Unraveling The Mystery Of The Phoenix: The Bird Of Immortality

A.Sutherland - AncientPages.com - What is really behind the story of Phoenix, the bird of immortality, the bird that rises from the ashes?

The Phoenix is known in various forms and by various names throughout the Middle and the Far East, the Mediterranean, and Europe. It is a symbol of resurrection. The name Phoenix may have come from the Greek phoînix and may be related to phoinos (blood-red).

In ancient Egypt, the Phoenix was called the "Lord of Jubilees" and was considered to be the ba (spirit) of the Sun God Ra. In Mesopotamia, the Phoenix symbolized by the horned and winged solar disk. Alchemists used the Phoenix to symbolize the color red and the successful end of a process.

The medieval Hermeticists used the Phoenix as a symbol of alchemical transmutation.

Legends tell that the Phoenix had feathers of red and gold, the color of the rising Sun. It had a wonderfully melodious voice, which became mournful with approaching death. Other creatures were then so overcome by its beauty and sadness that they fell dead.

From ancient texts, we learn that only one phoenix could live at a time. Hesiod, the Greek poet wrote that the Phoenix lived nine times the lifespan of the long-living raven. According to other sources, the Phoenix can live up to 97,200 years.

Ornament from a book of typographic specimens, 1870. Image source

Tradition says that the Phoenix fed only on-air, harming no other creature. It lived a solitary life in a far-away land, coming to human-inhabited land only when it was ready to die. If the bird was injured it possessed the power to heal itself.

When the Phoenix reaches the end of his life, it sets the nest and itself on fire and is burned to ashes. Shortly, the Phoenix rises again and begins its life anew. In some traditions, the new Phoenix gathers up the old ashes and takes them to the Egyptian city of Heliopolis to offer them to the Sun God. The ashes that are laid on the Altar of the Sun are said to have the power of bringing a dead man back to life.

When the Roman emperor Elagabalus (203-222) tried to become immortal, he dined off a bird of paradise, sent in place of a phoenix, but the substitute did not work. Instead, the emperor was murdered shortly afterward.

Unfortunately, there is little information about the Phoenix, the bird of flames.
Some people strongly believe that it is God's pet, let loose on the world now and again, to give the people a glimpse of a Gods' powers. Others swear by the fact that the Phoenix is, itself a God, the incarnation of Foiros, bringing peace to the righteous and swift retribution to the evil and corrupt.

Egyptian Ba bird - the "ba," depicted as a human-headed falcon, was a spiritual aspect of one's personality. Image credit: Walters Art Museum - Public domain 

Yet another group, says it is not more than a near-extinct animal, no different from a swan or dove. So far, scholars have been unable to trace the true origin of the Phoenix legend. It is believed, but not certain that the legend came from the Orient and was adopted by Sun-worshipping priests of Heliopolis, as an allegory of the Sun's daily setting and rebirth.
In Christianity, the resurrected Phoenix became a popular symbol for how Jesus Christ has risen from the grave.

The legend of this wonderful supernatural creature has survived for centuries. The Phoenix never died permanently. Legend says it existed when the universe was created.
It knows the secrets of life and reincarnation, knowledge even the most powerful gods do not possess.

Written by – A. Sutherland  - AncientPages.com Senior Staff Writer

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