There are many legends about this fantastic bird, in which the image of one of the most beautiful creatures on earth appears before us. The phoenix bird is a symbol of death and immortality, combustion and constant rebirth. It was compared with the sun setting in the evening and reappearing in the morning, with the eternal life of the soul leaving the body after death. So the phoenix has become entrenched in the minds of people as the embodiment of the dream of endless existence.
The idea of a divine bird resembling a heron originated in Ancient Egypt, whose inhabitants, thinking about immortality, created magnificent temples, pyramids and imperishable mummies. According to the myth, the phoenix (benu) bird appeared on the stone-obelisk Ben-Ben that arose out of the water chaos, which marked the beginning of the creation of the world: the epithet “benu” in this case meant the phrase “the one that emerged from itself”. Not created by anyone, originally existing bird flew over the waters of the ocean until it made its nest on the stone-hill Ben-Ben …
Not only the ancient Egyptians thought this way: other backgammon also have stories that a bird took part in the creation of the world. Of course, people hardly knew exactly who created the world, but the appearance of a dazzling bird amazed the imagination, shining in the reflection of the sun's rays on the frescoes of Heliopolis. As Herodotus wrote, “the phoenix is a sacred bird, in Egypt it rarely appears, once every 500 years, as the townspeople said. According to them, she arrives when her father (that is, herself) dies. If the images correctly show its size, size and appearance, its plumage is partly golden, partly red, and its appearance and size resemble an eagle."
Here we are talking about the miracle of rebirth that took place in the Egyptian Heliopolis, the temple of the sun god. Unlike all other birds, the phoenix was born without mating. When the bird felt that its time had come, it, fluttering its wings, flew in from the east, made a nest of fragrant dry herbs on the altar of the sun god and lay down in it. The hot rays of the luminary reflecting from its sparkling wings set the nest on fire and the phoenix burned to ashes. A few days later, a completely new bird appeared in this place and began a new life, which, in fact, is eternal.
The Metamorphoses of Ovid, who created the Roman version of the myth based on the legend of the bird of the Sun, had a huge impact on the spread of the legends about the phoenix. This image is best illustrated by the title of the book: "metamorphosis" in Greek means "reincarnation". Ovid's story is distinguished not only by its clarity, but also by a consistent presentation of events: it is about the burial of a deceased phoenix and the revival of a bird from its own seed.
In the ancient world, the phoenix was a symbol of immortality and eternity. In the same sense, the Byzantine emperors depicted him on their medals. On the prints of later European rulers, the immortal bird flaunted for centuries, however, a symbol of perfection and purity was added to it. In 1665, Queen Christina of Sweden also ordered a medal depicting a phoenix. Above the image was the Greek word for makelos, which means infallible.
As for the appearance of the phoenix bird, all the descriptions agree on one thing: it is an amazingly beautiful creature. Something like a bird of paradise, only much more. Her head and neck shine with gold, her chest is covered with down of a fiery blue, and her body is covered with feathers that shimmer in red, green and yellow, on the long tail the colors change from pink to purple. The unanimity in the description of the phoenix deserves attention also because there was no person who would have seen the bird with his own eyes. Someone once imagined what a wondrous creature could be, and this description, born of the imagination, began to pass from one book to another, like a bird flitting from branch to branch.
The Greek and Latin writers estimate the duration of individual periods of the life of the "eternal bird", as already mentioned, at 500-540 years. Egyptian sources are more accurate: the phoenix flies to the temple of the sun god to burn itself to the ground every 652 years. Its appearance is noted during the reign of Pharaoh Sesostris in 2555 BC. e., then in 1904 BC. e. etc. From these notes, modern science has suggested that the 652-year period, or the so-called Phoenix period, coincides with the period of the passage of Mercury through the Sun. That is, the phoenix is nothing more than an astronomical symbol, a hieroglyph, meaning the passage of Mercury.
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The Roman historian Tacitus (I-II century), argued that the phoenix, before death, secretes into the nest a certain fertile substance, from which a young bird is born: “This creature is dedicated to the Sun and differs from other birds in its head and brightness of plumage, everyone agrees on this, who described his appearance. They say differently about his age. Most define it at five hundred years, but there are those who claim that this phoenix has lived for one thousand four hundred and sixty-one years, since earlier phoenixes flew to the city called Heliopolis, the first time under the reign of Sesosis, the second time - Amasis and in the last - Ptolemy."
