Hippogriff

The hippogriff, or sometimes hippogryph 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.

Sometimes depicted on heraldic 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 and Hippogryphe 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.

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