The grandeur of the peacock associates it naturally with royalty and there was a peacock throne in ancient Babylon and Persia. In Egyptian art the bird can accompany Isis and in Greece it was an emblem of the bird-god Phaon, the 'Shiverer'. Hera's mythology passed on to the Roman Juno and Ovid calls the peacock Juno's Bird. It was her emblem with the Eagle as that of Jupiter. There was a belief that the flesh of the peacock was immune from decay and this legend, coupled with the bird's celestial symbolism, made it an appropriate representation of immortality and apotheosis and as such was adopted by the Romans as the apotheosis of the Emperor and Empress, and its image was carved on tombs and funeral lamps.
Hindu mythology says that the peacock has angels' feathers, a devil's voice and the walk of a thief.
It is so ashamed of its ugly feet and black legs that it screams when it sees them. When ridden by Kama, god of love, it represents impatient desire. In China the peacock has been held as a sacred bird and depicted in art from ancient times. The Physiologus says that the cry of the peacock at night rises from its fear of losing its beauty. In the Bestiaries the bird is called the Parvo and the legend of its in- corruptibility is perpetuated.