Phoenix

or Phenix, fe'niks, in oriental tradition, a marvelous bird for a description of which we are indebted to Greek and Roman writers. Herodotus, admitting that he had never seen it except in pictures, says that in form and size it resembles the eagle and that its plumage is in color gold and crimson. According to tradition one phoenix only exists at a time. It lives, nourished on frankincense and aromatic gums, for 500 years. Then it builds a nest high in a palm tree and collects there a pile of spices and sweet-smelling gums. Upon this it deposits itself and kindles a flame by the fanning of its wings. From the ashes the bird revives, newborn and youthful, to re-live its 500 years. According to some accounts a young phoenix springs from the body of the dead bird. The young one then carries the body of its father to the temple of the sun. The phoenix is often referred to as an emblem of immortality. It is said that Sir Thomas Browne, who died in 1682, was the first writer to express disbelief in the actual existence of the phoenix.