Maria Leonor García da CRUZ

Original title: Representações e símbolos de Oriente a Ocidente: o renascimento da Fênix

Published in The Medieval Aesthetics

Keywords: Eternity, Myth, Phoenix, Rebirth, Symbology.

Passing over vast times and spaces, the symbology of the Phoenix is found in legends from China, India and Persia, varying in details, constructing a myth that the West inherited from Egypt and which it helps to consolidate in classical, mediaeval and modern times with projections even in our modern times. Is the only thing the European Phoenix has in common with the Chinese Phoenix, i.e. Feng-Huang the mythical creation related to inheritances of mankind and a collective unconscious, deposit of images and symbols (Jung)? A comparison of details jointly emphasises its spiritual energy, from rare beauty to divine virtue, from sanctification and purity to eternal love, to prosperity and good governance, from singularity and excellence to rebirth and eternity.