Relicts of pre-Christian cults in the national ornament: basilisk and griffin

Abstract

Ancient Greek historian Herodot informed that in the 4 century BC in the territory of the Eastern Europe there were not only Scythians, but also a tribe one-eyed arimaspians which was at war with mysterious Griffins because of gold. Earlier we considered a tribe arimaspians and the hypothesis about the reason of their unusual appearance has been offered. This article is a continuation of this theme where the tribe of Griffins has been investigated. Hypothesis about an origin of a mythological image of griffin has been offered. Also its cult at Iranian Scythians has been considered. Stylized images of griffin among geometrical patterns of Belarus ritual towels in the East of Belarus (in the Mogilyov and Gomel regions) has been found out.