Griphomachia. Sculptural group of Cerrillo Blanco (Porcuna, Jaén, Spain)

Sculptural group in round bundle carved in a single block. This group is composed of a human figure and a mythological animal, a griffin, that they face in a melee. It represents a fight without weapons, from equal to equal, with the beast. The man is clothed with a short tunic with a wide belt, whose brooch and metallic joints have been carefully sculpted, as they are a sign of prestige. The man grabs the monster’s ear with his left hand, to subdue it, and with the right hand neutralizes his jaw firmly. The fingers are introduced in the jaws and the nails are carefully pointed in that place, which the spectator does not get to see, this gesture testifies to the bravery of the man who enters the most threatening part of the beast. From the jaws appears and hangs a long language, which accentuates ferocity and rage. Attitude and movement define the opponents: the man upright and determined, owner of the situation, the body of the gripho turns and envelops the man, in an economy of the space of representation. The gripho has nailed the nails in the thigh of the man, as before the lion-gripho did in the petals of the palmetto, through this contact the force of the defeated monster is transmitted, communicates to the triumphant male. The hero’s head, upright on the right torso, is not preserved, but as an aristocrat his expression had to be impassive, serene, in contrast to the agitation, roar and disproportion of the monster’s head, of long manenas that revolts on itself. Chronology: 440-400 B.C. Dimensions Height = 70 cm Width = 84 cm Maximum thickness = 33 cm Weight = 168 Kg This scene comes from the sculptural group of Cerrillo Blanco, found in 1975 in the municipality of Porcuna (Jaén). This set constitutes nowadays the most important Iberian sculptural group of the known so far. It is composed of more than forty pieces that represent heroic struggles of men with each other or men with animals, hunting scenes, images of fantastic animals or important characters. Specifically, it is part of the group known as the zoomachias in which the leontomachia is also represented. In the latter on the same base appears a human character in struggle with a lion, of which there are very few remains. The lion supports almost all of its legs on the ground, being a little raised. On the contrary, the hind legs of the animal are upright, thus getting the whole body of the animal very inclined towards the head. The identification of the animal as a lion is made through the line that marks the end of the mane. The tail of the animal hides between the legs and appears through the left groin. As far as the human character is concerned, few remains have been preserved. Specifically his two incomplete feet and footwear and a piece of short robe. At this level of the monument, in the corners, would be located, according to the last proposals of reconstruction, the two figures of wolves devouring a lamb that met the rest of the set. The set of Cerrillo Blanco has enough elements to be represented as a whole, programmed from its beginning. A whole that expresses the history of a lineage through the ages of the prince, which can be narrated through a staggered tower formula, which is contextualized in the animals that configure with their presence the different landscapes of the narrated history. The sequence of ages is made from the bottom to the top, so the reliefs of the children hunters and fighters, would constitute the base of the tower, the duels would form the first step with sculpture of round bulge and the next step should be satisfied with the two zoomachias. At the top of the tower the group of the Ancestors would be located and at a somewhat higher level the Potnia of the goat males. While in the group of child hunting the prince learns the technique, he shows it through the duels. The two actions of the reliefs of epheric theme, hunting and fighting, are repeated in the adult stage, but on this occasion with a tragic component added to the representation: suffering, pain and death. The young adult, in a real rite of passage, suffers without doubt when he feels the claw of the animal on his right leg, but the faucet when he takes out his tongue already shows the symptoms of suffocation that will lead him to death. Similarly, the wild warrior of the spear (group of the duels) mortally nails his weapon in the face of the enemy and cruelly steps on his shield preventing any kind of defense. Initiatic struggle in distant territory and mourning with death between aristocrats, zoomachia and monomachias reproduce the two activities that in the sculptural representation of Porcuna more fit to the aristocratic imaginary, in addition can be read this double activity in two ages, in the infantile when it shows the learning of both activities in the forms of small game and ruled struggle, and in the adulthood with the tragic component added. It is significant that almost all of the heads have been crushed when the monument was destroyed. For they are his most noble expression, they concentrate the virtue and power of the warrior. The destruction of Iberian sculptures follows analytical behavior patterns. A vital part of the body is destroyed: the face, the eye, the hand. Porcuna specially chooses the face. Currently the sculptures from Cerrillo Blanco can be visited in the Provincial Museum of Jaén and the archeological site in Porcuna (Jaén) is also visible, since it is one of the stops of the cultural route “Journey to the time of the Iberos” with which it is intended to value the iberas first level traces existing in the province of Jaén. Bibliography: Chapa, T. (2015): “Los escultores del Cerrillo Blanco de Porcuna,” in A. Ruiz y M. Molinos (coord.): Jaén, ibera land. 40 years of research and transfer. University of Jaén. Jaén. Olmos, R. (2002): “The sculptural groups of Cerrillo Blanco de Porcuna (Jaén). A convergent iconographic reading essay.” Spanish Archive of Archaeology, 75 107-122. Ruiz, A. and Molinos, M. (2015): “The sculptural group of Cerrillo Blanco, Porcuna,” in A. Ruiz and M. Molinos (Eds.): Jaén, Iberian land 40 Years of research and transfer. University of Jaén. 67-84. Torrecillas, J. F. (1985): The late period cemetery of Cerrillo Blanco. Institute of Giennenses Studies. Jaén.