phoenix

phoenix, mythical bird said to live a long life before dying and being reborn. The phoenix myth is known chiefly in classical antiquity and possibly has roots in ancient Egypt. It was recounted in ancient Greece and Rome and later adopted into Christian symbolism. Most accounts of the phoenix associated it with the sun and palm trees, describe its death in a fire and revival from the ashes, and its singular nature. This mythical bird’s cyclical pattern of life and death has made the phoenix a meaningful symbol of rebirth, resurrection, and new beginnings.

Connections to Egyptian mythology

Although the precise origins of the phoenix myth are unclear, it possibly grew out of, or is at least related to, the Egyptian myth of the bennu (also spelled benu) bird. The bennu bird is represented as a gray heron that is said to have landed on the first land after the creation of the world and made the first noise. Egyptian mythology held that the morning sun arises daily as a bennu bird and that it is the soul of the sun god Re. The bennu bird was later closely affiliated with Osiris, god of the dead and resurrection, hence the bennu bird’s association with the theme of renewal and life after death. The bennu bird appears in the Egyptian Book of the Dead in a funerary context.

In the 5th century bce, the Greek historian Herodotus recorded the story of the mythical phoenix that he attributed to the residents of Heliopolis (“City of the Sun”) in Egypt. According to his account the phoenix was as large as an eagle, with brilliant scarlet and gold plumage. It visits them from Arabia every 500 years. When its father dies it embalms its father’s corpse in an egg of myrrh and flies it to Heliopolis, to deposit at the temple of the Egyptian god of the sun, Re.

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Classical Greek and Roman versions

Although Herodotus and other early writers locate the myth’s origin in Egypt, it is not clear that Egypt is historically the wellspring of the phoenix. Some scholars suggest that the classical phoenix myth began in the Greek cultural milieu but was part of a wider mythological idea of the sun bird, found across the eastern Mediterranean basin, that similarly surfaced in Egyptian mythology.

As the myth of the phoenix was retold over time in Greek and Roman contexts, new versions with new details emerged, along with new meanings. Several classical accounts suggest that the phoenix reproduces asexually, and some specified that a worm emerged from its bones and marrow and grew into a new phoenix. Another version of the story, which became predominant, describes the phoenix dying on a pyre of aromatic substances and then rising from the ashes. Sometimes it does so in its native country, sometimes flying to Heliopolis to immolate itself. In different versions its native place is said to be in Phoenicia, Ethiopia, or India. The lifespans of the bird range from 500 to thousands of years.

Some mentions of the phoenix in ancient sources are in anthologies of legends, as in Ovid’s Metamorphoses (c. 8 ce) or in analytical works about the natural world, such as Pliny the Elder’s Natural History (77 ce). For the 800th anniversary of Rome (in 47 ce), Emperor Claudius brought a supposed phoenix from Egypt to display in the Forum. In the late 1st century ce Roman poet Martial used the imagery of the phoenix to symbolize the renewal of Rome after a catastrophic fire and imperial revival under Domitian. In Roman thought of the period, the phoenix was compared to undying Rome, and it appears on the coinage of the late Roman Empire as a symbol of the Eternal City.

Rebirth in Christianity and Judaism

Jewish and Christian writers in the cultural milieu of late antiquity were familiar with the phoenix myth and incorporated it into their religious texts. There is a possible mention of the phoenix in the Book of Job 29:18, when Job laments: “Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days like the phoenix.’” Whether the word used (Hebrew: חול, ḥol) means the mythical bird, a palm tree, or sand is debated among scholars. In the Greek-style tragedy Exagoge by the Alexandrian Jewish playwright Ezekiel the Tragedian in the 2nd century bce, the phoenix appears to the Israelites as they flee Egypt. The pseudepigraphical Apocalypse of Baruch (c. 100 ce) mentions the phoenix and says it fed only on dew. In Genesis Rabbah (c. 450 ce) the rabbis recount the myth of the phoenix in a discussion of Eve, whom they say offered the forbidden fruit to all animals but only the phoenix refused, granting it immortality.

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The phoenix’s rebirth from fire was an idea that appealed to emergent Christianity, in which context the phoenix was interpreted as an allegory of resurrection and life after death. In the First Letter of Clement (c. 96 ce) St. Clement I relates (1 Clement 25:2–5) the myth of the phoenix as an illustration of God’s capacity to resurrect those who have faith. Tertullian (c. 155/160–220) and St. Ambrose (339–97) invoke the phoenix in their writings as evidence of the possibility of resurrection and as an analogy of Jesus’ resurrection. In the poem De Ave Phoenice (“On a Bird, Phoenix”), attributed to the Christian poet Lactantius (240–320), some readers see Christian themes of millennarian death and resurrection. In early Christian artistic imagery, the phoenix came to symbolize Jesus’ immortality as well as his role as king, blending the bird’s Roman imperial and mythic regeneration themes.

Longevity in modern culture

The phoenix that dies in a fire and rises from the ashes continues to be a meaningful emblem of rebirth, regeneration, and second chances, appearing in such diverse contexts as psychology, corporate culture, and community identities. NASA gave the name Phoenix to a Mars lander following early failed lander missions to Mars. It was adopted as the name of Arizona’s capital city, Phoenix, and a phoenix—naturally—graces the city’s flag. Phoenixes also appear on the flags of San Francisco, California, and Atlanta, Georgia, cities that suffered catastrophic fires and arose from the ashes. The phoenix is the mascot or logo of schools such as Elon University, Swarthmore College, and University of Chicago. University of Chicago’s mascot, also known as Phil the Phoenix, was adopted in 1910 to represent Chicago’s rise from the ashes after the 1871 Great Chicago Fire.

Similar mythical birds

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There are many other phoenixlike avian beings found in myths worldwide, although historical connections between them are unclear at best. For example, in Islamic mythology the phoenix was identified with the Arabian ʿanqāʾ, a huge mysterious bird that was originally created by God with all perfections but thereafter became a plague and was killed. It is likely related to the legendary elephant-carrying roc giant bird in Arabian mythology. The ʿanqāʾ was later amalgamated with the simurgh, a wise bird found in Zoroastrian mythology. In Chinese mythology the fenghuang is a mythical immortal bird, often compared to the phoenix, whose appearance is said to signify harmony. The firebird in Russian and Slavic mythology was the inspiration behind Igor Stravinsky’s famous ballet and orchestral composition The Firebird. In Hindu mythology the eagle Garuda, who accompanies the god Vishnu as his divine vehicle, is said to have been born in a blaze of fire.