Editing Phoenix (mythology)

{{Short description|Immortal bird that is cyclically reborn}}
{{Infobox mythical creature
|name             = Phoenix
|AKA              = 
|image            = Phoenix (1583).svg
|image_size       = <!-- Image size in pixels; do not use with image_upright -->
|image_upright    = <!-- Image size scale factor; do not use with image_size -->
|caption          = The phoenix, "unica semper avis" (ever-singular bird), 1583
|Folklore         = [[Greek mythology]], [[Egyptian mythology]], [[Phoenician mythology]], and [[Persian mythology]]
|Grouping         = [[Legendary creature|Mythical creature]]
|Sub_Grouping     = 
|Family           = <!-- Attested family members, if applicable -->
|Country          = [[Ancient Greece]], [[Ancient Egypt]], and [[History of Iran|Ancient Persia]]
|Region           = <!-- Region of origin -->
|Details          = <!-- Any additional details -->
|First_Attested   = <!-- First attestation (in other words, source) -->
|Similar_entities = <!-- Entities described as similar -->
}}
[[File:Phoenix-Fabelwesen.jpg|thumb|A depiction of a phoenix by [[Friedrich Justin Bertuch]] (1806)]]

The '''phoenix''' is a [[Legendary creature|legendary]] immortal bird that cyclically regenerates or is otherwise born again. Originating in [[Greek mythology]], it has analogs in many cultures, such as [[Egyptian mythology|Egyptian]] and [[Persian mythology]]. Associated with the sun, a phoenix obtains new life by rising from the [[ash]]es of its predecessor. Some legends say it dies in a show of flames and combustion, while others say that it simply dies and decomposes before being born again.{{Sfn | Van den Broek | 1972 | p = [https://books.google.com/books?id=jwIVAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA146 146]}} In the ''[[Motif-Index of Folk-Literature]]'', a tool used by [[folklore studies|folklorists]], the phoenix is classified as motif B32.<ref name="B32">Thompson. (2001: 581).</ref>

The origin of the phoenix has been attributed to [[Ancient Egypt]] by [[Herodotus]] and later 19th-century scholars, but other scholars think the Egyptian texts may have been influenced by classical folklore. Over time, the phoenix motif spread and gained a variety of new associations; [[Herodotus]], [[Lucan]], [[Pliny the Elder]], [[Pope Clement I]], [[Lactantius]], [[Ovid]], and [[Isidore of Seville]] are among those who have contributed to the retelling and transmission of the phoenix motif. Over time, extending beyond its origins, the phoenix could variously "symbolize renewal in general as well as the sun, time, [[Roman Empire|the Roman Empire]], [[metempsychosis]], [[consecration]], [[resurrection]], life in the heavenly [[Paradise]], [[Christ (title)|Christ]], [[Mary (mother of Jesus)|Mary]], [[virginity]], the exceptional man, and certain aspects of Christian life".{{Sfn | Van den Broek | 1972 | p = [https://books.google.com/books?id=jwIVAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA9 9]}} Some scholars have claimed that the poem ''[[De ave phoenice]]'' may present the mythological phoenix motif as a symbol of [[Resurrection of Jesus|Christ's resurrection]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=White |first1=Carolinne |title=Early Christian Latin Poets |year=2000 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0415187824 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EhMD9xL4I98C}}</ref>

==Etymology==
The modern English word ''phoenix'' entered the [[English language]] from [[Latin]], later reinforced by [[French language|French]]. The word first entered the English language by way of a borrowing of Latin ''phoenīx'' into [[Old English]] (''fenix''). This borrowing was later reinforced by French influence, which had also borrowed the Latin noun. In time, the word developed specialized use in the English language: For example, the term could refer to an "excellent person" (12th century), a variety of heraldic emblem (15th century), and the name of a [[Phoenix (constellation)|constellation]] (17th century).<ref name="OED">"phoenix, n.1". OED Online. September 2020. Oxford University Press. https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/142601?rskey=BIj1L3&result=1&isAdvanced=false {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307210949/https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/142601?rskey=BIj1L3&result=1&isAdvanced=false |date=2021-03-07 }} (accessed November 06, 2020).</ref>

