Phoenix

Animals and birds have been regarded in African religion and philosophy as teachers of wisdom and knowledge for a long time. In ancient Egypt, especially at the sacred city of On, the Benu bird, known in Greek times as the phoenix, was closely related to the benben stone, which was known by the Greeks as the obelisk.

The benben stone was associated with the supreme deity in its Ra and Atum manifestations, and therefore rituals were developed that projected the ability of the benben to rise (the verb in ancient Mdw Ntr, weben) above circumstances. Indeed, the Greek word phoenix comes into being long after the Egyptian use of the Benu bird to reflect this activity related to renaissance.

One of the oldest presentations of the Benu bird appears in the Pyramid Texts, where it is seen as a yellow wagtail reflecting the supreme deity of the city of On, Atum. In Utterance 600, it is written that the god Atum is “risen up” as the benben in the mansion of the Benu in On.

However, there are other manifestations of the Benu bird as Ra and Ausar. In those examples, for instance, in The Book of the Dead, the Benu bird is shown as a gray heron (Ardea cinera) that has a long straight beak and a two-feathered crest. One can see this quite explicitly where the scribe Nakht admires the Benu bird by touching it gently with his hands in one of the registers in The Book of the Dead written during the 19th dynasty, around 1280 BC.

The ritual for transformation into a Benu bird was a highly developed oratorical formula that involved, among other things, a depiction of a Benu bird. This desire, in fact, longing of per-aa (the pharaoh) and others to be transformed into Benu birds was a serious undertaking for immortality. Indeed, it might have been connected to the wish to be a star in the firmament. This is not far-fetched, because it has been said that the Benu bird might symbolize the planet Venus and the transformation might relate to the various phases of Venus.

It should be noted that birds were plentiful in ancient Egypt, and the association of the Benu bird with the benben stone and with transformation [Page 528]was quite in keeping with Egyptian thinking about the world. There are almost no areas of Africa where birds do not exist, although there are areas where it is difficult to find mammals. Hence, the presence of a bird to represent transformation would be automatic, that is, natural because the bird is always able to fly away from local circumstances.

Ancient Egypt, therefore, was like many other parts of Africa where birds were used in religious or cultural expressions. One finds that the Mossi of Burkina Faso, the Bahamba of Congo, and the Eton of Cameroon are just a few of the ethnic groups that use headdresses of birds for ceremony. The Benu bird of ancient Egypt was ceremonial, ritualistic, and spiritual in its ultimate meaning of transformation. As the Egyptians understood, one should seek to rise as the Benu bird and witness the change that comes with having lived a life of good character, which is the only way to ensure immortality.

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