mythical creatures

[catlady_de_los_angeles]

Original Yahoo! HPFG Header:
No: HPFGUIDX C4352
From: catlady_de_los_angeles
Subject: Re: mythical creatures
Reply To: [Yahoo! #4351] Re: mythical creatures
Date: 7/15/00 4:12 pm  (ET)

> Am I the only one who's wondering why the symbol for Gryffindor isn't
a griffin, but a lion?

I wondered until I learned that the symbol for Ravenclaw is an eagle
not a raven.

A griffin/gryphon (the name comes from a Greek word meaning 'snatcher')
has the back half of a lion and the front half of an eagle. I am not
sure of the name of the author (Adrienne Mayor? - recent book about
Ancient Greek encounters with fossils) who said the Greeks learned about
griffins from the Scythians and the Scythians learned about griffins from
the Gobi Desert Altai people (who also told the Chinese about griffins).

The Gobi Desert Altai people traded gold to the Scythians and told
the Scythians that the gold was guarded by savage griffins who would
devour anyone who came near the gold unless they were lulled by secret
spells. The griffins laid their eggs in nests safely on the sides of
cliffs, sat on their eggs like birds, and fed bloody prey like sheep to
their young-uns.

But the Gobi Desert Altai people did NOT tell the Scythians that all the
griffins they had ever seen were so long dead that they were just bones
-- Oviraptor dinosaur bones in nests eroding out of the Red Mountains
of Mongolia.