Dante's Griffin and the History of the World: A Study of the Earthly Paradise (Purgatorio, Cantos Xxix-xxxiii)

From classical and other sources medieval Europeans had inherited belief in the existence of griffins. In the Garden of Eden, on the summit of the mountain of Purgatory, Dante sees one of these creatures drawing a chariot, which it later joins to the tree of the Fall, making the tree bear leaves and flowers again. This griffin has long been thought to represent Christ, but an examination of medieval griffin-lore and of Dante's own poem shows that this explanation is untenable. This study explores both the intellectual and political concerns and the imaginative world of early fourteenth-century Italy: theology, philosophy, and jurisprudence; folklore and romance; prophecy and millenarianism. It provides a new interpretation of Dante's griffin as a powerful symbol central to his presentation of the earthly Paradise, mankind's lost ideal of collective happiness on earth.