Approximately 3,000 years ago, Saka-Scythian nomads searched for gold in the western part of the Gobi Desert, located between the Tien Shan and Altai Mountains. The Saka-Scythian culture thrived as a nomadic society from approximately 800 B.C. to A.D. 300, spanning the steppes from the Black Sea to the Altai region. The Scythians did not have a written language. Their artwork was kept unintentionally when a literate society took an interest in their narrative.
In the seventh century B.C., Greeks initially encountered Scythian nomads. Accompanying the gold and other rare things from the east were stories about the distant land and its people. An ancient story concerning griffins protecting gold was initially documented in an epic poem about Scythia by Aristeas, a Greek traveler from an island in the Sea of Marmora, located southwest of the Black Sea. Aristeas traveled to the easternmost Scythian nomadic tribe, the Issedonians, located at the foot of the Altai Mountains around 675 B.C.
These individuals informed him about the expansive wilderness beyond Issedonia, where gold was protected by ferocious “griffins.” The term “griffin” originates from the ancient Greek word “gryps,” meaning “hooked,” particularly referring to a beak. This word is connected to the old Persian verb “giriften,” which means “to grip or seize.” Aristeas documented nomads on horseback engaging in battles with griffins in search of gold. The Issedonians depicted griffins as large carnivores the size of lions, possessing powerful, sharply curved beaks resembling those of eagles.
Scythia was a significant gold supplier in ancient times, and archaeologists have unearthed impressive gold artifacts from Saka-Scythian burial sites throughout southern Russia. The nomads adorned their wares with extravagant zoological motifs using a specific decoration known as “animal-style,” as identified by art historians. Gold and bronze items are abundant with intricately detailed sculptures of rams, deer, stags, horses, asses, and eagles. Among these actual animals are mysterious monsters, particularly those resembling griffins.
In the 1940s, Rudenko conducted excavations on fifth-century B.C. tombs at Pazyryk on the northern slopes of the Altai Mountains, in the former Issedonian area explored by Aristeas. Rudenko discovered numerous gold artifacts with griffins and was surprised to find mummified nomads preserved in permafrost for 2,500 years. One male warrior had dark-blue animal tattoos covering his skin. Among the familiar animals tattooed on his body were several unfamiliar creatures, such as griffins.
In 1993 and 1995, Russian scientists discovered two further tattooed mummies from the same time period in Pazyryk. One mummy was of a young male with a prominent elk tattoo on his shoulder, while the other was of a young woman with tattoos of an antlered deer and a griffin-like monster on her shoulder and wrist.8 The tattooed figures closely resembled the earliest literary texts and the bronze Greek griffins from Samos. The conclusion was evident: These nomadic individuals were familiar with the griffin knowledge compiled by Aristeas!
Hybrid creatures with characteristics of both birds and mammals were depicted in Near Eastern art around 3000 B.C. Peacock-headed griffins were also depicted in Mycenaean art during the Greek Bronze Age, around 1200 B.C. As a student of ancient folklore, I lamented the lack of information regarding the stories that may be associated with those images. We could connect the fragments of traditional information of the griffins of Issedonia with the creative representations from the same period through Aristeas and subsequent Greek and Roman writers. Studying the literary traditions from the seventh century B.C. to the third century A.D. and examining artistic representations from the same period may reveal the true identity of the enigmatic griffin.