Griffin: The spiritual totem of the Scythians
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Tribal Khans
2022-02-27 22:32
The Scythians were a notorious presence among nomadic peoples and have long been seen as representative of the Nomads of the Eurasian steppes. Between the 8th and 3rd centuries BC, their nomadic life and the vastness of the Eurasian steppe made it easier and faster for the Eastern and Western worlds at both ends of the steppe to communicate. The monster Griffin pattern is a typical representative of this.
Stretching from the Hungarian Plains of Europe in the west to the Mongolian Plateau in the east and Outer Khorasan in the south, this area is known as the Eurasian steppe nomadic region. In classical times, it was mainly ruled by Eastern Iranians, and this group of Eastern Iranians was called differently.
Europeans called it Scythians, Persians called it Sakya, and Chinese called it Scythian. Weapons, harnesses, and artworks in animal shapes have long been referred to as the Scythian "Three Elements," which is easy to understand.
Harness is the product of the use and training of horses by steppe peoples, without the domestication of wild horses, it is impossible to gallop on the steppe, so the domestication of horses is a prerequisite for the formation of grassland peoples, especially important components such as horse rims and stirrups;
As for weapons, they are the tools of the steppe peoples to migrate, defend themselves, expand and engage in conquest and expansion, which is an indispensable weapon for all ethnic groups in history, and culturally, the steppe weapons of the bronze and iron ages have many original characteristics, especially the bronze short sword;
The steppe beast pattern artwork is not only an artistic portrayal of the living environment of the steppe people, but also a manifestation of the primitive religious culture of the steppe people, or they can be regarded as shamanism or tribal nature gods.
Therefore, harnesses, weapons and "beast-style patterns" are the most important basic elements of steppe national culture. So how did the Scythians use these three things to influence both ends of the Eurasian steppe? Let's take the monster Griffin as an example to see its spread and impact.
In general, the griffins worshipped by the Scythians basically consisted of three images: one was an eagle griffin, one was a lion griffin, and the other was a deer griffin. The eagle shape is the eagle head lion body, the lion shape is a winged lion, and the deer shape is a combination of the eagle's beak and antlers.
The western transmission of Griffin's image is dominated by eagle shapes, while the eastern transmission is dominated by deer and lion shapes. Belief in the Two Rivers Valley was based on the Sumerian civilization, and in the second half of the 3rd millennium BC, the Semites began to use their wings to express the meaning of the gods living in heaven, and the most common themes were the winged lion and the winged cow.
For example, in Sumerian culture, responsible for the connection between heaven and earth, the god of storms, Anzu, its image belongs to the eagle-shaped griffin, that is, the griffin, which is characterized by the fusion of birds of prey and beasts of prey, obtaining the extraordinary divine power of land and sky.
Since ancient times, whether it is the shape of a bird of prey or a beast of prey, the worship of these two creatures has long existed, and the shapes of the two animals will appear together and intersect, but it has never produced the practice of merging the two into one like the two river basins.
Until the initial breakthrough of the Grassland Silk Road, in 1957, in a Warring States period Xiongnu tomb in Shenmu, northern Shaanxi, we saw the spread of Scythian deer-shaped griffins, which is a deer-shaped gold crown ornament with hooked-beaked hoofed feet, about 11 centimeters long and 11.5 centimeters high, at first glance, resembling a deer instead of a deer, like an eagle not an eagle, commonly known as the "Golden Monster".
The Scythians, who were active in the Eurasian steppe, used the monster Griffin as the medium, starting from the north shore of the Black Sea, going east through the Salmatians of urals and the Sakya people of the steppes of Central Asia, spreading to the Altai region, and then entering the steppe of northern China, influencing West Asia and East Asia, forming a romantic fusion song in the history of human civilization and art.
Quoted from the NetEase Khan tribe