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Fictitious and Symbolic Creatures in Art

By John Vinycomb

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Other Chimerical Creatures and Heraldic Beasts- Other Varieties of the Griffin

Two other varieties of the griffin family, the "Hippogriff" and the "Simoorgh" appear in the highly wrought imaginings of the poets, and may here be very briefly alluded to. They do not, however, appear in British Heraldry.

Hippogryph, or Hippogrif, the winged horse whose father was a griffin and mother a filly (Greek, hippos, a horse, and gryps, a griffin)—a symbol of love. *

Simoorgh, a sort of griffin or hippogryph, which took some of its breast feathers for Tahmura's helmet. This creature forms a very striking figure in the epic poems of Saadi and Ferdusi, the Persian poets.

Milton also makes allusion to this mythical creature:

"So saying he caught him up, and without wing
 Of hippogrif, bore through the air sublime
 Over the wilderness and o’er the plain."
                              Paradise Regained, iv.