House Symbols (was: CoS irrelevant?)

[theresnothingtoit <mi_shell16@hotmail.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 48798

This post really has nothing to do with the relevence of CoS but 
something struck me as odd when I was reading the thread:

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "erisedstraeh2002 
<erisedstraeh2002 at y...>" <erisedstraeh2002 at y...> wrote:

>In legend, the griffin was believed 
> to be the "adversary of serpent and basilisks, both of which were 
> seen as embodiments of satanic demons" (from the What's in a Name 
> website – paraphrased from the Dictionary of Symbolism). I believe 
> this to be a parallel to Gryffindor's Fawkes and Slytherin's 
> basilisk, and perhaps a clue to a possible good-against-evil fight 
> between Gryffindor and Slytherin 1,000 years ago. 

Why is the symbol of Gryffindor a lion and not a griffen?  The lion 
is used to symbolise bravery I think but there is quite a bit of 
speculation that Dumbledores office is the same office that Godric 
Gryffindor used, still containing his pet phenoix.  On that point why 
isn't the symbol a pheonix either.

On another house related question why is the symbol of *raven*claw an 
eagal?

Theresnothingtoit