h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The earliest know records of Gryphons come to us from Mesopotamia. This was a place of crossroads between nomadic cultures and people finally settling down. Symbol wise, the lion was a keen hunter that took down any animal it wanted to. Kings of the Beasts to those early people. Look up in the Sky. Freedom. The Birds have it. Storytellers back then had to find thier inspiration somewhere. It was all around them as a matter of fact. That, and alot of mystic critters were created by cobbling together two or three ideas. A lion that could hunt from the sky. An impressive specimen. Now how the bridged the gap between the predatory nature of such a critter, and how it came to guard treasure, I still don't know.