Griffin

Griffin depicted on obverse side of coin.

―Silver tetradrachm. Abdera (c. 450–430BC).[4][lower-alpha 1]

The derivation of this word remains uncertain. It could be related to the Greek word γρυπός (grypos), meaning 'curved', or 'hooked'. Greek γρύφ (gryph) from γρύφ 'hook-nosed' is suggested.[5]

It could also have been an Anatolian loan word derived from a Semitic language; compare the Hebrew word for cherub כרוב kərúv.[6][7]

Shirdal on the silver cup, Iranian Art.

In the modern Persian language, the griffin has come to be called shirdal (Persian: شیردال), meaning 'lion-eagle'. However, the practice of referring to ancient Iranian griffin objects or monuments as shirdal,[8] is not followed by other current archaeological scholarship (e.g., here[9]).

Possible Old or Middle Iranian names for the creature have been discussed. Middle Persian Sēnmurw in Sasanian culture was a fabulous composite creature, and Russian archaeologist Boris A. Litvinskij argued for the possibility that the application of this term may extend to the griffin.[10][11] The term Sēnmurw is recognized as the etymological ancestor of simurgh, which is generally regarded as a mythological bird (rather than a composite) in later medieval Persian literature,[12][lower-alpha 2] though some argue that this bird may have originated from the Mesopotamian lion-griffin.[13]

There is also the Armenian term Paskuč (Armenian: պասկուչ) that had been used to translate Greek gryp 'griffin' in the Septuagint,[14] which H. P. Schmidt characterized as the counterpart of the simurgh.[12] However, the cognate term Baškuč (glossed as 'griffin') also occurs in Middle Persian, attested in the Zoroastrian cosmological text Bundahishn XXIV (supposedly distinguishable from Sēnmurw which also appears in the same text).[15] Middle Persian Paškuč is also attested in Manichaean magical texts (Manichaean Middle Persian: pškwc), and this must have meant a "griffin or a monster like a griffin" according to W. B. Henning.[16] Deir El Bersha

The griffin was given names which were descriptive epithets, such as tštš[lower-alpha 3] or tesh-tesh[17] meaning "Tearer[-in-pieces]"[18][17] inscribed on a griffin image found in a tomb at Deir El Bersha;[19][21] and sfr/srf "fiery one", attested at Beni Hasan.[22][23] The descriptive epithet "Tearer" is not uniquely applied to the griffin beast, and tštš (Teš-teš) has also been used to denote the god Osiris elsewhere.[24][27]

The griffin of Greece, as depicted in cast[lower-alpha 4] bronze cauldron protomes (cf. below), has a squat face with short beaks[lower-alpha 5] that are open agape as if screaming, with the tongue showing.[30] There is also a "top-knob" on its head or between the brows.[30]

Griffins and lions on cauldron. Etruscan.

—8th - 7th centuries B.C., from Barberini tomb. National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia, Rome.[31]

There may also be so-called "tendrils", or curled "spiral-locks" depicted, presumably representing either hair/mane or feather/crest locks dangling down. Single- or double-streaked tendrils hang down both sides and behind the griffin's neck, carven on some of the Greek protomes.[30][32][lower-alpha 6] The tendril motif emerged at the beginning of the first millennium, BC., in various parts of the Orient.[33] The "double spiral of hair running downwards from the base of the ear" is said to be a hallmark of Iranian (Uratrian) art.[34] The Etruscan cauldron-griffins (e.g., from Barberini tomb, figure right[lower-alpha 7][lower-alpha 8]) also bear the "curled tresses" that are the signature of Uratrian workmanship.[35][lower-alpha 9] Even the ornate crests on Mycenean griffins (such as the fresco of the Throne Room, figure top of page) may be a development of these curled tresses.[38][lower-alpha 10]

One prominent characteristic of the cauldron griffins is the "top-knob between the brows"[30] (seemingly situated at the top of the head[39]).

