It's called the Sphinx. The body of a lion, and the head of a human. Not a cat... unless you're thinking of something different.

There are two related cat goddesses in the Egyptian pantheon, but I don't think either of them are ever depicted with wings: ---Bastet or Bast, the goddess of the gentle morning sun and of a happy, contented household, usually depicted as a domestic cat ---Sekhmet, the goddess of the deadly midday sun and of war, usually depicted as a lioness These two links are interesting, but not quite what you're looking for, I'm afraid: The Winged Cat: A Tale of Ancient Egypt (kids' fairy tale) http://www.amazon.com/Winged-Cat-Tale-Ancient-Egypt/dp/0064434249 Winged Cats (encyclopedia article about deformed cats) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winged_cat Maybe a little closer, but I'm not sure how authentic it is, and the wings are inscribed on the forehead and ears, not attached in 3-D at the shoulders: Winged Bast (see second illustration, cat head statue) http://www.catanna.com/bast.htm And here are more than a dozen images of winged-cat gargoyles, but all of these are modern fantasies and not depictions of ancient deities: Winged Cat Gargoyles Via Google http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=winged+cat+gargoyle&btnG=Search

Not a gryphon?... It doesn't have anything to do with volcanoes by chance?

Bast

Lammasu are Mesopotamian legendary creatures which have the head of a human, body of a lion, and the wings of an eagle. The winged lion of St. Mark is also well-known (especially in Venice).

"AntigoneRising" ? ;)

Its like a griffen isnt it? :-) maybe a spinx w wings

Someone once told me that the name of a winged cat in norse mythology was kitka (not sure if it was spelled exactly that way) but i have not found much about that in searching (and i think that was specifically winged cats). I also know there was a winged cat being called a tressym (sp?) in some kind of d&d type game (forgotten realms?). But as far as what you are describing, a cat head and other body of different things, i did find this one reference to a thing with bat wings, a cat head, and a human torso. I found on this webpage: http://www.messybeast.com/winged-cats.htm in the section titled Winged Cats throughout the ages. But they don't specifically name it.

Isn't it something like a Festral or some word like that?

Freyja

You don't, by any chance, mean hippogriff?