Of all the many fantastic beasts associated with the Middle Ages, the griffin is one of the most evocative and enduring. A hybrid creature with the head and wings (and sometimes forelegs) of an enormous eagle paired with the body of a lion, many medievalists are familiar with the griffin as an iconic element of medieval art and heraldry. In her wide-ranging and richly illustrated Griffinology, A. L. McClanan expands the understanding of the griffin’s various roles and representations from ancient Mesopotamia to the grounds of Hogwarts.
The text is mainly organized along thematic lines, comprising fifteen chapters devoted to griffin representations related to such topics as divinity, drinking, war, and death, among others. There is also a roughly overarching chronological progression from the griffin’s ancient Asian origins to its seemingly inevitable inclusion in modern fantasy culture, such as in the Harry Potter franchise of books and films. In addition, individual chapters often present the griffin’s role related to the theme at hand from ancient to modern examples. The geographical scope of the text is similarly wide-ranging, from the griffin’s West Asian origins to its European flourishing to more recent North American incarnations.
Part of the rationale for such a broad view of the griffin stems from McClanan’s appropriately expansive definition of the mythical creature. Rather than limiting the description of the griffin to the most commonly recognized hybrid eagle-lion form outlined above, McClanan states that “the griffin is best understood as a concept based on overlapping similarities rather than a static definition (whether visual or textual)” (11). Therefore, McClanan’s survey includes a wide range of imaginary creatures that combine elements of the lion and the eagle, from the Anzû bird (a lion-headed eagle) to the hippogriff (a griffin-horse hybrid).
McClanan’s above reference to both the visual and textual heritages of the griffin is not a throwaway phrase of generalization. On the contrary, one of the great strengths of the text is its serious engagement in both the textual and visual representations of the griffin. Over 100 illustrations support McClanan’s expansive study of the griffin, ranging from photographs of archaeological artifacts to screen captures from video games. Statuary, engravings, textiles, mosaics, illustrations, tattoos, sports mascots, and more all come under consideration in the text. Given the sheer number of examples mustered by McClanan, a systematic categorization of her interpretation of the griffin in visual culture would be difficult at best. Suffice it to say that McClanan is equally at home in passing on received wisdom about griffins, as in their importance in heraldry as markers of both wealth and martial strength (133-35), as she is in challenging accepted interpretations of specific artifacts, such as her reinterpretation of a decoration on a fourteenth century alms purse, showing a backward-seated woman riding a griffin (147-49). These interpretations, whether old or new, are thoroughly documented throughout the text.
This range of visual sources is complemented by the interpretation of a similarly broad body of textual works. Of course, some overlap in these categories exist, as in the textual inscriptions of griffin terminology on visual art found on the “magic wands” of ancient Egypt (78-80). Strictly textual works follow McClanan’s characteristically broad consideration: Herodotus’ Histories, Isidore of Seville’s Etymologies, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, John Milton’s Paradise Lost, Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series all garner attention, giving some idea to the historical range of McClanan’s study. Of course, the price of such broad coverage is the inability of the text to dig deeply into any one text. While, for example, McClanan rightly points to the presence of griffins in texts treating on Alexander the Great (97), readers looking for specific reference to the creatures in the Middle English romance Kyng Alisaunder, for example, will leave empty-handed.
However, critiques such as the above seem churlish, given the avowed aim and scope of the book, which McClanan herself cites as encompassing “[t]he breadth of the griffin motif’s cultural dispersal and the way in which one composite can be readily reworked” across time and cultures (174). If the examples skew more towards the visual than the textual, McClanan sees this as a corrective to “the scholarly habit of privileging texts over images, even within art history” (9). Likewise, if a reader is disconcerted by a non-linear organization in which an in-depth discussion of the etymology of the word griffin is delayed until the middle of the text (123), rather than as introductory material, this is a conscious choice of the author to avoid “a single march in lockstep to arrive at a monolithic ‘Griffin of Today’” (10). McClanan succeeds in having the content and structure of her text mirror the inherent wild hybridity of its subject. As such, inGriffinology, she produces an engaging entry point to a broader understanding of the origins, development, and interpretations of one of the most iconic mythical beasts of the past.