Origin of the Alans

[Alanus]

"Roy Andrews in the Gobi Desert with his 6.5 caliber Mannlicher (just in case a Gold Guarding Gryphon attacks)."
Somehow those 'gryphon tales' look very much like the ever-repeated fantasy stories told in Europe about the ends of the earth.. Should we take them seriously?

You never said the 'one-eyed men' could ride horses!

I must have forgotten that part of Aristeas' tale. The one-eyed men rode horses (according to Aeschylus) so they could get away from the gryphons. Also, it's better than trudging through the Gobi. Less sand in your boots. I wonder what kind of shovels they used. Garden spades? Coal shovels?

It was literally the ends of the earth as the Greeks knew it. I love the misinterpretation, "These stories are received by the Scythians from the Issedones, and by them passed on to us Greeks... "arima" being the Scythian word for "one," and "spu" for "the eye." (Herodotus, IV, 27)

Nothing like pulling a tourist's leg.

And here's the real kicker... very close to home if you were Greek. The oldest known depiction of a Gryphon was painted on the wall of a Minoan throne room on Knossos.