Hippogriff

The hippogriff, or sometimes spelled hippogryph (Greek: Ιππόγρυπας), is a legendary creature which has the front half of an eagle and the hind half of a horse.

The first recorded mention of the hippogriff was made by the Latin poet Virgil in his Eclogues. Though sometimes depicted during the Classical Era and during the rule of the Merovingians, it was used by Ludovico Ariosto in his Orlando Furioso, at the beginning of the 16th century. Within the poem, the hippogriff is a steed born of a mare and a griffin—it is extremely fast and is presented as being able to fly around the world and to the Moon. It is ridden by magicians and the wandering knight Ruggiero, who, from the creature’s back, frees the beautiful Angelica. Astolfo also borrows the hippogriff from Bradamante to go search for Roland's wits.

Sometimes depicted on coats of arms, the hippogriff became a subject of visual art in the 19th century, when it was often drawn by Gustave Doré.

The word hippogriff, also spelled hippogryph,[1] is derived from the Ancient Greek: ἵππος híppos, meaning "horse", and the Italian grifo meaning "griffin" (from Latin gryp or gryphus), which denotes another mythical creature, with the head of an eagle and body of a lion, that is purported to be the father of the hippogriff.[2][3] The word hippogriff was adopted into English shortly before 1615.[4]