The top-knob feature has clear oriental origins.[40] Jack Leonard Benson says these appendages were "topknots" subsequently rendered as "knobs" in later development of the cauldron Griffins.[41] Benson's emphasis is that the Greeks attached a stylized "anorganic" topknot[41] or an "inorganic" plug on the griffin's head (due to lack of information),[41][lower-alpha 11] while in contrast, a known oriental example (stone protomes from Nimrud) is simple but more "plausible" (naturalistic), resembling a forelock.[42]

A cluster of "warts" between the eyes are also mentioned.[43] One conjecture is that these derive from the bumps (furrows) on a lion's snout.[44] Another view regards the wart as deriving from the bumpy cockscomb on a rooster or other such fowls.[45]

Griffins were depicted on cylinder seals in Mesopotamia c. 3000 BC,[48] perhaps as early as the Uruk period (4000–3100BC) and subsequent Proto-Elamite (Jemdet Nasr) period.[47] An example of a winged lion with beaks, unearthed in Susa (cf. fig. right[46]) dates to the 4th millennium B.C., and is a unique example of a griffin with a male lion's mane.[47] However, this monster then ceased to continue to be expressed after the Elamite culture.[47]

What the Sumerians of the Early Dynastic period portrayed instead were winged lions, and the lion-headed eagle (Imdugud).[49]

In the Akkadian Empire that succeeded Sumer, early examples (from early 3rd millennium BC[50]) of lion-griffins appeared on cylinder seals, shown pulling the chariots for its rider, the weather god.[52][53] The lion-griffin on Akkadian seals are also shown as fire-belching, and shaggy (at the neck) in particular examples.[54][49][50]

The bronzeworks of Luristan, the North and North West region of Iran in the Iron Age, include examples of Achaemenid art depicting both the "bird-griffin" and "lion-griffin" designs, such as are found on horse-bits.[55][8] Bernard Goldman maintains the position that Luristan examples must be counted as developments of the "lion-griffin" type, even when it exhibits "stylization .. approaching the beak of a bird".[56] The Luristan griffins resemble and perhaps are descended from Assyrian creatures, possibly influenced by Mitannian animals,[57][58] or perhaps there had been parallel development in both Assyrian and Elamite cultures.[55]

Griffin images appeared in art of the Achaemenian Persian Empire. Russian jewelry historian Elena Neva maintained that the Achaemenids considered the griffin "a protector from evil, witchcraft, and secret slander",[59] but no writings exist from Achaemenid Persia to support her claim. R.L. Fox (1973) remarks that a "lion-griffin" attacks a stag in a pebble mosaic at Pella, from the 4th century BC,[60][61] perhaps serving as an emblem of the kingdom of Macedon or a personal emblem of Antipater, one of Alexander's successors.

An golden frontal half of a griffin from the Ziwiye hoard (near Saqqez city) in Kurdistan Province, Iran resembles the western protomes in style.[62][lower-alpha 12] They were of Urartian workmanship (neither Assyrian or Scythian),[lower-alpha 13][34] though the hoard itself may have represented a Scythian burial.[63] The griffin is described as having a "visor" (i.e., beaks) made by Urartian craftsmen, similar to what is found on Greek protomes.[34]

Representations of griffin-like hybrids with four legs and a beaked head appeared in Ancient Egyptian art dating back to before 3000 BC.[64] The oldest known depiction of a griffin-like animal in Egypt appears as a relief carving on slate on the cosmetic palette from Hierakonpolis,[66] the so-called "Two Dog Palette"[67] dated to the Early Dynastic Period,[68] c. 3300–3100 BC.[69]

Griffin-type creatures combining raptor heads and mammalian bodies were depicted in the Levant, Syria, and Anatolia during the Middle Bronze Age,[70][71] dated at about 1950–1550 BC.[72]

Bronze griffin head fragment (of a cauldron protome)

―Olympia, Greece. 7th century BC. Olympia museum

The griffin appeared in the art of ancient Crete in the MM III Period (1650–1600 BC) in Minoan chronology, found on sealings from Zakro and miniature frescos dated to this period.[73] One early example of griffin-types in Minoan art occurs in the 15th century BC frescoes of the Throne Room of the Bronze Age Palace of Knossos, as restored by Sir Arthur Evans.

