İstanbul büyük saray mozaikleri'ndeki grifon betimlemeleri: Roma döneminin benzer örnekleriyle ikonografik ve sanatsal ilişkisi

Abstract

Abstract: Surviving from Late Antiquity to the present day and dated to the reign of Iustinianus I. (525-565) the Great Palace mosaics in Istanbul provide majestic depictions of landscape. In the various representations of rural life and hunting scenes the depiction of the strange creature, the griffin, attracts attention. This fantastic creature with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion had been depicted in a variety of media and forms of art from the III. millennium B.C. onwards. The griffin was often depicted during the Roman Period. Examples depicting this creature are found in the Istanbul Great Palace Mosaic in four different scenes where it emerges in all glory. In this article an evaluation is made of the typology and iconography of the Great Palace griffin depictions, taking into consideration the examples of the depiction of griffin from different geographies.