User:Sarabi1701/Phoenix

This detail, taken from the Aberdeen Bestiary, depicts the phoenix burning in its nest of spices.

The Phoenix is a mythical bird figured in the legends and folklore of Europe and the Middle East.

Its lifespan varies from hundreds of years to thousands.

History and Evolution

First Accounts

Herodotus

Ovid

Pliny the Elder

Introduction of Fire

Lactantius

In Other Cultures

Egyptian Bennu

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In Popular Culture

Literature

• The phoenix is referred to in Shakespeare's last play, The Tempest. When a group of weary wanderers are confronted with a banquet delivered by spirits, the character Sebastian proclaims,

"Now I will believe

That there are unicorns; that in Arabia

There is one tree, the phoenix' throne, one phoenix

At this hour reigning there."

--(III,iii,27-30)

• In certain works of Renaissance literature, the phoenix is said to have been eaten as the rarest of dishes. Ben Jonson, in his 1605 play Volpone (III,vii,204-205), writes: "...could we get the phoenix, / Though nature lost her kind, she were our dish." Another mention of the phoenix as a culinary delicacy occurs in John Webster's play, The White Devil (1612):

"Those noblemen,

Which were invited to your prodigal feasts,

Wherein the phoenix scarce could scrape your throats

Laugh at your misery, as fore-deeming you

An idle meteor which drawn forth the earth

Would be lost in the air."

--(I,i,21-26)

• Some literary critics believe the conclusion of Andrew Marvell's 1681 poem "To His Coy Mistress" may allude to the Phoenix, given its references to birds and fire.

• E. Nesbit's children's novel The Phoenix and the Carpet (1904) follows the adventures of five children who find a magic carpet and an egg that hatches into a phoenix.

• In her 1940 short story The Phoenix, Sylvia Townsend Warner satirized the exploitation of nature using a phoenix maltreated in a carnival sideshow, revealing the modern preference for violence and sensationalism over beauty and dignity.

• Eudora Welty's classic 1941 short story A Worn Path employs the phoenix as the name of the major and virtually sole character in a story of regeneration and the South.

• In Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953), the phoenix is used as an allegory for the destruction of an over complacent and abusive society and the new beginning obtained thereof.

• Sylvia Plath alludes to the phoenix her famous poem "Lady Lazarus," from Ariel (1965). The speaker of this poem describes her unsuccessful attempts at committing suicide not as failures, but as successful resurrections, like those described both in the tales of the biblical character Lazarus and in the myths of the Phoenix. By the end of the poem, the speaker has transformed into a firebird, effectively marking her rebirth, which some critics liken to a demonic transformation .

• In J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels, a phoenix is featured as Dumbledore's familiar, Fawkes. The Order of the Phoenix is an organization which Dumbledore formed to resist the followers of Lord Voldemort. Dumbledore's Patronis also takes the form of a phoenix.

• In Neil Gaiman's short story Firebird, a party of Epicureans finally answer the question of what happens when a Phoenix is roasted and eaten; you burst into flames, and "the years burn off you". This can kill those who are unexperienced, but those who have swallowed fire and practiced with glowworms can achieve an immensely satisfying eternal youth.

Music

• Phoenix is the name of a French pop band that performs songs in the English language.

• Transsylvania Phoenix is the name of a Romanian rock band whose music is inspired by ancient Romanian folklore.

• Many bands have incorporated the phoenix into their logos, including the British rock band Queen, the Christian rock band Pillar, and the alternative rock group 30 Seconds to Mars.

• Bassist Dave Farrell of Linkin Park is also known as Phoenix.

• "Phoenix" is a song by the Finnish power metal band Stratovarius.

• "The Days of a Phoenix" is a song by alternative rock band AFI.

• "Phoenix With a Heartache" is a song by Christian rock group Kids in the Way.

• The alternative rock band Live makes reference in the song "Dolphin's Cry" saying "this phoenix rises up from the ground, and all these wars are over". The Phoenix is used in this context to help symbolize cycles of love and sexual union being reborn over and over again.

Television and Film

• In the daytime soap opera Dark Shadows (1966-71), the character Laura Murdoch Collins is a phoenix in human form who is reborn every 100 years.

• In the anime franchise, Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, the heroes can temporarily transform their aircraft, The God Phoenix, into a massive bird of flame to escape danger.

