- This article is about the mythological bird. For the Phoenician king, see Phoenix (King).
The Phoenix (Ancient Greek: Φοῖνιξ, phoínix, Persian: ققنوس, Arabic: العنقاء) is a mythical, sacred firebird that can be found in the mythologies of the Egyptians, Greeks, Persians, Romans, Chinese, Japanese and (according to Sanchuniathon) Phoenicians, Hindu and other cultures.
In Mythology
The phoenix is a mythical bird that is the true spirit of fire with a colorful plumage and a tail of gold or yellow and red. It was said to have eyes as blue as sapphires. It was said to be the spirit of Ra himself because its fire was so fierce. It has a 500 to 1000 year life-cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of incense and sacred materials that it then ignites; the bird burned fiercely then was reduced to ashes, from which the new, young phoenix arises, reborn anew to live a better life than the previous one.
The phoenix looked like a giant fiery eagle with a flame trail behind it wherever it flew
The new phoenix is destined to live as long as its previous incarnation. 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 (literally "sun-city" in Greek). It is said that the bird's cry is that of a beautiful song. The Phoenix's ability to be reborn from its own ashes makes it essentially immortal. In very few stories, they are able to change into people and other birds. There is only ever one phoenix at a time. The tears of the phoenix have ability to heal any wound or infection and raise the dead. The phoenix's size is not definite since it can change size, but its regular size is the size of a house.
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Trivia
- The phoenix is essentialy immortal, as it can reincarnate itself over and over.
- In some stories, before the universe existed, the phoenix was said to be flying around over the sea of chaos to land on a lone island pyramid and sing a beautiful song, which is said to be the trigger that started the beginning of the creation of the universe itself.
- The phoenix was originally from ancient Egypt, where it was called the Bennu Bird. The Bennu Bird looked like a heron or stork, but this evolved over time into the eagle-like form it has now.
- The phoenix myth went by many names in its incredibly long life: the Egyptian Bennu, the Chinese Fenghuang, The japanese Ho-o, the hindu Garuda, the greek Phoenix, the Russian Firebird, the persian Simorgh, Georgian Paskunji, Arabian Anka, Turkish Zümrüdü Anka, and the Tibetan Me byi karmo.