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Pyre of the Phoenix
"...Now I will believe...
That in Arabia
There is one tree, the phoenix' throne, one phoenix
At this hour reigning there..."
The Tempest, by William Shakespear
Most people have heard about the phoenix, the legendary bird that lives for a certain amount of time, then dies and is reborn. Many cultures had stories of the phoenix or other great birds that were similar. The word phoenix means 'brightly colored'. There was ever only one phoenix at a time.
History
The earliest recorded reference of the phoenix was by Hesoid in the 8th century B.C. In the 2nd century B.C., the Hebrew Ezekial the Dramatist recorded that the phoenix had a beautiful song and was king of all birds. From there, the legend of the phoenix seems to have spread into Egypt, Greece and other parts of the world.
Many stories say that the phoenix had a beautiful voice. It was believed in Greece that the phoenix lived close to a well in Arabia where it bathed each morning. As it bathed, it would sing a song so beautiful that even the sun god would stop his chariot to listen. An old central Siberian legend claims that in the beginning of creation there was no music in the world. A mighty hunter went hunting one day and saw the phoenix. Wanting it as a trophy, he shot an arrow at it. When the arrow struck the bird, it cried aloud in pain. That cry opened up the mountains, made the earth shake and created stormy weather. Since then, the cry of the phoenix can be heard in the music of the wind.
The Phoenix in Egypt and Greece
The myth of the phoenix in the lands of ancient Egypt and Greece are very similar in many ways.
Both associated the phoenix with the sun, and it may have even been the servant of the sun god. To both, it was a symbol of immortality, ressurrection and life after death. In Greece, it was associated with the peacock or eagle. In Egypt, it was called the Benu, which meant 'Ascending One' and was physically represented by the heron.
There are other versions of the phoenix as well. In Russia, there was the firebird. In Siberian shamanic cultures, there was the Great Bird. It was Garuda by the Hindu and Feng by the Chinese. Thunderbird to the Native Americans and the Arabic Roc (or Rukh) was a gigantic bird with two horns on its head and four humps on its back. There, it symbolized strength, purity and life. There were probably other cultures with similar creatures as well.
Death of the Phoenix
When the phoenix reached an age of 500 (or 1461) years, it would build itself a nest upon which to die. Some say it would set the nest on fire, burning its body to ashes. From the dead body, or flames, a new phoenix would spring forth. When old enough, the new bird would either carry the nest itself, or embalm the ashes of its predecessor into an egg and carry it to Heliopolis, the Egyptian city of the sun. There it would take it to the temple and lay it upon the altar of the sun god. Then it would repeat the cycle over again. Thus, the phoenix became a symbol of resurrection.
Phoenix in the Stars
The constellation phoenix is visible in the southern hemisphere only. It is composed of nine stars and lies far to the south, south of Sculptor and north of Tucana. This grouping of stars has always been seen as birdlike and called by many names - the griffon, eagle, young ostriches, firebird. In 1603, it was named phoenix by Johann Bayer and classified in his catalogue, Uranometria.
Also check out:
The phoenix of the Far East