The Latin word comes from [[Greek language|Greek]] {{Wikt-lang|grc|φοῖνιξ}} (''phoinix'').{{Sfn | Barnhart | 1995 | p = 564}} The Greek word is first attested in the [[Mycenaean Greek]] ''po-ni-ke'', which probably meant "[[griffin]]", though it might have meant "[[Arecaceae|palm tree]]". That word is probably a borrowing from a [[West Semitic languages|West Semitic]] word for [[madder]], a red [[Dyeing|dye]] made from ''[[Rubia tinctorum]]''. The word ''[[Phoenicia]]n'' appears to be from the same root, meaning "those who work with red dyes". So ''phoenix'' also mean "the Phoenician bird" or "the purplish-red bird".{{Sfn | Van den Broek | 1972 | pp = 62–66}}

==Early texts==
Apart from the [[Linear B]] mention above from [[Mycenaean Greece]], the earliest clear mention of the phoenix in ancient Greek literature occurs in a fragment of the ''[[Precepts of Chiron]]'', attributed to 8th-century BC Greek poet [[Hesiod]]. In the fragment, the wise [[centaur]] [[Chiron]] tells a young hero [[Achilles]] the following:<ref name="EVELYN-WHITE-1920-74-75">[[Hugh Evelyn-White|Evelyn-White]] (1920: 75).</ref>
{{Poem quote|text=
A chattering crow lives now nine generations of aged men,
but a stag's life is four time a crow's,
and a raven's life makes three stags old,
while the phoenix outlives nine ravens,
but we, the rich-haired [[Nymphs]]
daughters of [[Zeus]] the [[aegis]]-holder,
outlive ten phoenixes.}}There by describing the phoenix's lifetime as approximately 972 times the length of a human's.

==Disputed origins==
Classical discourse attributes a potential origin of the phoenix to [[Ancient Egypt]]. [[Herodotus]], writing in the 5th century BC, provides the following account of the phoenix:<ref name="RAWLINSON-1848">Herodotus, ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|The Histories (1858 translation)]]'', [http://classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/history.2.ii.html Book II] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629070938/http://classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/history.2.ii.html |date=2011-06-29 }} Trans. G. Rawlinson (1858)</ref>

{{blockquote|[The Egyptians] have also another sacred bird called the phoenix which I myself have never seen, except in pictures. Indeed it is a great rarity, even in Egypt, only coming there (according to the accounts of the people of Heliopolis) once in five hundred years, when the old phoenix dies. Its size and appearance, if it is like the pictures, are as follow: The plumage is partly red, partly golden, while the general make and size are almost exactly that of the [[eagle]]. They tell a story of what this bird does, which does not seem to me to be credible: that he comes all the way from [[Arabia]], and brings the parent bird, all plastered over with [[myrrh]], to the [[Egyptian sun temple|temple of the Sun]], and there buries the body. In order to bring him, they say, he first forms a ball of myrrh as big as he finds that he can carry; then he hollows out the ball and puts his parent inside, after which he covers over the opening with fresh myrrh, and the ball is then of exactly the same weight as at first; so he brings it to Egypt, plastered over as I have said, and deposits it in the temple of the Sun. Such is the story they tell of the doings of this bird.}}

In the 19th century, scholastic suspicions appeared to be confirmed by the discovery that Egyptians in [[Heliopolis (Ancient Egypt)|Heliopolis]] had venerated the [[Bennu]], a solar bird similar in some respects to the Greek phoenix. However, the Egyptian sources regarding the bennu are often problematic and open to a variety of interpretations. Some of these sources may have actually been influenced by Greek notions of the phoenix, rather than the other way around.{{Sfn | Van den Broek | 1972 | pp = 14–25}}

==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>]]

