The ashes are the source of its rebirth as another bird. When its long life is about to end and the bird feels this, it makes a nest of aromatic herbs and incense it then sets fire to this nest, and, according to legends, it lays in it, burning along with the nest. The most remarkable legends refer to its reproduction. The Phoenix bird originates in Arabia (or Ethiopia) and is the object of particular worship in Egypt, at Heliopolis. Also, it is the only one in its species and, therefore, it can not reproduce. It has extraordinary longevity (its lifetime varies from 500 to almost 13,000 years, depending on the sources).
The Phoenix bird resembles an eagle as a shape, but has splendid colorful plumage, with purple and gold spots (two “noble” colors with obvious symbolic significance), making it more beautiful than any peacock. If we don’t take into account the fragment of Hesiod where he speaks of this bird’s long life (927 years), the first to talk about Phoenix is Herodotus in “The Histories,” he provides a description and speaks about its living habits. Wrapped in mystery because of its exceptional destiny, transformed into a symbolic image of rebirth, considered as originating from the most diverse places, this bird is presented in classical mythology under many forms, multiplied by the innumerable reinterpretations proposed by the following centuries and by the various cultures in the classic world. The Phoenix bird is a mythical creature, resurrecting from its own ash, resembling an eagle, with splendid feathers and a very long life.
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