Greeks gave the phoenix the name of Kerkes (Circe).
According to Greek mythology, the bird lives in Arabia, near a cool well. Every morning at dawn it bathes in the water and sings a beautiful song. So beautiful is the song, that the sun god would stop his chariot to listen.
The phoenix bird symbolizes immortality, resurrection and life after death. The Greeks probably got the idea from the ancient Egyptians. In ancient Greek and Egyptian mythology, it is associated with the sun god, the phoenix represented the sun, who dies in flames each evening and emerges anew each morning. The Arabs had an incombustible cloth woven of flexible asbestos that was thought to be its hair or plumage. There was only one phoenix at a time, and it lived for 500 years. It laid no eggs and had no young, and it was there when the world began. It was the quintessential firebird, young and strong.
Phoenix is the Greek name given to the mythological bird offered in sacrifice to Ra, God of the Sun in ancient Egypt. The name phoenix means palm tree in Greek, the first known mention of this bird was by Hesiod in the eighth century B.C., and the most detailed early account is by the Greek historian Heroditus:
"Another sacred bird is the phoenix; I have not seen a phoenix myself, except in paintings, for it is very rare and only visits the country (so they say at Heliopolis) only at intervals of five hundred years, on the occasion of the death of the parent bird."
Heroditus went on write that the Phoenix came from Arabia and returned every 500 years in search of the body of its predecessor. The phoenix had a melodious cry and was described as being larger than an eagle, having brilliant scarlet, golden, and purple plumage that made it look like it was wrapped up in flames. In some depictions, the Phoenix was shown in flames rather than feathers. Before the phoenix died it built a nest of spices and incense twigs and laid down in it and died. Ignited by the sun's rays, from its body a small worm emerged that the sun's heat transformed into a new phoenix. This new Phoenix then embalmed body of its predecessor inside an egg of myrrh, and took it to the Temple of the Sun located in Egypt.
As the bird kept appearing in writing, its origin changed a little. In Pliny's account of the Roman senator Manilius' report of the genesis of the phoenix. He stated that a small worm grew from the bones and marrow of the dead bird. This worm eventually developed into the new bird.
Another story says that when the phoenix felt its death approaching it built a funeral pyre of aromatic wood, twigs of cassia and frankincense, set it afire, and immolated itself in the fragrant flames. From this funeral pyre a new phoenix rose again from the burnt and decomposing remains of the old body. The new phoenix would embalm its predecessor's ashes in an egg of myrrh and fly with the ashes to Heliopolis, the "city of the sun," in Egypt. There, it would deposit them on the altar in the temple of the Egyptian god of the sun to be burned. One can easily see how the phoenix came to be the early Christian symbol of immortality and spiritual rebirth.
The phoenix entered into Greek mythology with the abduction of Europa, which originated on the island of Crete, but later cultivated into Greek mythology. The tale is of the king of Phoenicia, who was known as Agenor, or Phoenix. His daughter Europa was wooed by Zeus, who being enamored by her stunning beauty and feminine charms, disguised himself as a bull. Using her natural affections as his lure, he eventually was able to get close enough to her, and carried her off through the waves to Crete. She later gave birth to Minos, Rhad-amanthys, and Sarpedon. The Greek God Phoibos(Apollo) was also associated with the Phoenix.
"The first care of the young bird as soon as fledged, and able to trust to his wings, is to perform the obsequies of his father. But this duty is not undertaken rashly. He collects a quantity of myrrh, and to try his strength makes frequent excursions with a load on his back. When he has gained sufficient confidence in his own vigour, he takes up the body of his father and flies with it to the altar of the Sun, where he leaves it to be consumed in flames of fragrance."
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