The griffin became a fixture of Aegean culture since the Late Bronze Age,[74] but the griffin did not appear in Greek art until about 700 BC,[34] or rather, it was "rediscovered" as artistic motif in the 8th to 7th centuries BC, adapting the style of griffin current in Neo-Hittite art.[74][75] It became quite popular in the 6th and 5th centuries BC, when the Greeks first began to record accounts of the "gryps" creature from travelers to Asia, such as Aristeas of Proconnesus. A number of bronze griffin protomes on cauldrons have been unearthed in Greece (on Samos, and at Olympia, etc., cf. fig. right).[76] Early Greek and early Etruscan (e.g. the Barberini) examples of cauldron-griffins may have been of Syric-Urartian make, based on evidence (the "tendrils" or "tresses" motif was already touched upon, above), but "Vannic (Urartian) originals" have yet to be found (in the Orient).[77] It has thus been controversially argued (by Ulf Jantzen) that these attachments had always since the earliest times been crafted by Greek workshops,[lower-alpha 14] added to the plain cauldrons imported from the Near East.[lower-alpha 15] Detractors (notably K. R. Maxwell-Hyslop) believe that (early examples of[78]) the griffin-ornamented cauldron, in its entirely, were crafted in the East, though excavated finds from the Orient are scarce.[79][80]

In Central Asia, the griffin image was included in Scythian "animal style" artifacts of the 6th–4th centuries BC, but no writings explain their meaning. The Golden Pectoral from Tovsta Mohyla, interred in Scythian king's burial site, was commissioned to Greek goldsmiths, who engraved the image of a griffin attacking a horse. Griffins are more typically shown attacking bulls and deer in Greek art, and this combination is rare. But horse-riders (Arimaspians) were responsible for stealing griffin gold according to tradition, and the craftsman may have seen fit to displace the horse-rider with horse in artistic depiction.[81]

Griffin inscription at Sanchi Stupa from 3rd century BCE

Local lore on the griffin was gathered by Aristeas of Proconnesus, a Greek who traveled to the Altai region between Mongolia and NW China in the 7th century BC. Although Aristeas's original poem was lost, the griffin lore preserved in secondhand accounts by the playwright Aeschylus (ca. 460 BC), and later his contemporary, Herodotus the historian.[82][83]

Herodotus explains (via Aristeas) that the gold-guarding griffins supposedly dwelled further north from the one-eyed Arimaspi people[lower-alpha 16] who robbed the gold from the fabulous creatures. Aristeas is said to have been informed through the Issedones people neighboring region to the Arimaspi, in the northern extremes (of Central Asia).[86][87] Aeschylus also concurs that the Arimaspi robbed the gold which the griffins collected from various areas in the periphery (presumably including the Armaspi's territorial stream, the stream of Pluto "rolling with gold"). The equestrian Arimaspi would ride off with the loot, and the griffins would give pursuit.[89]

Aeschylus likened the griffins to "unbarking dogs of Zeus"[90][lower-alpha 17] That they are called dogs or hounds here has led to the conjecture that Aeschylus considered them wingless or flightless.[82][lower-alpha 18]

Whereas Ctesias, had located the griffins in India, and more explicitly classed them as beaked, four-legged birds.[82]

Herodotus also mentions elsewhere that there are gold-collecting ants in Kashmir, India, and this has been interpreted by modern scholars as "doublets or garbled versions" of the lore of gold-hoarding griffins.[91] It appears that the accounts of griffins given by Pliny had been admixed with the lore of these gold-guarding ants of India,[90] and later Aelian also inserted attributes of the ant into his description of griffins.[84]

Later, Pliny the Elder became the first to explicitly state the griffins as having wings and long ears.[92][93][lower-alpha 19] In one of the two passages, Pliny also located the "griffons" in Æthiopia.[93] According to Adrienne Mayor, Pliny also wrote, "griffins were said to lay eggs in burrows on the ground and these nests contained gold nuggets".[94]

Apollonius of Tyana,[lower-alpha 20] who was nearly coeval with Pliny, gave a somewhat unique account of the griffin, claiming them to be lion-sized, and having no true wings, and instead had paws "webbed with red membranes", that gave them ability to makes leaps of flight of only a short distance.[95][82][lower-alpha 21]

Pomponius Mela (fl. AD 43) wrote in his Book ii. 6:

In Europe, constantly falling snow makes those places contiguous with the Riphaean Mountains.. so impassable that, in addition, they prevent those who deliberately travel here from seeing anything. After that comes a region of very rich soil but quite uninhabitable because griffins, a savage and tenacious breed of wild beasts, love.. the gold that is mined from deep within the earth there, and because they guard it with an amazing hostility to those who set foot there.[97]

The aforementioned Aelian (Claudius Aelianus, d. 235 AD) added certain other embellishments, such as its reputation of "black plumage on its back with a red chest and white wings".[99] Aelian was the last source on the griffin to add fresh information on the griffin, and late writers (into medieval times) merely rehashed existing material on griffins, with the exception of the lore about their "agate eggs" which emerged at some indistinct time later on (cf. infra).[100]

The griffin has been associated with various deities (Apollo, Dionysus, Nemesis), in Greek mythography but here, the identifiable attested "accounts" presented in scholarship are largely not literary, but artistic,[101] or numismatic.

