Phoenix (FEE nihks) was a fabled bird in Greek mythology. Only one such bird existed at any time, and it was always male. It had brilliant gold and reddish-purple feathers, and was as large or larger than an eagle. According to some Greek writers, the Phoenix lived exactly 500 years. Other writers believed its life cycle was as long as 12,954 years. At the end of each life cycle, the Phoenix burned itself on a funeral pyre. Another Phoenix then rose from the ashes with renewed youth and beauty. The young Phoenix, after rising from the ashes, carried the remains of its father to the altar of the sun god in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis (City of the Sun).

The long life of the Phoenix, and its dramatic rebirth from its own ashes, made it a symbol of immortality and spiritual rebirth. The Greeks probably took their idea of the Phoenix from the Egyptians, who worshiped the Bennu, a sacred bird similar to the stork. The Bennu, like the Phoenix, was connected with the sun worship rites in Heliopolis. Both birds represented the sun, which dies in its flames each evening and emerges each morning.