Editing Phoenix (mythology) (section)

==Depictions==
[[File:2016-09 zoo sauvage de Saint-Félicien - Grus virgo 03.jpg|thumb|According to the [[British Museum Catalogues of Coins#Series: Catalogue of the Greek Coins in the British Museum|''Catalogue of the Greek Coins in the British Museum'']], the "[[Numidian crane]]" represents the phoenix on the coinage of [[Antoninus Pius]] ({{Reign|138|161}}).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Coin {{!}} British Museum|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1920-0907-76|access-date=2021-01-27|website=The British Museum|language=en|archive-date=2021-03-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210312002940/https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1920-0907-76|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Poole|first=Reginald Stuart|url=http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dannyjones/British%20Museum%20Books/Catalog%20of%20Greek%20Coins%20in%20the%20British%20Museum%20-%20Alexandria%20and%20the%20Nomes%20.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322041640/http://forumancientcoins.com/dannyjones/British%20Museum%20Books/Catalog%20of%20Greek%20Coins%20in%20the%20British%20Museum%20-%20Alexandria%20and%20the%20Nomes%20.pdf |archive-date=2012-03-22 |url-status=live|title=Catalogue of Greek Coins in the British Museum: Alexandria and the Nomes|publisher=British Museum Publications|year=1892|isbn=|location=London|page=117, No. 1004|author-link=Reginald Stuart Poole}}</ref>]]
[[File:Golden Pheasant, Tangjiahe Nature Reserve, Sichuan.jpg|thumb|According to Harris Rackham, [[Pliny the Elder]]'s description of a phoenix in [[Natural History (Pliny)|''Natural History'']] "tallies fairly closely with the [[golden pheasant]] of the [[Far East]]".<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Rackham |editor-first=H. |year=1940 |title=Pliny: Natural History |translator-last=Rackham |translator-first=H. |series=Loeb Classical Library |volume=353 |page=293 |place=Cambridge, MA |publisher=Harvard University Press |doi=10.4159/DLCL.pliny_elder-natural_history.1938 |url=https://www.loebclassics.com/view/claudian_claudianus-shorter_poems/1922/pb_LCL136.225.xml |access-date=2021-01-27 |archive-date=2021-06-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210609212849/https://www.loebclassics.com/view/claudian_claudianus-shorter_poems/1922/pb_LCL136.225.xml |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=[[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] |title=Natural History |at=Volume III: Books 8–11}}</ref>]]
The phoenix is often depicted in ancient and medieval literature and medieval art endowed with a [[Halo (optical phenomenon)|halo]], emphasizing the bird's connection with the [[Sun]].{{Sfn | Van den Broek | 1972 | p = 233}} The earliest recorded images of the phoenix feature nimbuses that often have seven rays, like [[Helios]] (the Greek personification of the Sun).{{Sfn | Van den Broek | 1972 | pp = 246–247}} Pliny the Elder<ref>''Ancient Magic and the Supernatural in the Modern Visual and Performing Arts'', edited by Filippo Carlà-Uhink, Irene Berti, 2016, p. 172</ref> also describes the bird as having a crest of feathers on its head,{{Sfn | Van den Broek | 1972 | p = 233}} and [[Ezekiel the Tragedian|Ezekiel the Dramatist]] compared it to a rooster.{{Sfn | Van den Broek | 1972 | p = 257}}

The phoenix came to be associated with specific colors over time. Although the phoenix was generally believed to be colorful and vibrant, sources provide no clear consensus about its exact coloration. [[Tacitus]] says that its color made it stand out from all other birds.{{Sfn | Van den Broek | 1972 | p = 253}} Some said that the bird had peacock-like coloring, and [[Herodotus]]'s claim of the Phoenix being red and yellow is popular in many versions of the story on record.{{Sfn | Van den Broek | 1972 | p = 259}} [[Ezekiel the Tragedian]] declared that the phoenix had red legs and striking yellow eyes,{{Sfn | Van den Broek | 1972 | p = 257}} but [[Lactantius]] said that its eyes were blue like sapphires{{Sfn | Van den Broek | 1972 | p = 256}} and that its legs were covered in yellow-gold scales with rose-colored talons.{{Sfn | Van den Broek | 1972 | pp = 257–258}}

