Eagle-headed Lion

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Video: Eagle-headed Lion

Video: Eagle-headed Lion
Video: Great Beasts of Legend: Anzu the Lion Headed Eagle 2024, March
Eagle-headed Lion
Eagle-headed Lion
Anonim
Eagle-headed lion - griffin
Eagle-headed lion - griffin

It first appeared somewhere in the Middle East about five thousand years ago. There is an assumption that people and dinosaurs "crossed" on some part of the historical path, and griffin - this is the embodiment of the "collective memory" of humanity about the ancient flying reptiles.

The omnipresent monster

Even before the appearance of the griffin in written sources, its appearance was repeatedly captured on stones and ivory, silver and gold, silk and bronze. His image can be found on the walls of the palace and the mosaic floors of the Persian kings at Persepolis. With caravans of merchants, armies of conquerors and nomadic tribes, the evil and amazing monster spread throughout the ancient world.

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The oldest image of him was found on the territory of modern Iran on a seal made about 3000 years BC. Many of his images have been found by archaeologists during excavations on the island of Crete, on the walls of the throne room of the palace in Knossos, the capital of the Minoan state, on tombstones and in sanctuaries. They were also found in the mounds of Altai.

The image of the griffin passes through millennia and is found in different cultures. Its Assyrian name is k'rub, meaning "fantastic winged creature," and it figures frequently in the history of this cruel and tyrannical ancient power. The griffin, as it were, combined several types of animals. According to some descriptions, it is a mammal with four legs with wings, vicious and strong. He looks like a lion in body, and like an eagle in wings and head.

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According to others, a griffin is a four-legged bird with plumage of different colors and a serpentine tail, often with ears and a row of thorns on its neck. In size and strength, it is equal to eight lions, stronger and larger than a hundred eagles. This is a much more powerful animal than all animals living on Earth. The griffin was perceived as a mysterious, mysterious and powerful creature, and people believed in its real existence.

Traces in history

On the pages of ancient manuscripts of different cultures, the details of the image, the appearance of the griffin and its mores are noticeably different.

The ancient Greeks left us a myth that at the very edge of the oecumene, a real inhabited world for them, creepy griffins live. Aristeus of Proconnes in the 7th century BC traveled through Central Asia in search of the Hyperboreans and the sanctuary of Apollo and reached the Immedonians. They told him that to the north of their lands there is a mountain range, there are constantly cold winds blowing, there are gold-bearing rivers and one-eyed people - Arimasps live. They steal gold from the fast and vicious monsters that guard it. It is not known what the Immedonians themselves called them, but Aristeus called them griffins.

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