== Appearances ==
According to Pliny the Elder, a senator Manilius ([[Marcus Manilius]]?) had written that the phoenix appeared at the end of each [[Great Year]], which he wrote of "in the consulship of [[Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus (consul 97 BC)|Gnaeus Cornelius]] and [[Publius Licinius Crassus (consul 97 BC)|Publius Licinius]]", that is, in 96 BC, that a cycle was 540 years, and that it was 215 into the cycle (i.e. it began in 311 BC).<ref name=":0" /> Another of Pliny's sources, Cornelius Valerianus, is cited for an appearance of the phoenix in 36 AD "in the consulship of [[Quintus Plautius]] and [[Sextus Papinius Allenius|Sextus Papinius]]".<ref name=":0" /> Pliny states that a purported phoenix seen in Egypt in 47 AD was brought to the capital and exhibited in the [[Comitium]] in time for the 800th anniversary of the [[foundation of Rome]] by [[Romulus]], though he added that "nobody would doubt that this phoenix was a fabrication".<ref name=":0" />

A second recording of the phoenix was made by [[Tacitus]], who said that the phoenix had appeared instead in 34 AD "in the consulship of [[Paullus Fabius Persicus|Paulus Fabius]] and [[Lucius Vitellius (consul 34)|Lucius Vitellius]]" and that the cycle was either 500 years or 1461 years (which was the Great Year based on the Egyptian [[Sothic cycle]]), and that it had previously been seen in the reigns first of Sesosis, then of Amasis, and finally of Ptolemy (third of the Macedonian dynasty).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tacitus |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0078%3Abook%3D6%3Achapter%3D28 |title=The Annals |publisher=Random House |year=1942 |editor-last=Church |editor-first=Alfred John |at=VI.28 |access-date=2023-04-14 |archive-date=2023-04-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230403181022/https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0078%3Abook%3D6%3Achapter%3D28 |url-status=live }}</ref> A third recording was made by [[Cassius Dio]], who also said that the phoenix was seen in the consulship of Quintus Plautus and Sextus Papinius.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cassius Dio |first=Lucius |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/58*.html |title=Romas History |publisher=Loeb Classical Library |year=1924 |location=Cambridge, MA |at=58.26–27 |language=en |translator-last=Cary |translator-first=E.}}</ref>

==Diffusion in later culture==
{{See also|The Phoenix (Old English poem)}}
In time, the motif and concept of the phoenix extended from its origins in ancient Greek folklore. For example, the classical motif of the phoenix continues into the [[Gnosticism|Gnostic]] manuscript ''[[On the Origin of the World]]'' from the [[Nag Hammadi Library]] collection in Egypt, generally dated to the 4th century:<ref>{{cite book|author=James M. Robinson|author-link=James M. Robinson|title=The Nag Hammadi Library |date=1988 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/TheNagHammadiLibraryPartial/page/n291 291–292]}} [[HarperCollins Publishers]].</ref>

{{blockquote|Thus when [[Eve#Gnosticism|Sophia Zoe]] saw that the rulers of darkness had laid a curse upon her counterparts, she was indignant. And coming out of the first heaven with full power, she chased those rulers out of their heavens and cast them into the sinful world, so that there they should dwell, in the form of evil spirits upon the earth.<br/>
[...], so that in their world it might pass the thousand years in paradise—a soul-endowed living creature called "phoenix". It kills itself and brings itself back to life as a witness to the judgement against them, for they did wrong to [[Adam]] and his race, unto the consummation of the age. There are&nbsp;[...] three men, and also his posterities, unto the consummation of the world: the spirit-endowed of eternity, and the soul-endowed, and the earthly. Likewise, there are three phoenixes in paradise—the first is immortal, the second lives 1,000 years; as for the third, it is written in the sacred book that it is consumed. So, too, there are three baptisms—the first is spiritual, the second is by fire, the third is by water. Just as the phoenix appears as a witness concerning the [[angel]]s, so the case of the water [[Hydrus (legendary creature)|hydri]] in Egypt, which has been a witness to those going down into the baptism of a true man. The two bulls in Egypt posses a mystery, the Sun and the Moon, being a witness to [[Archon (Gnosticism)#Naming and associations|Sabaoth]]: namely, that over them [[Sophia (Gnosticism)|Sophia]] received the universe; from the day that she made the Sun and Moon, she put a seal upon her heaven, unto eternity. And the worm that has been born out of the phoenix is a human being as well. It is written concerning it, "the just man will blossom like a phoenix". And the phoenix first appears in a living state, and dies, and rises again, being a sign of what has become apparent at the consummation of the age.}}

