Hippogriff

The hippogriff, or sometimes spelled hippogryph (Greek: Ἱππόγρυπας), is a legendary creature which has the front half of an eagle and the hind half of a horse. The hippogriff, or sometimes spelled hippogryph (Greek: Ἱππόγρυπας), is a legendary creature which has the front half of an eagle and the hind half of a horse. The first recorded mention of the hippogriff was made by the Latin poet Virgil in his Eclogues. Though sometimes depicted during the Classical Era and during the rule of the Merovingians, it was used by Ludovico Ariosto in his Orlando Furioso, at the beginning of the 16th century. Within the poem, the hippogriff is a steed born of a mare and a griffin—it is extremely fast and is presented as being able to fly around the world and to the Moon. It is ridden by magicians and the wandering knight Ruggiero, who, from the creature’s back, frees the beautiful Angelica. Astolfo also borrows the hippogriff from Bradamante to go search for Roland's wits. Sometimes depicted on coats of arms, the hippogriff became a subject of visual art in the 19th century, when it was often drawn by Gustave Doré. The word hippogriff, also spelled hippogryph, is derived from the Ancient Greek: ἵππος híppos, meaning 'horse', and the Italian grifo meaning 'griffin' (from Latin gryp or gryphus), which denotes another mythical creature, with the head of an eagle and body of a lion, that is purported to be the father of the hippogriff. The word hippogriff was adopted into English shortly before 1615. The hippogriff is a symbol of the Greek god Apollo, either through his connection to the Muses or as god of the sun. Buonarotti is stated to have believed that the worship of Apollo, and with him the symbol of the hippogriff, came to the Greeks from cultures to the east. Of the heraldic representations of the hippogriff, Arthur Charles Fox-Davies states that hybrid fantastical creatures' depictions are 'ugly, inartistic, and unnecessary. Their representation leaves one with a disappointed feeling of crudity of draughtsmanship.' John Vinycomb states that the hippogriff is not used in the British heraldic tradition. Ludovico Ariosto's poem, Orlando furioso (1516) contains description (canto IV): According to Thomas Bulfinch's Legends of Charlemagne: According to Vidal, a Spanish historian, this creature was supposed to live near Céret, in the County of Roussillon of modern-day France, during the Middle Ages. Claw marks were found on a rock near Mas Carol. The belief in the existence of the hippogriff, such as Ariosto describes, is fiercely attacked in a scientific essay on religion in 1862, which argues that such an animal can neither be a divine creation, nor truly exist. The Book of Enoch quite clearly details how Satan and his fallen angels created various hybrids by admixture. The Sphinx is the most well known such hybrid. The hippogriff is supposed to be a mixture of several animals and the author notes that in order to support its weight, the wings would be so heavy that flight would be impossible, which proves—without question—that it does not exist.