Grypas

The grypas was a legendary creature with the head and wings of an eagle and the body and tail of a lion. As the lion and the eagle are the kings of the animal kingdom, the grypas, as a combination of both, was symbolic of power and domination. The grypas can be found in many depictions of Minoan Crete during the Bronze Age, but also later in the art and mythology of ancient Greece in general. However, some believe that the creature existed way before its figuring in ancient Greece, since similar forms of the hybrid animal have been found in ancient Egypt and Persia, where grypas symbolized the struggle against evil and witchcraft.