Gryphia is asteroid #496 and also known as 1902 KH. Gryphia’s orbit is characterized by a semi-major axis of 2.20 Astronomical Units, an eccentricity of 0.08, a period of revolution of 1 191 days, and an inclination of 3.8 degrees. Gryphia was discovered by the German (from Baden, a grand-dukedom with Karlsruhe as the capital, while Germany still didn’t exist) astronomer Maximilian Franz Joseph Cornelius Wolf, usually referred to as Max Wolf, at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory (Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl).

Gryphia had commonly believed to be named after the German baroque era poet Andreas Gryphius until the Austrian astronomer Anneliese Schnell and the German astronomer Lutz Dieter Schmadel conducted some research for Lutz Schmadel’s Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, which was for the first time published in 1992. They figured out that Gryphia got, following the suggestion of a Wilhelm Ebert, named after the city and perhaps also the university of Greifswald, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. While I wouldn’t know what to tell about Andreas Gryphius, Greifswald has a history reaching back to the High Middle Age. Back then it was a settlement with a meanwhile lost name on the territory of the Eldena Monastery. Greifswald was (since 1249 as a fiefdom) reigned by the dukes of Pommern, whose heraldic animal is a red griffon with golden claws and a golden beak. Greifswald (literally translatable as griffon’s forest) probably got its name from this heraldic animal. Greifswald in 1250 became a city. In 1264 the city got fortified. Greifswald is a port city at the Baltic Sea, its territory including two small islands, and so became a member of the Hanse. The oldest document confirming this is from 1278 A.D. But the port has been silting up, so that Greifswald couldn’t keep up with other Hanseatic cities despite the dukes granting Greifswald several privileges to make this task easier. Greifswald in 1456 got a university.

A plague epidemic struck Greifswald during the Thirty Years War. This halved the city’s population and so the city in 1631 got conquered by Swedish troops. Greifswald in spite of some battles to conquer it and even occupations by Napoleon’s troops stayed Swedish until the Congress of Vienna, which gave Greifswald to Prussia. Greifswald had already while under Swedish rule repeatedly supported Prussian armies. Greifswald’s history during the 20th and 21st century can’t be of relevance for the name of asteroid #496.

Asteroid #6136 or Gryphon is named after the mythical beast known as griffon. So the city Greifswald is relevant for the astrological meaning of Gryphia. Most peculiar about Greifswald is that it together with the cities Stralsund, Demmin, and Anklam got granted the so-called Golden Privileges to the purpose to make them thrive. The Golden Privileges guaranteed life, physical integrity, and property of the citizens, gave the cities an own jurisdiction, exempted the citizens from dues, tariffs, and conscription, permitted the cities to buy real estate and to forge alliances, and protected them from maltreatment by superiors. The Golden Privileges were guaranteed even if the cities themselves neglected their duties. Several rulers tried to reduce the Golden Privileges, but this always made the cities immediately and unitedly rebel, so that such attempts always resulted in renewing the confirmation that the Golden Privileges were granted to the four cities. So Gryphia should indicate that persons or places enjoy great privileges.