[[File:Phoenix detail from Aberdeen Bestiary.jpg|thumb|right|Detail from the 12th-century ''[[Aberdeen Bestiary]]'', featuring a phoenix]]
[[File:Greek Phoenix.svg|thumb|In Greece, the phoenix rising from flames was the symbol of the [[First Hellenic Republic]] under [[Ioannis Kapodistrias]], the [[Political Committee of National Liberation|Mountain Government]] and the [[Greek military junta of 1967–1974|Regime of the Colonels]].]]
The anonymous 10th-century Old English ''[[Exeter Book]]'' contains a 677-line 9th-century alliterative poem consisting of a paraphrase and abbreviation of Lactantius, followed by an explication of the Phoenix as an [[allegory]] for the [[Resurrection of Jesus|resurrection]] of [[Jesus|Christ]].<ref>Blake 1964, p. 1.</ref>
{{Verse translation|lang=ang|
Þisses fugles gecynd &nbsp; fela gelices
bi þam gecornum &nbsp; Cristes þegnum;
beacnað in burgum &nbsp; hu hi beorhtne gefean
þurh fæder fultum &nbsp; on þas frecnan tid
healdaþ under heofonum &nbsp; ond him heanna blæd
in þam uplican &nbsp; eðle gestrynaþ.
|attr1=In the original Old English<ref>{{cite web|title=The Exeter Book (Exeter, Cathedral Chapter Library, MS 3501)|editor-last=Jebson|editor-first=Tony|url=http://www.georgetown.edu/labyrinth/library/oe/texts/a3.4.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040605060320/http://www.georgetown.edu/labyrinth/library/oe/texts/a3.4.html|website=The Labyrinth Library|publisher=[[Georgetown University]]|date=12 January 1995|archive-date=5 June 2004|access-date=23 May 2024}}</ref>|
This bird's nature &nbsp; is much like
to the chosen &nbsp; servants of Christ;
pointeth out to men &nbsp; how they bright joy
through the Father's aid &nbsp; in this perilous time
may under heaven possess, &nbsp; and exalted happiness
in the celestial &nbsp; country may gain.
|attr2=In Modern English translation (1842)<ref>{{cite web|title=Codex exoniensis. A collection of Anglo-Saxon poetry, from a manuscript in the library of the dean and chapter of Exeter|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924013337617/page/n244|last1=Thorpe|first1=Benjamin|last2=Corson|first2=Hiram|page=244|year=1842|access-date=9 December 2018}}</ref>
}}

In the 14th century, Italian poet [[Dante Alighieri]] refers to the phoenix in Canto XXIV of the ''[[Divine Comedy]]'s'' ''[[Inferno (Dante)|Inferno]]'':
{{Verse translation|lang=it|Così per li gran savi si confessa
che la fenice more e poi rinasce,
quando al cinquecentesimo anno appressa;

erba né biado in sua vita non pasce,
ma sol d'incenso lagrime e d'amomo,
e nardo e mirra son l'ultime fasce.|attr1=In the [[:s:it:Divina Commedia/Inferno/Canto XXIV|original Italian]]|Even thus by the great sages 'tis confessed
The phoenix dies, and then is born again,
When it approaches its five-hundredth year;

On herb or grain it feeds not in its life,
But only on tears of [[incense]] and [[amomum]],
And [[Spikenard|nard]] and [[myrrh]] are its last [[shroud|winding-sheet]].|attr2=In [[s:The Divine Comedy/Inferno/Canto XXIV|English translation]]
}}

