Bird Gods in Ancient Europe 



up in the air to be visible, which yet perceives 

 all that exists and moves on earth and some- 

 times descends in some awful visitation of 

 nature. When he shakes his feathers, thunder 

 rolls, hail and snow fall. The phcEnix and the 

 peacock, for they are one and the same bird, 

 were used by the very early Christians to sym- 

 bolize the resurrection from the dead. But the 

 Christians of the Middle Ages did not copy 

 them, for they found a chance to moralize 

 about the bird and class it among the suspi- 

 cious adjuncts of heathen gods. 



Perhaps with the relegation of Pan to the 

 devils by the Christians the peacock became 

 that synonym for the lusts of the flesh which 

 we find it in the Middle Ages. That must also 

 account for the idea that peacock feathers are 

 unlucky ; they were badges of the heathen 

 when Christianity was still fighting for its life 

 in northern Europe. The writer of Job seems 

 to have no such prejudice against the bird, for 

 God says scornfully to Job: "Gavest thou the 

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