It is certain that the equivalent of the Phoenix bird was related to the cult of the Sun, as well as to the idea of regeneration and life, and that these characteristics are resumed in classical mythology. They related it to the daily cycle of the Sun and the annual Nile overflow, but the astrologers linked the story of its long life to the theory of the sidereal revolution. ![]() Herodotus and other Greek and Latin writers certainly knew, more or less directly, about Egyptian sources describing a similar animal, the Bennu bird, sometimes reproduced and placed at the bow of Egyptian ships. Here, the priests of Helios will begin the solemn funeral ritual.Īfter this transitory appearance in Egypt, the young bird returns to Arabia (or Ethiopia), where it lives its long solitary life feeding on incense pearls until it generates another specimen of its ashes. The new Phoenix bird buries the previous one, placing the remains in an egg-shaped myrrh and incense wrap and carrying them, with a cortege made of other birds flying around, to the sanctuary of Heliopolis. The ashes are the source of its rebirth as another bird. When its long life is about to end and the bird feels this, it makes a nest of aromatic herbs and incense it then sets fire to this nest, and, according to legends, it lays in it, burning along with the nest. The most remarkable legends refer to its reproduction. The Phoenix bird originates in Arabia (or Ethiopia) and is the object of particular worship in Egypt, at Heliopolis. Also, it is the only one in its species and, therefore, it can not reproduce. ![]() It has extraordinary longevity (its lifetime varies from 500 to almost 13,000 years, depending on the sources). The Phoenix bird resembles an eagle as a shape, but has splendid colorful plumage, with purple and gold spots (two “noble” colors with obvious symbolic significance), making it more beautiful than any peacock. If we don’t take into account the fragment of Hesiod where he speaks of this bird’s long life (927 years), the first to talk about Phoenix is Herodotus in “The Histories,” he provides a description and speaks about its living habits. Wrapped in mystery because of its exceptional destiny, transformed into a symbolic image of rebirth, considered as originating from the most diverse places, this bird is presented in classical mythology under many forms, multiplied by the innumerable reinterpretations proposed by the following centuries and by the various cultures in the classic world. The Phoenix bird is a mythical creature, resurrecting from its own ash, resembling an eagle, with splendid feathers and a very long life.
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