It emerged in ancient Egypt, thousands of years before Christ, representing immortality and the cycles of nature. According to the myth, when it felt that it was going to die, the phoenix would build a nest with incense and other aromatic herbs to be incinerated by the sun’s rays. From its ashes, a new bird would be born. As soon as it felt strong, the new phoenix packed the ashes from which it emerged in a myrrh egg and transported it to the temple of the god Ra, in the city of Heliopolis. “For the Egyptians, the phoenix also represented the soul of Ra, the Sun god”, says historian Norberto Luiz Guarinello, from USP. According to mythology, this bird could live for more than a thousand years and during this period there would only be a single phoenix, so it also symbolized great cycles of nature – such as astronomical ones. Its appearance would be similar to that of a stork with golden and red plumes. The myth was also incorporated by other cultures, such as Greco-Roman.
The Romans saw in the bird a metaphor for the immortal and untouchable character of the Roman Empire and even stamped it on some of their coins. With the emergence of Christianity, the phoenix came to represent the idea of resurrection and life after death.
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