User:Iris Paige/Hybrid beasts in folklore

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Mediterranean

In Archaic Greece, Luwian and Assyrian motifs were imitated, during the Orientalizing Period (9th to 8th centuries BC), inspiring the monsters of the mythology of the Classical Greek period, such as the Chimera, the Harpy, the Centaur, the Griffin, the Hippocampus, Talos, Pegasus, etc.

The motif of the winged man appears in the Assyrian winged genie, and is taken up in the Biblical Seraphim and Chayot, the Etruscan Vanth, Hellenistic Eros-Amor, and ultimately the Christian iconography of angels.

The motif of otherwise human figures sporting horns may derive from partly goat hybrids (as in Pan and the Devil in Christian iconography) or as partly bull hybrids (Minotaur). The Gundestrup cauldron and the Pashupati figure have stag's antlers (see also Horned God, horned helmet). The Christian representation of Moses with horns, however, is due to a mistranslation of the Hebrew text of Exodus 34:29–35 by Jerome.

The centaur, half man, half horse, derives from Greek mythology. The upper portion of the beast is mostly human, which are the head, chest, and arms. The body and legs of a centaur are similar to that of a horse. The physical attributes of the centaur tend to remain the same throughout mythology, while the nature and personality can change. Centaurs are commonly portrayed as wild and untamable. Eurytion of Thessaly, created within “Homer’s Odyssey,” gets drunk at his half-brother’s wedding and attempts to kidnap the bride. On the other hand, Chiron, another centaur in Greek mythology, is Zeus’ brother. He is a wise creature and teaches Greece’s “greatest heroes.”

Examples of humans with animal heads (theriocephaly) in the ancient Egyptian pantheon include jackal-headed Anubis, cobra-headed Amunet, lion-headed Sekhmet, falcon-headed Horus, etc. Most of these deities also have a purely zoomorphic and a purely anthropomorphic aspect, with the hybrid representation seeking to capture aspects of both of which at once. Similarly, the Gaulish Artio sculpture found in Berne shows a juxtaposition of a bear and a woman figure, interpreted as representations of the theriomorphic and the anthropomorphic aspect of the same goddess.

Sculptures of the sphinx, with a lion's body and human's head, were built on tombs for pharaohs. The human head of the sphinx sculpture is thought to resemble the pharaoh that was buried within.