Reinterpreting the Griffins of the Middle Kingdom

Abstract

In two 2013 articles, Hartwig Altenmüller proposes that the figures on the so-called ‘magical knives’ represent characters from the later Myth of the Sun’s Eye. He further suggests that the griffin depicted on these objects is a zoomorphic form of the syncretised god Shu-Onuris, an idea which is expanded to further explain the contemporary griffins from the tombs at Beni Hassan. Despite numerous flaws, these conclusions have been espoused by various scholars, causing them to adopt a prominent place in the current literature. The present article comprehensively dismembers these arguments, suggesting instead that the griffin is a precursor to a character from the later netherworld texts. Three separate understandings of the different griffins at Beni Hasan are then proposed, based on their varying names and iconography.