Herodotus, Pliny, [[Gaius Julius Solinus|Solinus]], and [[Philostratus]] describe the phoenix as similar in size to an eagle,{{Sfn | Van den Broek | 1972 | p = 251}} but Lactantius and Ezekiel the Dramatist both claim that the phoenix was larger, with Lactantius declaring that it was even larger than an [[ostrich]].{{Sfn | Van den Broek | 1972 | p = 252}}

According to Pliny's ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'',<ref name=":0">{{Citation|last=|first=|title=Pliny. Natural History, Volume III: Books 8-11|url=https://www.loebclassics.com/view/claudian_claudianus-shorter_poems/1922/pb_LCL136.225.xml|volume=|pages=292–294|year=1940|editor-last=Rackham|editor-first=H.|series=Loeb Classical Library 353|place=Cambridge, MA|publisher=Harvard University Press|doi=10.4159/DLCL.pliny_elder-natural_history.1938|translator-last=Rackham|translator-first=H.|access-date=2021-01-27|archive-date=2021-06-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210609212849/https://www.loebclassics.com/view/claudian_claudianus-shorter_poems/1922/pb_LCL136.225.xml|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{Verse translation|{{langx|la|aquilae narratur magnitudine, auri fulgore circa colla, cetero purpureus, caeruleam roseis caudam pinnis distinguentibus, cristis fauces, caputque plumeo apice honestante.|label=none}}|The story is that it is as large as an eagle, and has a gleam of gold round its neck and all the rest of it is purple, but the tail blue picked out with rosecoloured feathers and the throat picked out with tufts, and a feathered crest adorning its head.|attr1=[[Pliny the Elder]], "''Naturalis historia''", X: 2|attr2=translated by Harris Rackham, 1940, LCL: 353, pp. 292–294}}

According to [[Claudian]]'s poem "The Phoenix",<ref>{{Citation|last=Loeb Claudian Volume II|title=Claudian: Shorter Poems: "Phoenix"|url=https://www.loebclassics.com/view/claudian_claudianus-shorter_poems/1922/pb_LCL136.225.xml|work=Claudian: On Stilicho's Consulship 2–3. Panegyric on the Sixth Consulship of Honorius. The Gothic War. Shorter Poems. Rape of Proserpina|volume=|pages=222–231|year=1922|editor-last=Platnauer|editor-first=M.|series=Loeb Classical Library 136|place=Cambridge, MA|publisher=Harvard University Press|doi=10.4159/DLCL.claudian_claudianus-shorter_poems.1922|translator-last=Platnauer|translator-first=M.|translator-link=Henry Maurice Platnauer|access-date=2021-01-27|archive-date=2021-06-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210609212849/https://www.loebclassics.com/view/claudian_claudianus-shorter_poems/1922/pb_LCL136.225.xml|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{Verse translation|{{langx|la|arcanum radiant oculi iubar. igneus ora
cingit honos. rutilo cognatum vertice sidus<br/>attollit cristatus apex tenebrasque serena<br/>luce secat. Tyrio pinguntur crura veneno.<br/>antevolant Zephyros pinnae, quas caerulus ambit<br/>flore color sparsoque super ditescit in auro.|label=none}}|A mysterious fire flashes from its eye,<br/>and a flaming [[aureole]] enriches its head. Its crest<br/>shines with the sun's own light and shatters the<br/>darkness with its calm brilliance. Its legs are of [[Tyrian purple|Tyrian<br/>purple]]; swifter than those of the [[West wind|Zephyrs]] are its wings<br/>of flower-like blue dappled with rich gold.|attr1=[[Claudian]], "''Phoenix''", ll. 17–22|attr2=translated by [[Henry Maurice Platnauer]], 1922, LCL: 136, pp. 224–225}}
[[File:Mosaïque Phénix 01.JPG|thumb|5th-century mosaic of a [[nimbate]] phoenix from [[Daphne, Antioch]], in [[Roman Syria]] ([[Louvre]])<ref>{{Cite web|last=Lepetoukha|first=Charlotte|date=|title=Œuvre: Mosaïque du phénix|url=https://www.louvre.fr/oeuvre-notices/mosaique-du-phenix|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202135142/https://www.louvre.fr/oeuvre-notices/mosaique-du-phenix|archive-date=2021-02-02|access-date=2021-01-28|website=[[Musée du Louvre]]}}</ref>]]