The griffin is generally agreed to have arrived in Pisa at some point during the late 11th or early 12th century and may have been a spoil of one of the many successful "wars" or raids conducted by the Republic of Pisa against Islamic states. In this period, Pisa was at the height of its power as a maritime republic. The successful attack in 1087 on Mahdia in modern Tunisia, the capital of the local Zirid dynasty, is one candidate. Another strong candidate is the Pisan campaign against the Saracens of the Balearic Islands in Spain between 1113 and 1115. The griffin was placed on a platform atop a column rising from the gable above the apse at the east end of the Pisa Cathedral, probably as part of the original construction that started in 1064. This was a very prominent position, albeit one that could not be seen up close. Thus, its Islamic origins were forgotten over the centuries. According to later local legends, it was said to be either a Roman sculpture, a local medieval creation, a spoil of war from 1115, or a miraculous finding from when the foundations of the cathedral were excavated. Because the griffin is made of bronze, Pisans may have drawn similarities between this statue and surviving bronze Roman sculptures, reminding Pisans of their imperial past. Large-scale European bronze casting at this period specialized in fonts and pairs of doors, of which there is a fine Romanesque pair with reliefs in the same museum.