Hippogriff
Ippogrifo in Italian; hippogryph in Rose’s translation
The winged offspring of a griffin and a mare, trained by Atlantes and ridden into the sky by Rogero in Ariosto’s poem.
Quick answer
In Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso, the hippogriff is a flying animal born of a griffin father and a mare mother. The magician Atlantes trains it as a mount. Canto IV insists that the animal is natural within the story, although its rider uses magical illusions.[1]
Quick facts
| Record type | Creature in an authored chivalric romance |
|---|---|
| Source markers | Canto IV.4–7, 17–25, 38–50 |
| Name | Italian ippogrifo; Rose’s hippogryph (IV.18) |
| Parents | A griffin father and a mare mother (IV.18) |
| Source realm | Ariosto’s romance world: Riphæan hills and the Pyrenees |
| Riders in this account | Atlantes and Rogero |
| Defining ability | Flight while carrying a rider |
| Rarity in the poem | Rarely found in the Riphæan hills (IV.18) |
Facts follow Rose’s Canto IV; the Italian name is checked against Debenedetti’s edition.[1][2]
What Ariosto’s account says
Bradamant sees an armed rider on a feathered horse flying westward among the mountains. Her host identifies the rider as a sorcerer with a steel castle in the Pyrenees. When she challenges him, his book produces apparent attacks, but the narrator separates these illusions from the living mount (IV.4–7, 17–20).[1]
The hippogriff has been brought from its distant home by enchantment. Atlantes then spends a month training it to accept saddle and bit and perform riding manoeuvres on land and in the air. The use of magic to obtain it does not mean he created it by magic (IV.18–19).[1]
After Bradamant defeats Atlantes and his castle disappears, the hippogriff remains. It evades those trying to catch it, then stops near Rogero. The narrator attributes this to Atlantes’s plan to carry Rogero away from Europe and danger. Rogero mounts, and the animal takes flight beyond his control, leaving Bradamant watching anxiously below (IV.38–50).[1]
Description, abilities, and names
Rose describes broad wings of several colours (IV.5). At IV.18 the wings, beak, crest, and front feet resemble the griffin father; the remaining body resembles the mare. No exact palette, measurements, or lifespan is supplied in these passages. The animal can fly, land, gallop, and carry a rider; the dazzling shield and illusory weapons belong to Atlantes’s equipment, not to the hippogriff’s body (IV.17–25).[1]
Rose’s “hippogryph” corresponds to Italian ippogrifo. His “Rogero,” “Bradamant,” and “Atlantes” correspond to Ruggiero, Bradamante, and Atlante. Debenedetti’s Italian IV.18 describes the father’s plumage, wings, forefeet, head, and muzzle; Rose’s beak-and-crest phrasing is his verse rendering, not a second creature tradition.[1][2]
Source realm: Ariosto’s romance world
Rose locates the creatures’ distant origin in the Riphæan hills beyond the frozen ocean (IV.18); the encounter with Atlantes belongs to his Pyrenean castle (IV.7, 11–12). Origin and encounter location are distinct. These are places in the poem’s geography, not a verified modern habitat.[1]
The archive groups this record under Literary worlds because its evidence is Ariosto’s authored romance. Its griffin parentage does not transfer the account into the separate ancient traditions represented by Herodotus’s griffins or Pegasus.
Role in the episode
The narrator’s contrast between a living mount and deceptive weapons makes the hippogriff a point of reality inside Atlantes’s spectacle. Its flight also undoes the lovers’ reunion: Bradamant frees Rogero, only to see him carried away. These are roles visible in the episode, rather than a claim that hippogriffs always symbolize freedom or love.[1]
Books and references
- 1Ludovico Ariosto, The Orlando Furioso, translated into English verse with notes by William Stewart Rose
Volume I. London: John Murray, 1823. Canto IV, especially stanzas 4–7 (first sight and castle), 17–25 (illusions, form, origin, and training), and 38–50 (release and departure). Public-domain verse translation, consulted in Wikisource’s scan-backed transcription.
Read Canto IV ↗ · 1823 title page and volume contents ↗ - 2Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando furioso, edited by Santorre Debenedetti
Volume I. Bari: Gius. Laterza & Figli, 1928. Canto IV.18–19, 30, 40. Italian text consulted for the creature’s name, anatomical wording, and personal-name correspondences; the narrative summary follows Rose.
Italian Canto IV ↗ · Edition title page ↗ - 3Gustave Doré, illustration for Orlando Furioso
Wikimedia Commons file “Orlando Furioso hippogriff battle.png,” dated 1879 and marked public domain. Doré died in 1883; this nineteenth-century artwork is out of copyright. The local WebP reproduces the complete image at reduced resolution. The repository identifies the rider as Ruggiero; the caption here leaves that identification open and describes the visible scene. Artwork is not used as evidence for the creature’s anatomy.
Provenance and rights record ↗
