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Course: Medieval Europe + Byzantine > Unit 5
Lesson 5: Late Byzantine- Deësis mosaic, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul
- Late Byzantine naturalism: Hagia Sophia’s Deësis mosaic
- Byzantine miniature mosaics
- The vita icon in the medieval era
- Byzantine Griffin
- Late Byzantine church architecture
- Picturing salvation — Chora’s brilliant Byzantine mosaics and frescos
- Picturing salvation — Chora’s brilliant Byzantine mosaics and frescoes
- Late Byzantine secular architecture and urban planning
- Icon of the Triumph of Orthodoxy
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Byzantine Griffin
Evan and Anne discuss a Byzantine depiction of a griffin, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Acc. 2000.81). CC BY 4.0.
Video transcript
I'm Evan Freeman. I'm Anne McClanan. I'm glad to be here in the
Metropolitan Museum today discussing this extraordinary
late Byzantine sculpture of a griffin, a
mythological animal. A griffin is a composite
animal, often combining the body and feet of a lion,
with the head and the wings and sometimes the
feet of an eagle. But we see griffins
taking a variety of forms. And they're one of
many composite beasts. So it's natural that they would
offer a lot of flexibility in the form that would stretch
the imagination of both the artist and the
viewer at the time. But the griffin does remain
one of the most popular animal composites. And I think it comes down
to the way it combines the king of birds, the eagle,
with the king of animals, the lion. So it came to gain a wide
range of associations in both antiquity and
the medieval world. In classical antiquity in
the Ancient Near East. That's right. I believe griffins even appear
on Ancient Near Eastern seals. But it's not until we get to
the classical Greek period that we have myths about them,
and myths that associate them both with the gods
Apollo and Dionysus, and even later Nemesis. The 3rd-century BCE Alexander
Romance recounts how Alexander was
taken heavenward on a chariot drawn by griffins. We see that depiction
from the Alexander Romance even on the side of the
church of San Marco in Venice. And we see it in
many manuscripts. Yet here, this
sculpture in The Met is where we see a form of
the griffin that's perhaps the most popular of all. Because this is the
form where the griffin is encircled in a medallion. It's the way that the
griffin is depicted across countless textiles
and other luxury goods that circulated around
the Mediterranean. It's interesting that even
after the Roman Empire became Christian, with the
conversion of Constantine, griffins continue
to be depicted. Perhaps they weren't
religiously threatening or perhaps they were given
new Christian meanings. There's a theory that is an
interesting one to entertain, that the griffin
here, in fact, had specific connotations connecting
it with protecting the dead. It's likely because of its
similarity to a griffin image from a tomb, a sarcophagus,
that was carved in Thessaly about the same time. This too could have
come from a tomb. And we know that
griffins also decorated the textiles that enwrapped
some of the precious relics, the bones of saints that
were held in medieval church treasuries in Western Europe. I'm noticing several
other details that correspond to that meaning. For example, amongst
the abstract ornament around the very
edge of the panel, I see a cross anchoring each
side, which differentiates it a little bit from that
generic form of the griffin that was on things
produced in Islamic, Sassanian, and a wide range of
workshops in the Middle Ages. Those crosses are a
very clear indication that this griffin panel was
used in a Christian context. Absolutely. And could have come from
Thessaly in Central Greece. It could have come
from the Balkans. I believe it came to the
Met through a purchase from a private
collection, though. So our ideas of when
and where it was made are based on comparisons
with more firmly attributed objects that have inscriptions
and contexts, that allow us to pinpoint their manufacturer. I'm struck by how
different this griffin is from other famous
Byzantine griffins, like the one that
decorated the Great Palace of the Byzantine
emperors in Constantinople, now Istanbul. That griffin is depicted with
a number of other animals and hunting scenes. And you have the sense that the
artist is depicting an animal that he imagines could be real. And that taps into
the wellspring of mythology of the griffin as
a tremendously ferocious animal. So powerful and terrifying
that it could lift up animals as large as a
horse or an elephant, and so was feared
above all others in mythological collections. And then that even
carries forward into the Middle Ages,
right, and the way that the Book of Beasts, the
Bestiary, describes griffins. Griffins appear in a wide
range of mediums and contexts in Byzantium. They appear in religious
and non-religious contexts; in churches and palaces,
carved in stone, as with this marble panel;
in metal work; in enamels. That's right. And across all of them, they
convey a sense of splendor, but they remain a
little enigmatic. [MUSIC PLAYING]