CHAP. XIII. THE PIKENIX. 305 



upon its open claws, having at the back of its head 

 a small tuft of feathers similar to that of the crested 

 plover, so common in Egypt ; and in front it raises 

 two human arms as if in an attitude of prayer. 

 But it may be doubted if this be the same whose 

 picture Herodotus mentions ; and from the slight 

 description he gives of it, we might rather suj)])ose 

 he had in view the hawk, which was the emblem 

 of Re, and which is seen on obelisks and other 

 monuments, whether dedicated to the Sun or other 

 Deities. They sometimes represent the Phoenix 

 under the form of a man with wings, in the same 

 attitude of prayer, and bearing the tuft of feathers 

 on his head*, accompanied also by a star, which, as 

 I have observed, seems to have been connected 

 with the idea of adoration, t 



Of its name in the Egyptian language we are ig- 

 norant ; Ovid says, " the Assyrians call it Phoenix ; " 

 and from this bird and the palm tree having the 

 same name in Greek, we are sometimes in doubt to 

 which of the two ancient writers in that language 

 allude, as in the case of the <poivixa, carried in the 

 hand of the Horoscopus, mentioned b\^ Clemens. 

 Pliny even pretends that the bird received its name 

 from the palm.t 



In the time of Herodotus, as the learned Larcher 

 observes, the notion of the Phoenix rising from its 

 ashes had not yet been entertained. Suidas, who 

 flourished about the 10th century, states, that from 



* Conf. Plin. xi. ;i7., aiul x. 2. This has even clcsccnclccl to tlic 

 conventional bird of our own fire-offices, 

 f Vide Plate .'iO. a. ; and siipni, [>. 292. % Plin. xiii. 4. 



\'()L. I. — Second Series. X 



