Discussion
The Griffin is a legendary creature with the body of a
lion and the head and wings of an eagle. As the lion
was considered the "King of the Beasts" and the eagle
the "King of the Air", the griffin was thought to be
an especially powerful and majestic creature.
In Greek mythology, the Chimaera is a monstrous
creature made of the parts of multiple animals.
Chimaera was one of the offspring of Typhon and Echidna
and sister of such monsters as Cerberus and the
Lernaean Hydra. Descriptions vary - some say it had
the body of a goat, the tail of a snake or dragon and
the head of a lion, though others say it had heads of
both the goat and lion, with a snake for a tail. It is
generally considered to have been female, despite the
mane adorning its lion's head. All descriptions,
however, agree that it breathed fire from one or more
of its heads. Sighting the chimera was a sign of
storms, shipwrecks, and natural disasters
(particularly volcanos). In Medieval Christian art,
the chimera appears as a symbol of Satanic forces.
In Greek mythology, Cerberus or Kerberos, "demon of
the pit", was the hound of Hades-a monstrous
three-headed dog (sometimes said to have 50 or 100
heads) with a snake for a tail and serpentine mane.
He guarded the gate to Hades (the Greek underworld)
and ensured that the dead could not leave and the
living could not enter. His sister was the Chimera and
his brother was Orthrus. He is the offspring of
Echidna and Typhon.
Sagaris was the Greek name for a weapon used by
Scythian tribes (Hdt. 1.215, 4.5), by the Persians,
Mossynoeci, and others, and according to Aristarchus
of Samothrace (Amherst Papyri 2.12 ii 10), by the
Amazons. The weapon was probably a kind of battle-axe,
described as single-edged by some authors, and as
double-edged by others. Possibly from this arose an
attribution of the invention of the battle-axe to the
Amazons by medieval and Renaissance authors (e.g.
Johannes Aventinus), and a (modern) association of the
Amazons with the Labrys.
Typhon or Typhoeus, the youngest son of Gaea and Tartarus, a grisly monster with a hundred dragons' heads, was conquered and cast into the underworld by Zeus but continued to be the source of destructive winds. Typhon was so frightful that Zeus set him afire and buried him alive under Mt. Aetna, where he caused eruptions and was thus the personification of volcanic forces. Among his children were Cerberus, Chimera, and the multiheaded Hydra. Later writers identified him with the Egyptian god Seth.
Legends are immortal
Edited by Avalanche on Sunday 24th December 00:37
Ricardo Bertone said:
The Griffin has got absolutely nothing to do with the Griffith name - it came from Mr Jack Griffith an American who imported TVR Granturas - credited with the idea of puttiong a V8 in a TVR a la Shelby.
Ricardo
Ricardo
Ricardo, `tis true!
But the alternative thought is nice (hate that word, too early to think of another
) Dave.
Ricardo Bertone said:
The Griffin has got absolutely nothing to do with the Griffith name - it came from Mr Jack Griffith an American who imported TVR Granturas - credited with the idea of puttiong a V8 in a TVR a la Shelby.
Ricardo
Ricardo
Be that as it may it doesn't mean that the subsequent names were not then named in keeping moving forward. I highly doubt that it is pure coincidence that 5 of the models produced since 1992 have borne a striking resemblance to rather violent mythological references. Hence when the new Griffith was brought out, someone somewhere must have gone through a thought process that went something like Griffith->Griffin, mythology, Chimaera, Cerber(us|a)... You can almost hear the brain clockwork running.
just fell off my chair!! 
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