Phoenix

Hidden in a faraway land is a bird that lays no eggs and has no young, this is the phoenix the bird of fire. It is a long-lived bird in Greek mythologythat is regenerated and reborn in a mysterious cycle.

The bird is associated with the sun and obtains a fresh life by rising from its ashes. It was adopted as a symbol by early Christians and is constantly referred to in modern culture. During the classical years the name of the bird was closely linked with the purple color. According to an explanation offered by archbishop Isidore of Seville the name was derived from its purple-red color. This association continued throughout the medieval period although in a different fashion. Generally it was considered as a royal bird and hence referred to as the purple bird.

Ancient Greeks associated the bird with the Greek god Apollo or the Egyptian sun-god Ra. The Greeks believed that the bird lives in Arabia near a cool well. Every morning it would bathe in the water and sing beautifully to an extent that the sun-god would often stop his chariot to listen. The Greeks held that only one of these creatures could exist at a time. When death approached which was once every 500 or 1461 yearsthe bird would build a nest with aromatic wood before setting it on fire.

When it was completely consumed by the flames a new bird would spring forth from the ashes. It would embalm the ashes of its predecessors in an egg full of myrrh, fly with it to the city of the sun also known as Heliopolis and there deposit the egg on the altar of the sun god.

Discussions during the classical period claim it is possible that the bird originated in Ancient Egypt. Scholars had always suspected that the Benu solar bird venerated in the Heliopolis had some similarities with the Greek bird. Egyptian sources about the Benu are usually problematic and open to various interpretations. Some of them have been influenced by Greek notions about the purple bird.

The Egyptians usually depicted the phoenix as a heron although classic literature depicts it as an eagle or peacock. The bird symbolizes resurrection, immortality and life after death hence it was always placed on sarcophagi. Apart from being linked to Egyptian Benu, it is also associated with Garuda of the Hindus as well as Chinese Feng-huang. The bird is mentioned in Judaic lore as achieving its immortal status in a unique way since it did not bother Noah during the great Flood.

The people of Heliopolis in Egypt claimed that the bird came to the city once in 5 centuries to bury his father. None of the Egyptian historians owned up to have ever seen this strange creature except in pictures and usually found accounts of the bird quite extraordinary. Their description about the bird saying that it resembles an eagle in size and shape was derived from these pictures.

No evidence of existence of this bird can be found since it self-immolates. No one has ever claimed to have seen it as it is a master of stealth. Some ancient people claimed that it usually preyed on large animals and when these animals became extinct it began starving. Knowing it would suffer the same fate as those of the animals it preyed on the bird did not lay another egg and hence no other such creature was ever seen again.

The legend about the phoenix has existed for centuries, although there are few variations but basic theme is the same. This bird is creature with supernatural powers that lives for about a thousand years. Once its old the bird builds a funeral fire and casts itself into it, in death it is reborn rising from the very ashes to live another 1000 years. Usually it lays a single egg in the hot coals of the funeral pyre, this hatch into a new bird and thus the cycle continues.

Scholars have attempted to explain what could have contributed to the rise of this legend. Some have reasoned that a brightly colored bird could have been caught in the Asian continent and then sold off in a faraway land accompanied by wild claims about its magical powers in the hope that they would jack up its price. Another theory stipulates that someone could have seen a backlit peacock as the sun was setting and mistakenly held that the creature was on fire.

One of the theories that may sound bizarre yet could be true holds that the bird could have been a raven or crow flapping its wings in the midst of a dying fire. This theory is due to a well known practice associated with crows and ravens referred to as anting. A raven or crow practicing this behavior often squats over sweet substance such as spilled honey or stirs an ant’s nest and allow them to run all over its body. Generally it is held that this behavior offers the bird a kind of back massage, alternatively they feed on mites embedded on its feathers as parasites causing it a lot of irritation. Although the real reason for this behavior is still a mystery these birds love the sensation since they do it repeatedly.

It is common for such birds to squat over hot surfaces such as embers of a fire with outstretched wings. Probably they do this for the same reasons that drive human beings to enjoy sitting in saunas. On the other hand it is possible that they use the heat to get rid of feather mites. If for some reason a bird as big as a crow squats on the dying coals of a fire and begins to flapping its wings in order because it is about to take off or just to cool off then there is a possibility that the draft could rekindle the fire. The resurgence of flames around the bird is highly likely to cause it to take off. This could explain the ancient theory about the phoenix rising from flames and ashes.