Phoenix

Phoenix was the Greek name for the mythological bird that was sacred to the sun-god in ancient Egypt. An eaglelike bird with red and gold plumage (as described by Herodotus), the phoenix lived in Arabia and had a 500-year life span. At the end of that period the bird built its own funeral pyre, on which it was consumed to ashes. Out of the ashes a new phoenix arose. The cycle was repeated every 500 years. Symbolic of the rising and setting of the sun, the phoenix later appeared in medieval Christian writings as a symbol of death and resurrection.

appears in:

• "Books Are Burning" (on Nonsuch)

further reading:

• The Phoenix Bird, at the City of Phoenix Source
• Studies in Art History,historian