THE Phoenix it is a mythological bird that represents the cycles of life, the beginning and the hope for a better future.
Of Egyptian origin, the myth is present in various cultures such as Greek, Roman, Arabic and Chinese.
legend of the phoenix
The Phoenix was a beautiful bird that possessed extraordinary strength and could live for five hundred years. Its feathers would be red, while the beak, tail and claws would be golden.
Her tears could cure any illness, she had a beautiful song and at the end of her life she sang a sad melody.
After this, it was burned, reappeared and the ashes that were left over from this process had the property of raising the dead.
According to some versions, the Phoenix placed an egg and hatched it for three days, after which the fire took place. Others claim that from the fire another phoenix bird appeared directly.
meaning of the phoenix
The Phoenix is a bird that symbolizes rebirth, the triumph of life over death, the eternal restart, but without losing its essence when it is always the same creature.
In this way, it symbolizes life and its cycles, hope, the fact that it is necessary to turn around in adverse situations.
Phoenix and Mythology
Many cultures have the myth of a flying creature endowed with magical powers. We can mention the flying dragon present in the culture of several Asian countries or Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent of the Aztec civilization.
Christians also use the pelican as a metaphor for rebirth and sacrifice. After all, this bird, when it has no food to give to its young, wounds itself in the chest to nourish them with its own flesh and blood.
In this way, we see that birds were used to explain and symbolize characteristics of human nature in different societies.
Let's look at some examples:
Egypt
In Egypt, there was a bird called Bennu (or Benu), which symbolized the soul of Ra, God of the Sun and had a temple in Heliopolis.
Probably, Bennu originated the Phoenix in the West, where it arrived through the writings of the Greek historian Herodotus (484 a. C.-425 a. C.) about his travels to the kingdom of Egypt.
Experts believe that it resembled the extinct Heron heron (Ardea bennuides).
Pomegranate
It was the writers Tacitus, Ovid, and Pliny the Elder who described the Phoenix as a bird that was able to rise from the ashes and whose version was taken to the Western world.
China
The Chinese also have the myth of the winged bird, called Fenghuang and which would be similar to an eagle.
However, the “Chinese phoenix” has no connection with Western myth. It only indicates the good fortune and loyalty of the people and the virtue of a government.
Persia
In 1177, the Sufi poet Farīd ad-Dīn ʿAṭṭār (1142-1221) wrote the work "The Conference of the Birds" where it tells the saga of thirty birds that fly together in search of King Simorgh.
Among them, there is the Phoenix, an example to follow of everyone who fears death, because she knows exactly the day of her death and prepares for it.
Curiosities
- Although the Phoenix is female in Portuguese, in other languages, such as Spanish and French, it is identified as belonging to the male gender.
- The myth of the Phoenix gained new breath in the 21st century when it appeared in the Harry Potter saga, in video games and television series.
- Phoenix is also the name of a constellation.
Read more about this subject:
- Egyptian Mythology
- Greek mythology
