Description
A phoenix (sometimes: phoenix; Greek: Φοίνιξ, foinix; Chinese: 鳳 or 鳳凰 (Mandarin: Fēng or Fenghuang; Cantonese: Fong or Fong Wôong); Tibetan: Me byi karmo) is a mythical creature from Greek and Chinese mythology. The Greeks believed that the phoenix was able to be reborn again and again from its own ashes. It would then build a nest of herbs at the top of a tree and be burned there. Through the scent of the herbs, it would be reborn. In Chinese culture, the animal represents the female sex of the world.
The Roman poet Ovid also wrote in a poem that the Assyrians call the bird the phoenix. It wouldn't eat seeds or grasses, but would use the sap of succulent herbs as food. After living for five hundred years, the phoenix would build a nest high in an oak tree, made of bark, herbs, and myrrh. Once inside, it would catch fire. The scent of the herbs carries away the soul of the old phoenix. The body burns, and a little phoenix emerges. This is where the old soul once again resides to live for another 500 years.
Before being brought back by the Greeks, the phoenix, the divine bird, first appeared in Egypt; it is a grayish heron, an animal associated with the seasons and tides of the Nile. The Egyptians believed it reproduced itself to participate in the festivals celebrating nature's rebirth.
The Christian faith saw the phoenix as the symbol of resurrection.
