In terms of fantastical hybrid beasts, griffins are an intriguing breed. Half lion, half raptor, winged, there are so many body parts for ancient artists to elaborate upon, and any ideas about those blossom-like knobs ever-present on their foreheads?
And this is a most remarkable 7th century example from Olympia – the very best century for griffins and where so many excellent examples ended up. It is hammered from bronze sheet with lavish details in repoussé and unusually large, so large that generally it is thought to have been nailed to a wooden structure (perhaps even the metope of a treasury) as a flashy and useful protection against water damage.
And monumentatlized thusly, she would have been a fearsome to behold – a screaming predator with ominously curled tail, and worryingly muscular forearms and haunches. And incase you were wondering, baby griffins apparently breast-fed (…no mean feat with a raptor’s beak..) and just visible beneath her terrifying mother a little griffling suckles.