• In the Star Trek universe, Phoenix is the name given to the first man-made spacecraft to travel faster than the speed of light. It was so named because at the time of its creation, the Earth was still recovering from the ravages of World War III, and the realization of long distance space travel was a manifestation of humanity's hope for a new future.

• In Power Rangers Mystic Force, there is a red mystic phoenix zord form of the red ranger. This is based on MagiPhoenix, the Majin form of MagiRed in Mahou Sentai Magiranger.

• In the movie, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), based on the book by C. S. Lewis, a phoenix bursts into flame and flies low over the grass in front of the White Witch's lines to make a wall of fire to guard Peter's retreat to safer ground.

Video Games

• Phoenix is one of the characters in the chess-like computer game Archon. It has the ability to turn into a ball of fire.

• In Shining Force II, an RPG for Sega Genesis, there is a phoenix named Peter who instantly revives at the end of battle if he is killed during combat.

• In the Final Fantasy series, the Phoenix appears as a summon in versions V, VI, VII, VIII, and IX. Obtaining the Phoenix summon usually ties into the game's story in some way. The feather of the Phoenix is a common item in general stores and can be used to revive dead or mortally wounded party members.

• In the storyline of StarCraft, a main hero figure known as Fenix comes back to life in a cybernetic body after being killed in battle.

• A phoenix can be recruited in the Conflux castle of Heroes of Might and Magic III. When it dies in battle, it rebirths a few of its kind.

• The phoenix can be summoned in Warcraft III. It burns itself over time, but is continuously reborn from an egg that it leaves behind at death.

• In Age of Mythology, the phoenix is a myth unit that turns into an egg when it is killed. A new phoenix can be hatched from the egg for a price.

• In Golden Sun: The Lost Age, the phoenix is a monster that is encountered later on in the game. It does not have rebirthing abilities, but it can revive other monsters.

• In Guild Wars, Phoenix is a Fire Magic spell used by Elementalists. It flies out from the caster's location, burning nearby enemies before exploding in the area of the targeted foe.

Other

• The Phoenix is the official mascot of the University of Chicago. An earlier institution by the same name was established at a different location in 1859, but closed by 1889. The phoenix was chosen as a mascot for the new university to symbolize its rise from the ashes of the old.

• The phoenix is a symbol of the fraternities Alpha Sigma Phi and Sigma Alpha Epsilon. For the former, it represents the fraternity's refounding in the early 1900s. For the latter, it signifies the rebirth of the fraternity after the Civil War.

• La Fenice ("the phoenix") is a famous opera house in Venice, Italy.

• In 1962, a disastrous fire destroyed the Paddington tram depot in Brisbane, Australia. Eight trams were rebuilt using parts salvaged from the wreckage. A small picture of a phoenix was placed on each of these trams to signify that they had "risen from the ashes".

• Artist Theodore Roszak used the phoenix as an inspiration for his 1958 sculpture "Night Flight."

• In the X-Men comic series, a cosmic energy known as the Phoenix Force merges with the mutant Jean Grey. While in this form, a firey bird-shaped aura appears around Jean whenever her powers reach their zenith. The corruption of the Phoenix force leads to the Dark Phoenix Saga.

• In the canon of comic author Osamu Tezuka, the phoenix is often featured as both a literal and symbolic character. This is most prominent in the 12 volume series Hi no Tori, in which the phoenix is an all knowing cosmic force which connects the string of cultural, physical, and spiritual deaths, rebirths, reincarnations and transmigrations throughout the series.

• In the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game there is a card called the "Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys" that has a phoenix-like rebirthing power. Another card, "The Winged Dragon of Ra," has the power to transform into a Phoenix.

Refrences

• Broek, R. Van den. The Myth of the Phoenix According to Classical and Early Christian Traditions. Trans. I. Seeger. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1972.

• Burton, Maurice. Phoenix Reborn. London: Hutchinson, 1959.

• McMillan, Douglas J. "The Phoenix." Mythical and Fabulous Creatures: A Sourcebook and Research Guide. Ed. Malcolm Smith. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1987. Reprint, New York: Peter Bedrick Books, 1988. p. 59-74. ISBN 0-87226-208-1

• Nigg, Joe. Wonder Beasts: Tales and Lore of the Phoenix, the Griffin, the Unicorn and the Dragon. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1995. ISBN 1-56308-242-X

• Rose, Carol. Giants, Monsters, & Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2001. ISBN 0-393-32211-4