Gryphus was a son of Zeus. He was more handsome than Adonis and a natural leader. When he began to lead people away from the worship of the Olympians and killed those who opposed him, Zeus punished him by turning him into a Minotaur and imprisoning him in a Labyrinth in Alturia. Gryphus remained imprisoned for one hundred years until Andius and Danion accidentally set him free. Gryphus was bent on revenge and in order to hurt Zeus he targeted Hercules.
Gryphus was briefly visited by Zeus who states that Gryphus still hasn't learned his lesson to which the Minotaur replies that Zeus doesn't have the heart to kill him.
Hercules had to go into Gryphus' lair in order to kill him. They began fighting and as Hercules was about to kill the Minotaur, the creature revealed that he was really Hercules' brother and Hercules could not kill him. When Gryphus lunged toward Hercules, he ended up throwing Gryphus onto a stalagmite which impaled him. As he was dying, Zeus appeared and stated to Hercules that Gryphus was dead the day he started leading the people away from worshipping the Olympians. When Gryphus asks for Zeus not to let him die like this, Zeus transformed him back into his mortal appearance as Gryphus died and his body disappeared in the fog.
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Background[]
- Gryphus was played by Anthony Ray Parker and voiced by Al Chalk. His human appearance after death was made by an uncredited actor.
- Gryphus was immortalized as an action figure called Minotaur: with Immobilizing Sludge Mask
- GRYPS or GRYPHUS (Grups), a griffin, a fabulous, bird-like species of animals, dwelling in the Rhipaean mountains, between the Hyperboreans and the one-eyed Arimaspians, and guarding the gold of the north. The Arismaspians mounted on horseback, and attempted to steal the gold, and hence arose the hostility between the horse and the griffin. The body of the griffin was that of a lion, while the head and wings were those of an eagle. This monstrous conception suggests that the origin of the belief in griffins must be looked for in the east, where it seems to have been very ancient. (Herod. iii. 116, iv. 13, 27; Paus. i. 24. § 6. viii. 2, § 3; Aelian, H. A. iv. 27; Plin. H. N. vii. 2, x. 70.) Hesiod seems to be the first writer that mentioned them, and in the poem "Arimaspae " of Aristeas they must have played a prominent part. (Schol. ad Aeschyl. Prom. 793.) At a later period they are mentioned among the fabulous animals which guarded the gold of India. (Philostr. Vit. Apollon. iii. 48.) The figures of griffins were frequently employed as ornaments in works of art ; the earliest instance of which we have any record is the bronze patera, which the Samians ordered to be made about B. C. 640. (Herod. iv. 152; comp. 79.) They were also represented on the helmet of the statue of Athena by Phidias.