PHCE'NIX (Lat., from Gk. cbolvtE, phoinix). The name of a mythical Egyptian bird frequently mentioned by classical writers. fierodotus (ii. 73), who says lie beard the story at Heliopolis and saw a picture of the bird there, relates that the phomix, on the death of his father, embalms the body in an egg made of myrrh and conveys it from Arabia to the Temple of the Sun at Heliopolis. According to Pliny (Nat. Hist.. x. 2), there is only one phoenix at a time. and when he perceives that his end is near, lie builds in Arabia a nest of twigs of cassia and frankincense and dies upon it. From the body is generated a worm which develops into the new phomix. The young bird then conveys his father's body to Heliopolis and burns it upon the altar there (Taeitus. ann., vi. 28). According to Ilorapollo ii. 57) the phomix casts himself upon the ground and receives a wound, from the ichor of which springs his successor. Nut the most familiar version of the birth and death of the phoenix is that in which the bird burns itself upon a nest or pyre of odoriferous woods• and the young ',Minix springs from the ashes. The interval between the bird's appearances at Heliopolis is variously stated: the period usually named is 500 years, but 1461 and 7006 years are also given.
According to Tacitus (Ann., vi. 28) the phrnix appeared four times in Egypt: (1 ) under Sesostris I q.v.) ; (2) under Amasis; (3) under Ptolemy 11 1. ; and (4) in the year B.C. 34.
In Greek and Roman art it was common to represent the pluenix as an eagle; but by the Egyptians, who called it Benno, the bird was depicted as a heron with two long feathers grow ing from the back of its head and sometimes with a tuft hanging from its breast. It symbol ized the morning sun rising out of the glow of dawn, and hence it was looked upon as the sacred bird of the sun-god Ifif. It also represented the new sun of to-day springing from the body of the old sun of yesterday, which had entered the lower world and become one with Osiris. Ilenee the phoenix or begone was regarded as a manifestation of Osiris and became a symbol of the resurrec tion, continuing to serve as such even in early Christian times. It has been supposed by some scholars that the phoenix is mentioned in .Tob xxix. IS and Psalm ciii. 5, but the identification is very doubtful. Consult: Kirchmayer. "On the Phoenix," in Colleetanea Adamantaw, No. xv., vol. ii. (Edinburgh• ISS6) ; Wiedemann, Re ligion of the Ancient Egyptians (New York, 1897).