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Appearance and abilities
A phoenix is a mythical bird that is a fire spirit with a colorful plumage and a tail of gold and scarlet (or purple, blue, and green according to some legends). It has a 500 to 1,000 year life-cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of twigs that then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix or phoenix egg arises, reborn anew to live again. The new phoenix is destined to live as long as its old self. In some stories, the new phoenix embalms the ashes of its old self in an egg made of myrrh and deposits it in the Egyptian city of
Heliopolis (
Greek for sun-city). It is said that the bird's cry is that of a beautiful song. In very few stories they are able to change into humans.
The Roman poet
Ovid wrote the following about the phoenix:
Most beings spring from other individuals; but there is a certain kind which reproduces itself. The Assyrians call it the Phoenix. It does not live on fruit or flowers, but on frankincense and odoriferous gums. When it has lived five hundred years, it builds itself a nest in the branches of an oak, or on the top of a palm tree. In this it collects cinnamon, and spikenard, and myrrh, and of these materials builds a pile on which it deposits itself, and dying, breathes out its last breath amidst odors. From the body of the parent bird, a young Phoenix issues forth, destined to live as long a life as its predecessor. When this has grown up and gained sufficient strength, it lifts its nest from the tree (its own cradle and its parent's sepulchre), and carries it to the city of Heliopolis in Egypt, and deposits it in the temple of the Sun.
[1]
French author
Voltaire thus described the phoenix:
It was of the size of an eagle, but its eyes were as mild and tender as those of the eagle are fierce and threatening. Its beak was the colour of a rose, and seemed to resemble, in some measure, the beautiful mouth of Formosante. Its neck resembled all the colours of the rainbow, but more brilliant and lively. A thousand shades of gold glistened on its plumage. Its feet seemed a mixture of purple and silver; and the tail of those beautiful birds which were afterwards fixed to the car of Juno, did not come near the beauty of its tail.
[2]
History
The
simurgh or
simorgh (Phoenix) originates in
Persian mythology (Parthian Empire ca. 247 B.C.). The figure of the phoenix has gone through a variety of representations in art/literature, ranging from being fully birdlike to having the head of a dog and suckling its young. Typically, it is considered benevolent, but some tales suggest that humans are not always safe around the simurgh. Further, many tales share many elements with those of the phoenix.
Flavius Philostratus (c. AD
170), who wrote the biography
Life of Apollonius of Tyana, refers to the phoenix as a bird living in
India, but sometimes
migrating to Egypt every five hundred years. His account is clearly inspired by
Garuda, the bird of the
Hindu god
Vishnu. He considered the bird as an emanation of sunlight, being in appearance and size much like an
eagle. His contemporary
Lactantius is probably the author who wrote the longest poem on the famous bird. Although descriptions (and life-span) vary, the Egyptian phoenix (
Bennu bird) became popular in early
Catholic art, literature and
Catholic symbolism, as a symbol of Christ representing his
resurrection,
immortality, and
life-after-death. One of the Early Catholic Church Fathers,
Clement, related the following regarding the Phoenix in chapter 25 of
The First Epistle of Clement:
Let us consider that wonderful sign [of the resurrection] which takes place in Eastern lands, that is, in
Arabia and the countries round about. There is a certain bird which is called a phoenix. This is the only one of its kind, and lives five hundred years. And when the time of its dissolution draws near that it must die, it builds itself a nest of
frankincense, and myrrh, and other spices, into which, when the time is fulfilled, it enters and dies. But as the flesh decays a certain kind of worm is produced, which, being nourished by the juices of the dead bird, brings forth feathers. Then, when it has acquired strength, it takes up that nest in which are the bones of its parent, and bearing these it passes from the land of Arabia into Egypt, to the city called Heliopolis. And, in open day, flying in the sight of all men, it places them on the altar of the sun, and having done this, hastens back to its former abode. The priests then inspect the registers of the dates, and find that it has returned exactly as the five hundredth year was completed.
Michael W. Holmes points out that early Christian writers justified their use of this myth because the word appears in Psalm 92:12 [LXX Psalm 91:13], but in that passage it actually refers to a palm tree, not a mythological bird.
[3] However, it was the flourishing of
Christian Hebraist interpretations of Job 29:18 that brought the Joban phoenix to life for Christian readers of the seventeenth century. At the heart of these interpretations is the proliferation of richly complementary meanings that turn upon three translations of the word chol (חול) — as phoenix, palm tree, or sand — in Job 29:18.
[4]In a critical edition of I Clement, Lake noted that "the same story, with variations, is found in Herodotus (ii. 73), Pliny (
Nat. Hist. x.2), etc."
[5]Originally, the phoenix was identified by the Egyptians as a
stork or
heron-like bird called a
benu, known from the
Book of the Dead and other Egyptian texts as one of the sacred symbols of worship at Heliopolis, closely associated with the rising
sun and the
Egyptian sun-god Ra.
The
Greeks identified it with their own word
phoenix φοίνιξ, meaning the color purple-red or
crimson (cf.
Phoenicia). They and the
Romans subsequently pictured the bird more like a
peacock or an
eagle. According to the
Greeks the phoenix lived in Phoenicia next to a well. At dawn, it bathed in the water of the well, and the Greek sun-god
Helios stopped his chariot (the sun) in order to listen to its song. Featured in the painting
Heracles Strangles Snakes (House of the Vettii, Pompeii Italy) as
Zeus, the king of the gods.
