All ancient cultures developed myths and legends to explain and deal with the world around them. Many of the oldest myths deal with the cycle of seasons, and agriculture. It was from this background that the Phoenix myths were born. Originally derived from Egyptian myth, and centered around the rise and fall of the Nile, the story of the Bennu (Egyptian name for the Phoenix) spread around the Mediterranean showing up in a large diversity of cultures. The most influential of these cultures is of course the Greeks. It is from the Greeks that we get the word “phoenix”. But others include peoples throughout Palestine, Arabia, and latter in Italy. The resurrection (or rising) part of the story is familiar throughout the modern world and has often been used as an allegory to the resurrection of Christ. It is also one of the favorite clichés used by writers. Does the phrase “rising from the ashes” sound familiar? Well, you can thank the Phoenix myth for that one.
The basic story of the Phoenix is not at all set in stone, as many accounts of it survive in several Greek and Latin sources including Herodetus, Aelian, and Pliny. But the basic idea is that a magical bird lives anywhere between 500 to 1,000 years before throwing himself in a fire (usually at Heliopolis, the City of the Sun), and then rising again to live out another 500 to 1,000 years in order to repeat the cycle. As recorded in these cultures, the early writing mentioning the Phoenix should be considered scientific and not mythological, meaning that none of the references to the Phoenix in ancient literature tell the actual story of the Phoenix, unless you count bestiaries. Bestiaries record what the ancients considered fact about all the animals they knew. This could not be considered Mythology. Though we have several authors who mention the mythical bird, it was not a very popular topic on which to write in the ancient world.
Our concept of the Phoenix is due partly to Seventeenth century English poets like John Donne. While pontificating about his eternal love for a woman, he sited the Phoenix myth in allegorical comparison in his poem “The Canonization.”
Call us what you will, we
are made such by love;
Call her
one, me another fly,
We’re tapers too, and at
our own cost die,
And we
in us find the eagle and the dove.
The Phoenix riddle hath more wit
By us: we two being one, are it.
So, to one neutral thing
both sexes fit.
We die
and rise the same, and prove
Mysterious
by this love.
We can die by it, if not live
by love,
And if
unfit for tombs and hearse
Our legend be, it will be
fit for verse;
And if
no piece of chronicle we prove,
We’ll build in sonnets pretty rooms;
As well a well-wrought urn becomes
The greatest ashes, as half-acre
tombs,
And by
these hymns, all shall approve
Us canonized
for love:
Lines 19-36, “The Canonization”
Our concept of the Phoenix myth is also influenced by the Christian story of Jesus Christ. Because of the overwhelming impact of the church on our world especially in times past, the Western world has been implanted with the idea of the Phoenix through the Gospel message.
Though this myth is largely found in countries surrounding the Mediterranean, similar myths can be found all over the world. It is not exactly clear whether or not these similar myths derived themselves from the original Egyptian legend, but most likely this is not so. Many of them involve an aspect of eternal life, but their similarities are mostly found in the fact that each myth, whether it is about the Phoenix or some other Supreme bird, is concentrated on the impact and importance the concept of these birds in their respective cultures. What I mean is that the original story, or the myth itself is not important when compared to sub-conscious influence the entity of the birds had in each culture.
The closer regions to the Mediterranean having similar myths are India and Russia. The mystical creature called the Firebird, can be found in many Russian fairy tales shown with luminescent wings. In India, the bird is named Garuda. He is actually more of a god in India than a mythological animal, but because of his depiction (eagle’s beak, scarlet wings, and a golden human body) and his immortality both in his myths, and in his derivative culture’s mind-set, he can be satisfactorily placed in the Supreme Bird category.
Many Supreme Bird legends also exist in cultures from the Orient, like China and Japan, where in both cases the bird is assigned dualistic characteristics, and can is closely related to the idea of yin and yang. Specifically in the Chinese (Feng), the Bird can be depicted as male (Phuong) or female (Hoang), and they can be both alive separately, as both sexes, or together in one entity. It only comes around in times of peace, and when there is trouble, the Feng hides itself. Therefore it is a sign of peace, and missing, an indication of disharmony. Similar here to the Egyptian bird, the Oriental birds can represent agricultural prosperity. However, because of their relationship with the yin and yang, at the same time, they can also denote hardship or drought.
Even South America has its version of the Supreme Bird. The Aztecs, Mayans, and Toltecs called it the Quetzal, the companion of Quetzalcoatl. In this case, the myths seem to indicate the solar cycle, blessings, and happiness.
Alchemists adopted the Phoenix from the regeneration connotation, and consequentially, the Phoenix was often used in signs over chemist’s shops throughout medieval Europe. A constellation found in the Southern Hemisphere is named after the Phoenix. In the One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, Sinbad records seeing an egg fifty paces in circumference, which he attributes to a gigantic bird called the Roc or Rukh. Although here there is no definite mention of immortality, this bird can easily be considered a Supreme Bird because of its importance in Arabian writing.
Some widespread evidence points to a myth found in North America (including Canada), which may have come before the Bennu. That is the Thunderbird. For Native Americans, the Thunderbird was a very powerful spirit in the form of a bird, and had strong relationships with weather occurrences, including thunder and lightning. The importance of this bird lies in the way the Native Americans depicted it.
Extremely similar variations of this same image can be found in civilizations throughout the “old world”, including Africa, Asia, and even Europe. If this is not just coincidence, it is strong evidence for the universality of an early Supreme Bird Myth, common all over the known inhabited world at that time, which would have predated, and may have even spawned the Phoenix myth, that is depending on where the Native Americans came from.
Tying these myths together with a single tangible thread is not an easy task. We must keep in mind that while it is fun to speculate about connections between different cultural myths, it is not likely that any connection actually exists. Or it is a stretch at the very least to say they are all related. Most of these myths developed independently of each other, and under completely unrelated circumstances. Their similarity can be found in the fact that they are still around. They have lasted the test of time, either by word of mouth or in writing, and by this virtue alone, we see the importance they had in their cultures. To give a bit of perspective, I threw in the legend of film actor River Phoenix as one of my stories. As America continues to assimilate into a media based culture, our stories, and our myths will be less and less about animals. But when you compare the apparent freedom of a bird with the apparent freedom of an actor, it is not hard to understand why we, as a society, are so obsessed with Hollywood. Time can only tell whether his fame will compel the perpetuation of his legend.
Baring the River Phoenix example, I still, find it fascinating that so many cultures turn to an image of a bird to denote ressurection/eternal life and prosperity. It does not seem too much of a stretch to assume that these cultures must have been inspired and intrigued by the apparent freedom and happiness of birds in general, not to mention their mysterious quality of disappearing for half the of year or so.
Following you will find stories, largely created by myself, and based on found information of the myths mentioned above. I tried to have a little fun with this, and you will find that many of the stories are only loosely based on their inspirational myths. Some stories had to be completely fabricated because, while factual information still exists about the various creatures, no actual stories have survived (at least none that I could find).