, they were believed to be able to control the weather.
Today, gryphons are still popular symbols of power and strength. They are often used in heraldry, and they can be found on flags, coats of arms, and other symbols of authority.
Here are some interesting facts about gryphons:
- The word "gryphon" comes from the Greek word "gryps," which means "hooked beak."
- Gryphons are often depicted with a lion's body and an eagle's head and wings, but there are also variations with the body of an eagle and the head of a lion.
- Gryphons are said to be very intelligent and cunning. They are also said to be very fierce and protective of their territory.
- Gryphons are often associated with the sun, gold, and wisdom.
- Gryphons are a popular symbol in art, literature, and heraldry.
GROTESQUE AND CARICATURE OF THE MIDDLE AGES
A very interesting lecture, with lantern illustrations, was delivered in the Art Gallery of the Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter, yesterday afternoon, to a large audience, by Mr. W. Cotton, F.S.A., on " Grotesque and Caricature of the Middle Ages." The chair was occupied by the Right Worshipful the Mayor (Mr. T. Snow). The lecturer began by stating that the subjects of grotesque and caricature, although capable of separate definition, ware so inextricably involved in the pictures in wood and stone left to us by our ancestors that it was almost impossible to deal with them apart. What might appear to be a grotesque only often contains a hidden satire, and in many satires the grotesque predominated. During that long period on which history shed but a faint and dubious light, known as the Middle Ages, a mass of materials accumulated of a grotesque character, and without system or arrangement, without a guide to their significance, it was impossible to discover their meaning and purpose.
The problem was more difficult in the fact that at a later period this material, compounded of a mixture of Pagan memories and Christian idealism, found its way into the cathedral churches, clothed with a rude materialism in accord with the popular taste. Coarse and horrible, quaint and fantastic, as many of these representations appeared, they were found intermixed with subjects of the most sacred character mad designs sublime in their conception. Many theories bad been advanced by different authorities as to the meaning and intention of these objects, but it was difficult without a clue or guide, to even conjecture the meaning of this confusion of imagery. He thought, however, a solution to some extent might be found to at least a small part of it, and this, if correct, might lead to the discovery of the remainder. It would be found that many of the animals, birds, and fish mentioned in the Bible were represented in the carved work of our cathedrals, and there were many others which were not so mentioned—the tiger for instance, and the fabulous animals such as the syren, centaur, sphinx, gryphon, the mantigora, &c. Now, it must be remembered, he added, that the Biblical animals and birds were entirely unknown in England,
and probably in Europe, at the time these pictures of them were carved on the stalls and pillars of our cathedrals. Whence, then, were obtained the models from which the artists and workmen were able to produce the prototypes of those objects which, more or less faithfully, they represented? The first clue to be taken and followed was the fact that many of these were everywhere identical in character and design, thus pointing to a common origin. It would be found that the lion, a prominent object in these pictures, was either destroying a gryphon or a tiger, or that he was being subdued by Sampson or David; that the phoenix was rising from its ashes; that the pelican was sustaining its young to its own disadvantage; that the syren was luring sailors to their destruction, and that the mantigora was engaged in his predatory operations on man. These and many others were identical in conception and design. The same story was told in each, and the only difference was in the execution, which varied according to the ability of the artist. Then there were representations which in themselves told no story, but whose presence everywhere betrayed some meaning, symbolical or otherwise, which was not apparent to the uninitiated.
The lecturer here gave numerous illustrations of these objects in our own Cathedrals, on Celtic crosses, sepulchral stones, &c. Continuing, he said in the very earliest days of Christianity there was in circulation, as we should say, but perhaps better stated as known to the cultivated few, a collection of some 40 or 50 drawings of animals, with marvellous mythical descriptions of their habits and proclivities. This collection was known by the title of "Physiologos, the Naturalist," The work was probably of Egypto-Hellenic origin, and one indication of this was the fact that the two animals best known in Egypt — the ass and the camel — were not included in the collection. To attribute to such familiar beasts the supernatural powers and instincts which were the great attraction of the work would have brought the whole thing into ridicule. Theologians having in their minds the animals of Scripture, and prepared to take upon trust the strange notions regarding the beasts of the natural world, saw in this work a means available for religious instruction. The Alexandrian School, with its love of symbolism, at once took it up, and adapted it to the theology of the schools. The Church of Rome adopted it, added to it, and appended the moralising so much in force with the early Christians, and even more strongly with the Anglo-Saxons.
The work, better known in this country under the title of the " Bestiary,' is exceedingly rare. There were not more than three dozen copies in existence distributed about among the Museums of Europe and thee East, and written in about a dozen Eastern and Western languages. It was from the drawings in these manuscript books that the mediaeval artists obtained their models for the strange creatures which they carved in wood and stone; not merely as architectural pictures for the embellishment of the buildings in which they were found, but as an earnest system of Christian symbolism appropriate to the churches and Christian worship. The lecturer identified many of the animals in the "Bestiaries," with examples from the cathedrals, and gave illustrations of them on the screen by means of an oxy-hydrogen lantern. He also quoted the argument of the Saxon poem, "The Lay of the Phoenix," given by Bishop Leofric to the Exeter Cathedral library in 1050. Then came quotations from the "Bestiaries," of which the following is an example: — "The centaur, a favourite object in cathedral and other subjects, is described as half horse and half man, and is usually shown with a bow and arrow shooting at a savage clothed in a lion's skin, having a horn on top of his head.
We are told that in the desert of India there are savages who have one horn in the middle of the forehead. They inhabit high trees on account of the wild beasts, such as serpents, dragons, griffins, lions, and bears, which are very plentiful in those parts. Savages made war upon the centaurs, and the centaurs upon them. The war between the savages and the centaurs signifies the contest between the soul and the flesh. The savages living in trees for fear of wild beasts signifies the soul which is peaceable and dislikes war. The savage fighting with the lion is like the soul which battles with the flesh and overcomes it." The lecture was profusely illustrated with drawings of the objects referred to, many being original drawings from ancient manuscripts in the British Museum, all were of a most interesting character. The latter part of the lecture was devoted to the caricatures of men and manners during the Middle Ages, also illustrated, and excited considerable amusement. — At the close a hearty vote of thanks was awarded Mr. Cotton for his interesting lecture, upon the proposition of the Mayor.
JC L'Angelle University of Nevada, Reno
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