One inspiration that has been suggested for the Egyptian phoenix is the
flamingo of
East Africa[citation needed]. This bright pink or white bird nests on
salt flats that are too hot for its
eggs or chicks to survive; it builds a mound several inches tall and large enough to support its egg, which it lays in that marginally cooler location. The convection currents around these mounds resembles the
turbulence of a
flame. In zoology, flamingos are part of the family
Phoenicopteridae, from the generic name
Phoenicopterus or "phoenix-winged."
Related usage
The phoenix is the central figure in
Lebanese ancient and modern cultures, as Lebanese are descendants of the Phoenicians and often claim themselves sons of the Phoenix. Lebanon, and Beirut particularly, is often depicted symbolically as a phoenix bird having been destroyed and rebuilt 7 times during its long history.
In
China, the
Fenghuang (鳳凰) is a mythical bird superficially similar to the phoenix. It is the second most-respected legendary creature (second to the
dragon), largely used to represent the empress and females, and as such as the counterpart to the
Chinese dragon, traditionally seen as masculine or imperial. The phoenix is considered the greatest and the leader of birds.
In
Japan, the phoenix is called
hō-ō (kanji: 鳳凰) or
fushichō (不死鳥?), literally "Immortal Bird".
In
Russian folklore, the phoenix appears as the
Zhar-Ptitsa (Жар-Птица), or firebird, subject of the famous 1910
ballet score by
Igor Stravinsky. The phoenix was featured in the flags of
Alexander Ypsilantis and of many other captains during the
Greek Revolution, symbolizing Greece's rebirth, and was chosen by
John Capodistria (1828-1832). In addition, the first modern Greek currency bore the name of
phoenix. Despite being replaced by a royal Coat of Arms, it remained a popular symbol, and was used again in the 1930s by the
Second Hellenic Republic. However, its use by the
military junta of 1967-1974 made it extremely unpopular, and it has almost disappeared from use after 1974, with the notable exception of the Greek
Order of the Phoenix.
See also
- Mythic fire birds
- A Phoenix dubbed "Cedrus" was chosen to be the mascot of the 6th Francophone games held in Lebanon.[6][7]
- The Phoenix has been in a numerous times the main motive for collectors’ coins and medals, one of the most recent one is the famous Belgian 10 euro silver coin 60 years of peace. The obverse depicts the Phoenix as a representation of a new Europe, post 1945.
- Főnix Hall, an arena in Debrecen, Hungary, which was named after the Phoenix.
- Fenghuang, commonly referred to as the Chinese phoenix.
- Firebird (Russian folklore), an equivalent of phoenix in Russian mythology.
- Bennu, an Egyptian correspondence to the phoenix.
- Angha, a Huma, Simurgh, Persian phoenixes.
- Adarna, a Philippine version of the phoenix.
- Avalerion, an Indian magic bird that drowns itself once it has laid its eggs.
- Turul, a mythical bird of the Magyars.
- Zumrud-u Anka, an Arabic version of the phoenix.
- Garuda, mythical bird of ancient India.
- Phoenix in popular culture
References
- ^ Thomas Bulfinch, Age of Fable: Vols. I & II: Stories of Gods and Heroes. 1913
- ^ The Princess of Babylon, in The Works of M. de Voltaire, vol XXXVI (vol. XXVI of the prose works), London, MDCCLXIX, pp. 14-15.
- ^ (Holmes, The Apostolic Fathers: Greek texts and English translations, page 59.)
- ^ EMLS 11.2 (September, 2005): 5.1-15] Milton's Joban Phoenix in Samson Agonistes
- ^ Lake, Kirsopp. The Apostolic Fathers, vol. I. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1912, p. 53
- ^ Canadian Heritage (2009). "Games of la Francophonie" (informational). Canadian heritage. http://www.pch.gc.ca/special/francophonie/rslts_img/index-eng.cfm. Retrieved 2009-09-27.
- ^ Organisation internationale de la francophonie. "Les Jeux , La mascotte - Jeux de la Francophonie". Jeux2009. http://www.jeux2009.org/Jeux-mascotte. Retrieved 2009-09-27.
- Umberto Capotummino" L'Occhio della Fenice", Palermo, Sekhem, 2005. ISNN 88-902054-0-7
- R. Van den Broek, The Myth of the Phoenix - According to Classical and Early Christian Traditions, E.J.Brill, Leiden, 1972.
- Silvia Fabrizio-Costa (ed.), La Fenice : mito e segno (simposio dell’università di Caen), Peter Lang, Bern, 2001. ISBN 3-906767-89-2
- Françoise Lecocq, « Les sources égyptiennes du mythe du phénix », L’Egypte à Rome (simposio dell’università di Caen), éd. F. Lecocq, Cahiers de la Maison de la Recherche en Sciences Humaines, n° 41, Caen, 2005. ISSN 1250-6419, reed. 2008 (p. 211-266).
- Francesco Zambon, Alessandro Grossato, Il mito della fenice in Oriente e in Occidente, Venezia, Marsilio Editori, 2004. ISBN 88-317-8614-8
- Françoise Lecocq, « L’iconographie du phénix à Rome », Images de l’animal dans l’Antiquité. Des figures de l’animal au bestiaire figuré, to be published at Presses universitaires de Caen; preprint on line: Université de Caen Basse-Normandie, p. 73-106. (French)
- Françoise Lecocq, « L’œuf du phénix. Myrrhe, encens et cannelle dans le mythe du phénix », L’animal et le savoir, de l’Antiquité à la Renaissance, to be published at Presses univ. de Caen ; preprint on line : Université de Caen Basse-Normandie, p. 107-130. (French)
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