The griffin was naturally linked to Apollo, given the existence of the cultus of Hyperborean Apollo, with a cult center at the Greek colony of Olbia on the Black Sea.[81][102] And even the main Temple of Apollo at Delphi featured a statue of the god flanked by griffins, or so it can be presumed based on the representation struck on the tetradrachm coinage of Attica.[102] Apollo rode a griffin to Hyperboria each winter, leaving Delphi, or so it was believed.[103] Apollo riding griffin is known from multiple examples of red-figure pottery.[106][107] And Apollo hitched griffins to his chariot according to Claudian.[109]

Dionysus was also depicted on a griffin-chariot[110] or mounting griffin; the motif was borrowed from the god Apollo due to "syncretism between the two gods".[112]

At the Temple of Hera at Samos, a griffin-themed bronze "wine-cup"[113] or "cauldron"[114] had been installed, according to Herodotus. The vessel was attached griffin heads around the rim (like the protomes,[115] described above): it was an Argolic or Argive krater, according to the text,[lower-alpha 22] standing on a tripod shaped like colossal figures.[113][114]

The account of the "gryphes" by Isidore of Seville (d. 636) lacked any Christian allegorical interpretation, and the griffin is classified as a "beast of prey".[119] Thus Isidore (Etymologies xii.2 .17)[5][120] gives:

The Gryphes are so called because they are winged quadrupeds. This kind of wild beast is found in the Hyperborean Mountains. In every part of their body they are lions, and in wings and heads are like eagles, and they are fierce enemies of horses. Moreover they tear men to pieces".[121][119]

Isidore's localization of the griffins in the mountains of Hyperborea derives from Servius (4th and 5th century).[122] Griffins had already been localized Riphean Mountains by Mela (1st century) as quoted above,[97] while the Hyperboreans are sometimes said to dwell further north than these mountains.

The idea that griffins hated horses can be explained as an offshoot of the lore that griffins had their gold stolen by horseback-riding Arimaspians.[123] The griffin were already being depicted attacking the horse in ancient art, as on the gold pectoral of the Scythian King noted above.[81]

Despite Isidore passing on classical without religious connotation, the griffin, being a union of an aerial bird and a terrestrial beast, came to be regarded in Christendom as a symbol of Jesus, who was both human and divine, espoused by many commentators, who see this evidenced in the griffin that draws the chariot in Dante's Purgatorio (cf. §In literature below).[124][125][3]

A slightly different interpretation was that the griffin symbolized the pope or papacy rather than Christ himself, as proposed by French critic Didron, who built this interpretation upon the observation that Herrad of Landsberg's manuscript (Hortus deliciarum, completed c. 1185) clearly depicted the two-colored bird as symbolic of the Church.[124]

At any rate, the griffin can be found sculpted at a number of Christian churches.[125][3]

Martin Schongauer: The griffin, 15th century

Alleged griffin's claws, eggs, and feathers were held as valuable objects, but actually derived from exotic animals, etc.[126][127] The eggs were often ostrich eggs, or in rare cases, fossilized dinosaur eggs.[128] The feather is a piece of forgery, an object crafted from raffia palm fiber, with painted colors.[129]

The supposed claws were often turned into drinking cups[126][130] (and griffin egg artifacts were also used as goblets, according to heraldry scholars).[126][131][132]

A number of medieval griffin's claws existed, sometimes purported to be very large.[133] St. Cuthbert is said to have obtained claw and egg: two claws and two eggs were registered in the 1383 inventory of the saint's shrine,[134] but the two-feet claws that still remain on display have been identified as Alpine ibex horns.[130]

