Griffin Sources

The Gryphon In Literature. This is "meat and potatoes" of James Scott Spaid's The Gryphon Pages. Spaid has assembled a very comprehensive set of citations, many drawn from Joe Nigg's books and in doing so has largely obviated the need for this page. The first page, on ancient authors, includes not only the usual Herodotus, Aeschylus and Plny, but Ctesias, the Alexander Romance and Pomponius Mela.[1] In general, his comments are sound[2]The 11-20c Literature page ranges fro Medieval authors like Mandeville and Benjamin of Tudela, through to Lewis Carroll.

Ancient and Medieval sources

Again, see James Scott Spaid's The Gryphon In Literature. Then—maybe—come back here.

Dave's Mythical Creatures and Places. Not content with the usual pap, Dave gives passages from Pomponius Mela, Sir John Mandeville and—my favorite guy—Isidore of Seville. Also has a good page on the Hippogriff. For more see his excellent Mythical Creatures site. I particularly appreciated the Bonnacon.

Philostratus' Life of Apollonius of Tyana, with bit on griffins.

Tangent on bestiaries

David Badke's "Medieval Bestiary" site on gryphons. The image is from the British Library and text is basic, but the larger site is excellent, particularly the hyperlinks to Pliny the Elder and—my main man—Isidore of Seville. Also top-notch is Badke's summary of the Physiologus .

Greek Mythology Link: Bestiary runs through griffins in classical authors (scroll down the page). The author Carlos Parada's Greek Mythology Link is a wonderful collection of Greek myth links. Parada is the author of the Genealogical Guide to Greek Myth.

Catholic Encyclopedia: Bestiaries, and a separate entry on the Physiologus.

15th-19th Century

Lewis Carrol, Alice in Wonderland the scene with the gryphon.

Contemporary griffin fiction

The Gryphboard: Literary Library, "read and comment on stories, poems and fanfiction that our members have written.."

The Gryphon In Modern Literature from James Scott Spaid's The Gryphon Pages.

"The Gryphon and the Gift" by "Issarad J'Khale," from Gothos.

"Jalin's gryphon tale" by "Jalin Tor'ith," from Gothos.

Turteltaub, The Gryphon's Skull

Amazon. The Gryphon's Skull by H. N. Turteltaub. According to Adrienne Mayor, Turteltaub (the historical-fantasy author Harry Turtledove) drew on her griffons and Protoceratops theory for this story of Hellenistic seamen journeying to Athens to sell such a fossil, presumably to Theophrasus. Apparently, this novel is a sequel to "Turteltaub's" Over the Wine-dark Sea. Personally, after slogging through Turtledove's painful Worldwar: In the Balance only to discover it was the first of four books, I'm never touching him again.[3]

Reviewed by Steven H Silver from Steven Silver's Reviews, "a painless lesson in history."

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner from "The Best Reviews" (Romance books!)

Contemporary griffin poetry

"Nothing To Fear But Fear Itself" by Adam Gibbs.

"The Land of Forgotten Beasts" (The Gryphon's Song) from Barbara Wersba's 1964 The Land of Forgotten Beasts, courtesy James Scott Spaid's The Gryphon Pages.

24 Griffin Poems by young school-children.