Phoniex Tattoo Design

The Egyptian phoenix was said to sing According to Egyptian legend, it carries the embalmed ashes of its previous incarnation to Heliopolis, the city of the sun. After three days, the phoenix would arise from the ashes, reborn. When it grows tired, it builds a nest of aromatic twigs, and then sets fire to itself to be consumed in the funeral pyre of its own making. The phoenix is said to live for 500 years.


On Roman coins, the phoenix represented an undying empire. Jewish legend describes the phoenix as the one creature that did not leave paradise with Adam, and that its legendary longevity is due to abstaining from the forbidden fruit that tempted the ‘first man’. It symbolized the victory of life over death, immortality, and Christ’s resurrection. Early Christians came to view the flight of the phoenix as a symbol of rebirth and the resurrection, leaving the old world for the new world of the spirit, dying and rising again, reborn.




In both Greek and Egyptian tales, the phoenix represented the sun, dying in flames at the end of the day and rising each morning. Tales of the phoenix appear in ancient Arabian, Greek, Roman, and Far Eastern mythology. Phoenix Tattoos – The mythological bird of fire is familiar to most of us, but perhaps not so well-known is in it’s original meaning — ‘phoenix’ in Greek means ‘palm tree’. But also a design with a rich mythological history in both Eastern and western cultures.


Another tattoo design that illustrates the enduring popularity of Japanese tattooing traditions.