My Opera
Wednesday, April 13, 2011 11:38:16 AM
The ancient Egyptians
linked the myth of the
phoenix with the
longings for immortality
that were so strong in
their civilization, and
from there its
symbolism spread
around the
Mediterranean world of
late antiquity. The Bennu
bird was usually
depicted as a heron.
Archaeologists have found the remains of a
much larger heron that lived in the Persian Gulf
area 5,000 years ago. The Egyptians may have
seen this large bird only as an extremely rare
visitor or possibly heard tales of it from travelers
who had trading expeditions to the Arabian Seas.
It had a two long feathers on the crest of it's head
and was often crowned with the Atef crown of
Osiris (the White Crown with two ostrich plumes
on either side) or with the disk of the sun.
The Bennu was the sacred bird of Heliopolis.
Bennu probably derives from the word weben,
meaning "rise" or "shine." The Bennu was
associated with the sun and represented the ba or
soul of the sun god, Re. In the Late Period, the
hieroglyph of the bird was used to represent this
deity directly. As a symbol of the rising and
setting sun, the Benu was also the lord of the
royal jubilee.
This Egyptian phoenix was also associated with
the inundation of the Nile and of the creation.
Standing alone on isolated rocks of islands of high
ground during the floods the heron represented
the first life to appear on the primeval mound
which rose from the watery chaos at the first
creation. This mound was called the ben-ben. It
was the Bennu bird's cry at the creation of the
world that marked the beginning of time. The
bennu thus was the got of time and its divisions
-- hours, day, night, weeks and years.
The Bennu was considered a manifestation of the
resurrected Osiris and the bird was often shown
perched in his sacred willow tree.
At the close of the first century Clement of Rome
became the first Christian to interpret the myth of
the phoenix as an allegory of the resurrection and
of life after death. The phoenix was also
compared to undying Rome, and it appears on
the coinage of the late Roman Empire as a
symbol of the Eternal City.
linked the myth of the
phoenix with the
longings for immortality
that were so strong in
their civilization, and
from there its
symbolism spread
around the
Mediterranean world of
late antiquity. The Bennu
bird was usually
depicted as a heron.
Archaeologists have found the remains of a
much larger heron that lived in the Persian Gulf
area 5,000 years ago. The Egyptians may have
seen this large bird only as an extremely rare
visitor or possibly heard tales of it from travelers
who had trading expeditions to the Arabian Seas.
It had a two long feathers on the crest of it's head
and was often crowned with the Atef crown of
Osiris (the White Crown with two ostrich plumes
on either side) or with the disk of the sun.
The Bennu was the sacred bird of Heliopolis.
Bennu probably derives from the word weben,
meaning "rise" or "shine." The Bennu was
associated with the sun and represented the ba or
soul of the sun god, Re. In the Late Period, the
hieroglyph of the bird was used to represent this
deity directly. As a symbol of the rising and
setting sun, the Benu was also the lord of the
royal jubilee.
This Egyptian phoenix was also associated with
the inundation of the Nile and of the creation.
Standing alone on isolated rocks of islands of high
ground during the floods the heron represented
the first life to appear on the primeval mound
which rose from the watery chaos at the first
creation. This mound was called the ben-ben. It
was the Bennu bird's cry at the creation of the
world that marked the beginning of time. The
bennu thus was the got of time and its divisions
-- hours, day, night, weeks and years.
The Bennu was considered a manifestation of the
resurrected Osiris and the bird was often shown
perched in his sacred willow tree.
At the close of the first century Clement of Rome
became the first Christian to interpret the myth of
the phoenix as an allegory of the resurrection and
of life after death. The phoenix was also
compared to undying Rome, and it appears on
the coinage of the late Roman Empire as a
symbol of the Eternal City.