There is said to be a legend that a griffin's claw was made into a cup and dedicated to Cuthbert.[135] As a matter of fact, griffin claws were frequently fashioned into goblets (drinking cups) in medieval Europe,[126][130] and specific examples can be given, such as Charlemagne's griffin-claw drinking horn, formerly at Saint-Denis and now housed in the Bibliothèque Nationale, is a drinking cup made of a bovine horn. Additional ornamentation were attached to it, such as a gilt copper leg for it to stand on, realistically resembling the taloned foot of a raptor.[136][lower-alpha 23] Kornelimünster Abbey located in Charlemagne's former capital of Aix-la-Chapelle (now Aachen, Germany) also houses a griffin horn of Pope Cornelius, made of Asian buffalo horn.[137]

Byzantine silk with griffins, 11th century, now in Sion, Switzerland

By the 12th century, the appearance of the griffin was substantially fixed: "All its bodily members are like a lion's, but its wings and mask are like an eagle's."[138] It is not yet clear if its forelimbs are those of an eagle or of a lion. Although the description implies the latter, the accompanying illustration is ambiguous. It was left to the heralds to clarify that.

Griffins also appear on a wide range of medieval luxury objects, such as textiles, and in these contexts are part of a shared visual language deployed by artisans in the Byzantine, western medieval, and Islamic worlds.[139]

When Genoa emerged as a major seafaring power in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, griffins commenced to be depicted as part of the republic's coat of arms, rearing at the sides of the shield bearing the Cross of St. George.

The red griffin rampant was the coat of arms of the dukes of Pomerania and survives today as the armorial of West Pomeranian Voivodeship (historically, Farther Pomerania) in Poland. It is also part of the coat of arms of the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, representing the historical region Vorpommern (Hither Pommerania).

A hippogriff is a related legendary creature, supposedly the offspring of a griffin and a mare.

Infrequently, a griffin is portrayed without wings, or a wingless eagle-headed lion is identified as a griffin. In 15th-century and later heraldry, such a wingless griffin may be called an alke, a keythong or a male griffin.

The sea-griffin, also termed the gryphon-marine, is a heraldic variant of the griffin possessing the head and legs of the more common variant and the hindquarters of a fish or a mermaid. Sea-griffins are present on the arms of a number of German noble families, including the Mestich family of Silesia and the Barony of Puttkamer.[146]

The opinicus or epimacus is another heraldic variety of griffin, which is depicted with the head of an eagle and all four legs of a lion where it occasionally has the neck and tail of a dromedary. It is sometimes wingless when born and will grow wings as it matures. The opinicus is rarely used in heraldry, but appears in the arms of the Worshipful Company of Barbers.[149][150][151]

Early historic references to the gryphon describe the area of the Dzungarian Gate, a region where Protoceratops and Psittacosaurus skeletons are very common.

Adrienne Mayor, a classical folklorist and historian of science, has speculated that the way the Greeks imagined griffins from the seventh century BC onwards may have been influenced in part by the fossilized remains of beaked dinosaurs such as Protoceratops observed on the way to gold deposits by nomadic prospectors of ancient Scythia (Central Asia).[158] This speculation is based on Greek and Latin literary sources and related artworks in a specific time frame, beginning with the first written descriptions of griffins as real animals of Asia in a lost work by Aristeas (referenced by Herodotus, ca. 450 BC) and ending with Aelian (3rd century AD), the last ancient author to report any "new" details about the griffin.

Mayor argues that Protoceratops fossils, seen by ancient observers, may have been interpreted as evidence of a half-bird-half-mammal creature.[159] She argues that over-repeated retelling and drawing or recopying its bony neck frill (which is rather fragile and may have been frequently broken or entirely weathered away) may become large mammal-type external ears, and its beak may be treated as evidence of a part-bird nature and lead to bird-type wings being added.[160]

Paleontologist Mark P. Witton has contested this hypothesis, arguing that it ignores the existence of depictions of griffins throughout the Near East dating to long before the time when Mayor posits the Greeks became aware of Protoceratops fossils in Scythia. Witton further argues that the anatomies of griffins in Greek art are clearly based on those of living creatures, especially lions and eagles, and that there are no features of griffins in Greek art that can only be explained by the hypothesis that the griffins were based on fossils. He notes that Greek accounts of griffins describe them as living creatures, not ancient skeletons, and that some of the details of these accounts suggest griffins are purely imaginary, not inspired by fossils.[161]

Griffins, like many other fictional creatures, frequently appear within works under the fantasy genre. Examples of fantasy-oriented franchises that feature griffins include Warhammer Fantasy Battle, Warcraft, Heroes of Might and Magic, the Griffon in Dungeons & Dragons, Ragnarok Online, Harry Potter, The Spiderwick Chronicles, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and The Battle for Wesnoth.