A contemporary of Tacitus, Saint Clement of Rome, for the first time connects the image of the phoenix with Christian teaching: repeating the story of Ovid about the five hundred-year-old phoenix that lives in Arabia, Clement ends his story with the words that “The Creator who created the phoenix thus demonstrated that he gives immortality to the one who a life of faithful service to Him. This thought of Clement was taken up by later Christian authors - Tertullian, Lactantius, Rufinus, St. Gregory of Tours and others.
In Christian doctrine, the phoenix becomes a symbol not only of the immortality of the spirit, divine love and blessing, but also of God the Son, who rose up on the third day after the crucifixion. Phoenix images adorn cathedrals in Tours, Magdeburg, Basel, and many other European cities. Most impressive is the 12th-century wall mosaic in St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome: it depicts a phoenix with blue-white plumage, gold-red wings, and its head surrounded by white and gold halos.
The eminent Theosophist Helena Blavatsky also left her commentary in The Secret Doctrine: “The death and resurrection of the phoenix mean the successive destruction and restoration of the world, which … were accomplished by means of a fiery flood. As a "fiery bird," he signifies the divinity of kingship, nobility and oneness, and meekness. In all traditions, the phoenix acts as a solar symbol."
The common tradition was picked up in ancient China as well. In Chinese mythology, the phoenix (fenghuang) is a miracle bird that, in contrast to the Chinese dragon, embodies the feminine principle (yin). Its appearance to people is a great sign, which can testify to the power of the emperor or portend a significant event.
In the Shouwen dictionary of fenghuang compiled during the Han dynasty, it is said that this bird has a rooster's beak, a swallow's goiter, a snake's neck, patterns on its body like a dragon's, a fish's tail, a turtle's back, it looks like a swan in front, and a unicorn in the back. Its height reaches 3 m. According to Chinese beliefs, fenghuang was seen before the death of the Yellow Emperor. She was last seen at the grave of the founder of the Ming Dynasty in 1368.
The phoenix king-bird and the Chinese “Catalog of the Seas and Mountains” narrate: “Five hundred to the east of the Heavenly Tiger Mountain is the Cinnabar Cave Mountain, at its top there is a lot of gold and jade. There is a bird, five-colored, with streaks. Phoenix is called. The pattern on her head resembles the hieroglyph "de", which means "virtue", and on the wings - the hieroglyph "i" ("justice"), on the back - the hieroglyph "li" ("good manners"), on the chest - "jen" ("Perfection"), on the belly - "blue" ("honesty"). She eats and drinks like a normal bird. She sings herself and dances herself."
The appearance of fenghuang was considered in the Celestial Empire a sign of the coming of peace. As a bird that accompanies peace and prosperity, this mystical creature is mentioned in many Chinese legends. Fusi (in ancient Chinese mythology - the ancestor) on the occasion of the arrival of fenghuang created special music. It was believed that she knew the seasons of the year, so the Shaohao ruler named the official in charge of the calendar, Fennyao-shi ("the genus of the feng bird").
In the Middle Ages, the image of the fenghuang bird was often used in Taoism: it was reported about the saints flying on it in the sky, it was told about the appearance of a feng bird in a dream, after which they gave birth to outstanding sons. For the medieval Chinese, the phoenix symbolized marital fidelity and a prosperous life. Therefore, she was often depicted on wedding dresses, was a symbol of the bride and the empress. The proverb that comes from the ancient sage Confucius “all phoenixes do not appear” means that all happiness does not come and does not come.
The image of a magical creature is very popular in Chinese art. Approximately from the Shang-Yin era, bronze vessels with reliefs depicting fenghuang as a bird with a lush tail, huge eyes and a crest on its head, in the form of a trident on a long leg, have come down to us.
In China, as in other countries of the world, this bird was considered immortal. According to Chinese belief, when a mythical creature anticipates its demise, it leaves for desert places and sings songs there all day. His singing is very beautiful and melodious, it fascinates everyone, even animals. After the magical singing, the phoenix lights a fire and throws himself into it to disappear into the flames without a trace. But no later than three days later, the phoenix is reborn from the ashes, overflowing with new life and shining with beauty.
The Jews, who call the miracle bird milcham, said that only she refused to eat the forbidden fruit, and for this God granted her immortality. And in the teachings of the Stoics it is said that the world is born and dies in fire, and this process is cyclical; thus, the phoenix can be interpreted as an image of the universe. This creature is also an attribute of the allegorical image of hope.
