(Gryphae). Asia. Arimaspi contend with griffins for emeralds. Griffins with heads and wings of eagles resemble lions in their bodies they will fly away with an ox. The idea of gigantic winged creatures might be taken from fossilized bones and horns thought to be the claws of monstrous birds. As when a Gryphon through the wilderness Pursues the Arimaspian who by stealth Had from his watchful custody purloined The guarded gold. Milton; Paradise Lost II. 943.

Mythical animals with the body of a lion and the head of an eagle. They were mainly known in Anatolia from where they passed into the Minoan, and from there to ancient Greek mythology and art.