In the 17th-century play ''[[Henry VIII (play)|Henry VIII]]'' by English playwrights [[William Shakespeare]] and [[John Fletcher (playwright)|John Fletcher]], [[Archbishop Cranmer]] says in [http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view.php?WorkID=henry8&Act=5&Scene=5&Scope=scene Act V, Scene v] in reference to Elizabeth (who was to become [[Elizabeth I of England|Queen Elizabeth I]]):

{{poem quote|... Nor shall this peace sleep with her; but as when
The bird of wonder dies, the maiden phoenix,
Her ashes new create another heir
As great in admiration as herself;
So shall she leave her blessedness to one,
When heaven shall call her from this cloud of darkness,
Who from the sacred ashes of her honour
Shall star-like rise as great in fame as she was,
And so stand fix'd&nbsp;...|sign=|source=}}[[File:Time and Death.jpg|thumb|"Time and Death", 1898 illustration by [[E. J. Sullivan]] for ''Sartor Resartus'']]In the 19th-century novel ''[[Sartor Resartus]]'' by [[Thomas Carlyle]], Diogenes Teufelsdröckh uses the phoenix as a metaphor for the [[cyclical pattern]] of history, remarking upon the "burning of a World-Phoenix" and the "''[[Palingenesis|Palingenesia]], or Newbirth of Society''" from its ashes:
{{blockquote|When the Phoenix is fanning her funeral pyre, will there not be sparks flying! Alas, some millions of men, and among them such as a [[Napoleon]], have already been licked into that high-eddying Flame, and like moths consumed there. Still also have we to fear that incautious beards will get singed.<br/>
For the rest, in what year of grace such Phoenix-cremation will be completed, you need not ask. The law of Perseverance is among the deepest in man: by nature he hates change; seldom will he quit his old house till it has actually fallen about his ears. Thus have I seen Solemnities linger as Ceremonies, sacred Symbols as idle Pageants, to the extent of three hundred years and more after all life and sacredness had evaporated out of them. And then, finally, what time the Phoenix Death-Birth itself will require, depends on unseen contingencies.—Meanwhile, would Destiny offer Mankind, that after, say two centuries of convulsion and conflagration, more or less vivid, the fire-creation should be accomplished, and we to find ourselves again in a Living Society, and no longer fighting but working,—were it not perhaps prudent in Mankind to strike the bargain?<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sartor Resartus by Thomas Carlyle. |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1051/1051-h/1051-h.htm |access-date=2022-08-07 |website=www.gutenberg.org |archive-date=2022-07-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220709010229/https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1051/1051-h/1051-h.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>}}
Phoenixes are present and relatively common in European [[heraldry]], which developed during the [[High Middle Ages]]. They most often appear as [[Crest (heraldry)|crests]], and more rarely as [[Charge (heraldry)|charges]]. The heraldic phoenix is depicted as the head, chest and wings of an eagle rising from a fire; the entire creature is never depicted.<ref name="Davies">[[Arthur Fox-Davies]], ''A Complete Guide to Heraldry'', T.C. and E.C. Jack, London, 1909, 240, https://archive.org/details/completeguidetoh00foxduoft.</ref>

==Analogues==
Scholars have observed analogues to the phoenix in a variety of cultures. These analogues include the [[Hindu mythology|Hindu]] ''[[garuda]]'' (गरुड) and ''[[gandaberunda|bherunda]]'' (भेरुण्ड), the [[Slavic folklore|Slavic]] [[Firebird (Slavic folklore)|firebird]] (жар-птица) and ''[[Raróg]]'', the [[Persian mythology|Persian]] ''[[simorgh]]'' (سیمرغ), the [[Georgia (country)|Georgian]] ''paskunji'' (ფასკუნჯი), the [[Arabian mythology|Arabian]] ''[[anqa]]'' (عنقاء), the [[Turkic mythology|Turkish]] [[Konrul]], also called ''Zümrüdü Anka'' ("emerald anqa"), the [[Tibet]]an ''Me byi karmo'', the [[Chinese mythology|Chinese]] ''[[Fenghuang]]'' (鳳凰) and [[Vermilion Bird|Zhuque]] (朱雀).{{Sfn | Garry | El-Shamy | 2005 | pp = 84–87}} These perceived analogues are sometimes included as part of the [[Motif-Index of Folk-Literature]] ''phoenix'' motif (B32).<ref name="B32"/>

