<Dd> "(The Egyptians) have also another sacred bird called the phoenix which I myself have never seen, except in pictures . Indeed it is a great rarity, even in Egypt, only coming there (according to the accounts of the people of Heliopolis) once in five hundred years, when the old phoenix dies . Its size and appearance, if it is like the pictures, are as follow: - The plumage is partly red, partly golden, while the general make and size are almost exactly that of the eagle . They tell a story of what this bird does, which does not seem to me to be credible: that he comes all the way from Arabia, and brings the parent bird, all plastered over with myrrh, to the temple of the Sun, and there buries the body . In order to bring him, they say, he first forms a ball of myrrh as big as he finds that he can carry; then he hollows out the ball, and puts his parent inside, after which he covers over the opening with fresh myrrh, and the ball is then of exactly the same weight as at first; so he brings it to Egypt, plastered over as I have said, and deposits it in the temple of the Sun . Such is the story they tell of the doings of this bird ." </Dd> <P> The phoenix is sometimes pictured in ancient and medieval literature and medieval art as endowed with a nimbus, which emphasizes the bird's connection with the Sun . In the oldest images of phoenixes on record these nimbuses often have seven rays, like Helios (the personified sun of Greek mythology). Pliny the Elder also describes the bird as having a crest of feathers on its head, and Ezekiel the Dramatist compared it to a rooster . </P> <P> Although the phoenix was generally believed to be colorful and vibrant, sources provide no clear consensus about its coloration . Tacitus says that its color made it stand out from all other birds . Some said that the bird had peacock - like coloring, and Herodotus's claim of red and yellow is popular in many versions of the story on record . Ezekiel the Dramatist declared that the phoenix had red legs and striking yellow eyes, but Lactantius said that its eyes were blue like sapphires and that its legs were covered in scales of yellow - gold with rose - colored talons . </P> <P> Herodotus, Pliny, Solinus, and Philostratus describe the phoenix as similar in size to an eagle, but Lactantius and Ezekiel the Dramatist both claim that the phoenix was larger, with Lactantius declaring that it was even larger than an ostrich . </P>

Where did the legend of the phoenix originate