At the end of the 17th century, the German scientist F. Wolf collected together all the information about the heavenly bird that was available at that time. The author published the result of the search in a work with the intricate title "The Amazing Garden of Wild Nature, or On the Unreasonableness of Animals": "The phoenix bird is considered the most amazing of all birds in the sky. Some write that she lives in Arabia, others talk about other places. This bird does not reproduce like other birds, but is reborn after death from its own ashes. She lives 160 years, and some scientists argue that it is longer. They also say about her that she is the only one in the whole earth, therefore they see her very rarely. Hence the saying: "More rare than a phoenix bird." The size of a phoenix from an eagle, the neck is shiny, golden, in the tail there are pink feathers, the face is round, on the head is a tuft."
An earlier description of the phoenix was made in the 6th century BC in the apocrypha "The Revelation of Baruch". To the question of the biblical prophet "What kind of bird is this?" the angel replied: "This is the keeper of the world … If she had not covered the fiery pupil of the sun, then neither the human race, nor all creatures on earth would be alive from the heat of the sun." Thus, the phoenix saves people from the incinerating gaze of the luminary.
There is a description of a wonderful bird in the very first medieval "zoological" book "Physiologist" in Russia: "The head is decorated with a crown, and on the legs are boots, like a tsar. The phoenix lives near the Sun City. It has been lying for 500 years on Lebanese cedars without food. It feeds on the Holy Spirit. The bell rings at the appointed hour, and the phoenix in the church on the altar turns to ash. And in the morning they find a phoenix in the same place in the form of a nestling, and a day later - an adult bird … "The winged creature is also mentioned in a collection of spiritual poems under the well-known title" Pigeon Book ". It says: “The phoenix bird is the mother of all birds. Her feathers are stronger than steel and damask steel, they cut bones and stones, and when guests come from across the sea, they buy feathers and cover velvets and satins with them.
Over the centuries, the number of references to the phoenix in the sources has increased exponentially. If for all the time before the birth of Christ only 9 indications of the phoenix are known, then in the 1st century alone we find already 21 references by 10 authors. In early Christian times, there were already more than 100 of them, and in the literary sources related to the Middle Ages, it is generally impossible to count.
In art and literature, the phoenix symbolizes the rebirth - of a person or a design - or creative activity after some kind of destruction, in particular from fire. In addition, his images are widely used in heraldry. The phoenix adorns the shield of Joan of Arc, the seal of the Scottish Queen Mary Stuart, the medallion of Queen Elizabeth I of England. Lady Jane Seymour's brooch features a phoenix engulfed in flames. A similar bird with spread wings is depicted in the painting of the same name by Rembrandt. There is an assumption that this painting was commissioned to the artist by the Amsterdam community, whose symbol was also the phoenix.
There are countless references to the bird of paradise in fiction. The oldest literary sources are the 9th century English Poem of the Phoenix, in which the bird personifies the afterlife. The 12th century "Teaching about the Phoenix" contains a description of Saint Peter's visit to heaven, who witnesses the rebirth of the phoenix from the ashes on the third day after death. In Wolfram von Eschenbach's Percifal (12th century), an immortal phoenix guards the sacred Grail Stone.
Phoenix also appears in Dante's Divine Comedy:
So the great sages know, That Phoenix is dying to rise like a new one, When it comes to five hundred years.
Not herbs - his food, not fruit juice, But incense tears and amom, Backgammon and myrrh are death covers.
And Petrarch in sonnets compares her immortal love for Beatrice with a phoenix. Despite the fact that, according to ancient sources, only one phoenix lives on earth, the heroes of François Rabelais' novel "Gargantua and Pantagruel" meet 14 phoenixes simultaneously on one tree during their travels.
Phoenix is one of Shakespeare's favorite images. The mythological bird is the hero of his play "Phoenix and the Turtle Dove", where he is a symbol of immortality and truth, and she is a symbol of love and beauty. Both are burnt in the fire because of "marital chastity." As a symbol of rebirth and uniqueness, the phoenix is mentioned in the plays The Tempest, As You Like It, All's Well That Ends Well, and others. In Milton's Paradise Lost, the Archangel Raphael descends to earth to Adam in the form of a phoenix. Keats writes: "The wings of a phoenix went to me … so that I could fly away to my dreams."
The phoenix was and remains the most popular mythological bird in the world. He is truly immortal, living since the time of Herodotus and Hesiod in our history, myths, folklore, literature and art. A city in the United States is named after him, and in the southern hemisphere at night you can see a small constellation named after the legendary bird that rises from the ashes and is reborn to new life.
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