== In popular culture ==
{{main|List of phoenixes in popular culture}}

There are many works of modern literature make reference to the phoenix. Examples include:
*In [[Neil Gaiman]]'s short story "Sunbird", a party of Epicureans finally answer the question of what happens when a Phoenix is roasted and eaten; you burst into flames, and 'the years burn off you'. This can kill those who are inexperienced, but those who have swallowed fire and practised with glow-worms can achieve eternal youth.
*[[Fawkes (Harry Potter)|Fawkes]], a male phoenix described as [[Albus Dumbledore|Professor Dumbledore]]'s loyal pet in the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' series.
*In [[Terry Pratchett]]'s novel ''[[Carpe Jugulum]]'', the search for the phoenix forms an important side plot.
*In [[Eiichiro Oda]]'s [[manga]] and [[anime]] series [[One Piece]], "Phoenix Marco" is a prominent character (a member of the [[Whitebeard Pirates]]) who possesses the Mythical Zoan-type [[Devil Fruit]] called the Tori Tori no Mi, Model: Phoenix, which allows him to transform into a phoenix.
*The Phoenix is portrayed as a powerful cosmic entity in the [[Marvel Comics]] mythology. Through the avatar of [[Jean Grey]] and its other beholders, the Phoenix Force is most oftentimes linked to [[The Dark Phoenix Saga|X-Men comics]] storylines.

==See also==
* [[Chol (Bible)]], a Hebrew word sometimes glossed as ''phoenix''
* [[Simurgh]], a benevolent bird in Persian mythology with some similarities to the phoenix

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}
{{sister project links|display=Phoenix|s=1911_Encyclopædia_Britannica/Phoenix|c=Category:Phoenix (mythical bird)|d=Q48444|n=no|voy=no|m=no|mw=no|wikt=phoenix|species=no|q=Phoenix|b=Greek Mythology/Beasts/Phoenix|v=no}}

==References==
* {{Citation | last = Barnhart | first = Robert K | year = 1995 | title = The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology | publisher = [[HarperCollins]] | isbn = 0-06-270084-7}}.
* {{Citation | last = Blake | first = N F  | author-link = Norman Blake (academic)| year = 1964 | title = The Phoenix | publisher = Manchester: Manchester U Press|isbn=}}.
* [[Hugh Evelyn-White|Evelyn-White, Hugh G.]] Trans. 1920. ''Hesiod: The Homeric Hymns and Homerica''. London: William Heinemann & New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.
* {{Citation | last1 = Garry | first1 = Jane | last2 = El-Shamy | first2 = Hasan | year = 2005 | title = Archetypes and Motifs in Folklore and Literature | publisher = ME Sharpe | isbn = 978-0-76561260-1}}.
*Thompson, Stith (2001). ''Motif-Index of Folk-Literature: A Classification of Narrative Elements in Folk Tales, Ballads, Myths, Fables, Mediaeval Romances, Exempla, Fabliaux, Jest-Books, and Local Legends'', Volume 1; Volume 6. Indiana University Press. {{ISBN|978-0253340894}}
* {{Citation | last = Van den Broek | first = Roelof | translator = Seeger, I. | year = 1972 | title = The Myth of the Phoenix According to Classical and Early Christian Traditions | publisher = EJ Brill | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jwIVAAAAIAAJ}}.

{{Heraldic creatures}}
{{Symbols of Greece}}
{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:Characters in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Heraldic beasts]]
[[Category:Immortality]]
[[Category:Birds in mythology]]
[[Category:Masonic symbolism]]
[[Category:National symbols of Greece]]
[[Category:Phoenix birds| ]]