Indeed, why is there such a bird in the ancient legends of the American Indians, among the inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom, among the inhabitants of the Nile delta and in the Urals? Under what names is it disguised among different peoples, and does it have a real prototype?
Or maybe the "phoenix bird" is something allegorical, not at all connected with ornithology? - We systematize our knowledge, get acquainted with living phoenixes and involuntarily sneer at how you can use an old fairy tale for political and religious fanaticism.
Let's go over the well-known facts to refresh the memory of the most important thing. So, the phoenix is a legendary bird from the myths of different cultures, sometimes isolated from each other by deserts and oceans. It was believed that it looks like an eagle in bright red or golden plumage - therefore the name "phoenix" is translated from ancient Greek as "purple".
For all peoples, Phoenix is certainly associated with the cult of the sun and symbolizes eternal renewal and immortality. In addition, according to the mythology of the ancients, the Phoenix either rises from the ashes or burns up the moment its chick appears - therefore, there is only one such bird in the world.
Phoenix does not feed on anything living, only dew, and never breaks what it lands on - thanks to these prescriptions, the fire flyer symbolizes meekness, and is the messenger of the gods. Phoenix also witnessed a culinary experience made by curious Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Well, now let's see where the myth of the unearthly bird was born, how the “spoiled phone” turned the Phoenix, never caught by anyone, into an axiom, as well as what it has in common with astronomy, chickens and the end of the world.
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Phoenix in Egypt
If you have ever tried to delve into the logic of the mythology of the Land of Black Gold, in the second hour of reading you must have thrown away the book in a frenzy: the Egyptians contradicted themselves, confused symbols, gods, their kinship, animals, dates, and everything else.
But you probably noticed that humanoid cults did not appear immediately - at first, the Egyptians worshiped the sun, moon and stars, as well as the forces of nature, plants and animals. But one day someone invented the idea that the luminaries, crops and sandstorms are ruled by anthropomorphic beings or partially human gods, decorated with cow horns, bird beaks, a cat's head, etc.
Hence the hypothesis that the Phoenix was originally a symbol rather astronomical, and symbolized the spiral ascent of the star Sirius, which in ancient times was a sign of the flooding of the Nile - and hence the coming birth of a new harvest.
Benhu, the Egyptian phoenix, could later be associated with another myth about the gray heron, which was the very first to appear on the land created from silt, being the messenger of the sun god. This bird was worshiped in Heliopolis and was believed to live for 500 years.
Phoenix in ancient Greece and Rome
To the Hellenes, the story seemed not colorful enough, and everything else that we know about Phoenix today, they thought of for the Egyptians. Herodotus was the first to write about the fiery bird, openly distrusting this myth. Later philosophers have already talked about the self-immolation of the Phoenix and its rise from the ashes, but it would be much more interesting to recall the works of Manilius.
According to them, Phoenix does not live for 500 years, but the great Platonic year, that is, the time during which the Sun, Moon and five planets return to their original position. Tacitus defines this time as 12,994 years, equal to the astronomical cycle of world history. After this, events will begin to repeat themselves, since the planets will again follow the same path and will also affect earthly life. And in order to give more similarity to the idea of the Phoenix, the doctrine was created that "the world dies in fire and is reborn in fire, and this process will have no end and no beginning."
All this is reminiscent of the Mayan calendars, and related horror stories about the coming end of the world. However, among the Mayans, and among the Aztecs, and among the Toltecs, Phoenix was associated exclusively with the sun, happiness and goodness. But back to the Mediterranean boot: in the Roman Empire, Phoenix was set to serve the emperors, and, perhaps, it was from him that they borrowed the corporate color, as well as the logo for coins and mosaics. The fiery feathered symbolized the divinity of power and the immortality of the empire, which one day nevertheless collapsed - without catching the bird of luck by the tail.
Phoenix in Jewish Kabbalah and Christianity
And now a little more about the Garden of Eden, or Gan Eden. Eve, aka Khava, was in dire need of vitamins, information and a good beat. But she was not greedy, and after tasting the apples, she shared with her husband and all the animals that came running for the juicy crunch of the divine fruit. Phoenix alone (or Hol, Orshina) was on a diet and did not succumb to temptation - that is why he retained his relatively immortality, and cannot calmly celebrate any millennium, because … it burns out. Generally an interesting reward for obedience, but that's not the point.
In Christianity, Phoenix became a priori proof of the existence of eternal life, which means the truth of the resurrection of God, the meaning of faith and constancy. And it doesn't matter that it all started with a gray heron - the Phoenix symbolized both Christ and the last stage of the Great Work in alchemy, recognized as the science of heretics; flaunted on the coats of arms of Elizabeth I and the Scottish Queen Mary, but was also carved on burial slabs. In a word, it is universal and understandable.
Phoenix in Russia
Oddly enough, here Phoenix began to evolve in a different direction - not qualitatively, but quantitatively. To be more precise, the Slovenians had two phoenixes: Finist Clear Falcon, and Firebird. Despite the fact that the first was a vigilant and bold red fellow, periodically turning into a bird, and the second outwardly resembles a peacock, they have many similar features: the Firebird dies in the fall and is reborn in the spring, and Finist falls asleep in a deep sleep and wakes up after hibernation. In addition, the Firebird was literally fiery, and sang beautifully - like Phoenix.
Phoenix in China and Japan
Finally, it's time to meet a real Phoenix from China. It all started with the myths about the feng huang bird ("Yang-Yin"), which combined the male and female elements. It was a luxurious bird with a long tail. Exactly the same as in the local breed of chickens - their "tail" feathers reached a length of one and a half meters. But in the first millennium of our era, several of these feathered creatures came from China to Japan - this is where the "arms race" of the national shrine began.
Phoenix roosters, or "onadagori", began to be bred not just fanatically - they began to be bred. So, chicken tails have lengthened almost 10 times (up to 13 meters). As they say, in the pursuit of beauty, the main thing is not to overdo it, which the Japanese clearly did not catch with their sixth sense. The chicken coop of such "phoenixes" is a high pole, and birds should not get off it, otherwise their tail would turn into a shabby broom.
Feng Shui, of course, is Feng Shui, but one of its main talismans of good luck, onadagori, is a chicken in a solitary cell, suffering from physical inactivity and metabolic disorders. Well nothing. And people, too, will one day outgrow it. But the symbol of the phoenix will remain.