Bibliography Detail
Herodotus' Phoenix between Hesiod and Papyrus Harris 500, and its Legacy in Tacitus
Berlin: De Gruyter, 2022; Series: Myth and History: Close Encounters
We propose a secular origin for a part of the narrative about the Egyptian sacred bird to which Herodotus gives the name phoenix, and a long lifespan, both borrowed from Hesiod. For the making of a myrrh egg enclosing the paternal corpse and transported to the City of the Sun, Heliopolis, the priests may have nothing to do with what possibly refers to a popular tradition attested in a love song, where a female bird catcher sings about the birds of the land of Punt carrying to Egypt myrrh balls in their talons: that is the shape and matter of the egg. In religious iconography, the image of a bird holding round objects is seen for the falcon Horus. Then we study the legacy of these double sources in the development of the myth until Tacitus, the first historian writing about the phoenix after Herodotus. If the mummy-like egg disappears and if myrrh is replaced by cinnamon, the mythical bird, whose lifespan is linked with the calculation of the cosmic Great Year, appearing more often, encounters at least an Egyptian astronomical cycle and becomes at the same time more real as an official figure of the Roman imperial power. - [Abstract]
Language: English
Last update April 10, 2023