Most beings spring from other individuals; but there is a certain kind which reproduces itself. The Assyrians call it the Phoenix. It does not live on fruit or flowers, but on frankincense and odoriferous gums. When it has lived five hundred years, it builds itself a nest in the branches of an oak, on the top of a palm tree. In this it collects cinnamon and spikenard, and myrrh, and of these materials builds a pile on which it deposits itself, and dying, breathes out its last breath amidst odors. From the body of the parent bird, a young Phoenix issues forth, destined to live as long a life as its predecessor. When this has grown up and gained sufficient strength, it lifts its nest from the tree (its own cradle and its parent's sepulcher), and carries it to the city of Heliopolis in Egypt, and deposits it in the temple of the sun.-- Ovid
As Ovid tells us, the Phoenix comes from Assyria, however, this
bird appears in many places at many times. There are Chinese, Japanese,
Russian, Egyptian, and Native American counterparts. (Fêng-Huang,
Ho-oo,
Firebird, Benu, and Yel respectively). All of these
birds are identified with the sun, and are very similar to the bird described
by Ovid. 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. He says,
Like Heroditus says, the Phoenix is a large eagle like or heron like bird with red and gold feathers (although the Chinese phoenix has five colours). The bird is also known to have a beautiful song. The bird is supposed to be very long-lived with a life span of, according to various accounts, 500 years, 540 years, 1000 years, 1461 years or even 12 994 years. This is the Phoenix as we know it, the bird that is self-reincarnated from its own ashes."I have not seen it myself, except in a picture. Part of his plumage is gold-coloured, and part crimson; and he is for the most part very much like an eagle in outline and bulk."
By the fourth century A.D. the phoenix myth had changed so that the mature bird self-immolated after turning its nest into a funeral pyre. After three days, it "rose again". Thus the phoenix became identified with the resurrection of Christ and became a symbol of both immortality and life after death.
One possible explanation for the phoenix myth: some large birds spread their wings over fires so that the smoke kills parasites.
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 develops into the new bird.