Griffins appear in the fairy tales "Jack the Giant Killer", "The Griffin" and "The Singing, Springing Lark".

In Digimon, there is a Digimon called Gryphomon who is based off the depiction of a griffin that has a snake-headed tail.

In The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson, Hazel Levesque, and Frank Zhang are attacked by griffins in Alaska.

In the Harry Potter series, the character Albus Dumbledore has a griffin-shaped knocker. Also, the character Godric Gryffindor's surname is a variation on the French griffon d'or ("golden griffon").

"Griff" Statue in the forecourt of the Farkashegyi Cemetery Budapest, 2007

The griffin is the symbol of the Philadelphia Museum of Art; bronze castings of them perch on each corner of the museum's roof, protecting its collection.[162][163]

The "Griff" statue by Veres Kálmán was erected in 2007 at the forecourt of the Farkashegyi cemetery in Budapest, Hungary.

The Gryphon is the emblem and mascot of the University of Guelph

Three gryphons form the crest of Trinity College, Oxford (founded 1555), originating from the family crest of founder Sir Thomas Pope. The college's debating society is known as the Gryphon, and the notes of its master emeritus show it to be one of the oldest debating institutions in the country, significantly older than the more famous Oxford Union Society.[165] Griffins are also mascots for VU University Amsterdam,[166] Reed College,[167] Sarah Lawrence College,[168] the University of Guelph, and Canisius College.

The Gryphon is the official school mascot for Raffles Institution, appearing also on the top of the school crest.

The official seal of Purdue University was adopted during the university's centennial in 1969. The seal, approved by the Board of Trustees, was designed by Prof. Al Gowan, formerly at Purdue. It replaced an unofficial one that had been in use for 73 years.[169]

The College of William and Mary in Virginia changed its mascot to Griffin in April 2010.[170][171] The griffin was chosen because it is the combination of the British lion and the American eagle.

The 367th Training Support Squadron's and 12th Combat Aviation Brigade feature griffins in their unit patches.

The emblem of the Greek 15th Infantry Division features an ax-wielding griffin on its unit patch.

The English private school of Wycliffe College features a griffin on its school crest.

The mascot of St Mary's College, one of the 16 colleges in Durham University, is a griffin.

The mascot of Glebe Collegiate Institute in Ottawa is the gryphon, and the team name is the Glebe Gryphons.

The griffin is the official mascot of Chestnut Hill College and Gwynedd Mercy University, both in Pennsylvania.

The mascot of Leadership High School in San Francisco, CA was chosen by the student body by popular vote to be the griffin after the Golden Gate University Griffins, where they operated out of from 1997 to 2000.

The Gryphon is the school mascot for Glenlyon Norfolk School, an independent, co-ed, university preparatory day school in Victoria and Oak Bay, British Columbia, Canada.

Yellow griffin pictured in the logo of the Estonian Internal Security Service.

Flag of the Utti Jaeger Regiment of the Finnish Army

A griffin appears in the official seal of the Waterloo Police Department (Iowa).

The Royal Air Force Police depicts a griffin for their unit badge.

The Royal New Zealand Air Force Police depicts a griffin holding a taiaha for their unit badge.

The Grand Rapids Griffins professional ice hockey team of the American Hockey League.

Suwon Samsung Bluewings's mascot "Aguileon" is a griffin. The name "Aguileon" is a compound using two Spanish words; "aguila" meaning "eagle" and "leon" meaning "lion".

Busch Gardens Williamsburg's highlight attraction is a dive coaster called the "Griffon", which opened in 2007.

In 2013, Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio opened the "GateKeeper" steel roller coaster, which features a griffin as its mascot.

Some large species of Old World vultures are called griffines, including the griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus). The scientific name for the Andean condor is Vultur gryphus, Latin for "griffin-vulture". The Catholic Douay-Rheims version of the Bible uses griffon for a creature referred to as vulture or ossifrage in other English translations (Leviticus 11:13).