By Cyclone62 or Mythologysleuth
The Common griffin or better known in myth is just Griffin, is a griffin that is the most commonly depicted griffin. It was depicted as a creature with the forequarters, wings, and talons as front legs of an eagle (hawk, falcon, vulture, harrier, kite, or sometimes, secretary bird) and the hindquarters, tail, and hindlegs of a lion, and sometimes they have lion-like ears. In fan and fiction interpretation, it may be called an Archgriffin (also spelled Arch Griffin or Arch-griffin).
The griffin attacking a centaur-like creature by Robert De Boron in Gallica BnF. It is found on the very top of the page
It possibly originated in Levant but had spread its influence to Western Asia and ancient Greece (that further spread the influence). They were considered powerful and majestic creature that guarded treasures and other things. In the Middle Ages folklore, the claws and feathers of griffins were though to have medicinal properties and (the feathers, especially) were thought to cure blindness. some versions depict that griffin feathers do not have this effect and instead, peacock feathers do. Griffin often dislikes horses as in a few pieces of art, they can be seen attacking horses, boars, elephants, humans, and a centaur (as depicted within a 1270-1290 French manuscript depicting the griffin attacking a centaur-like creature).
