Arizona republican., 1897-12-01
THE PHOENIX.

THE PHOENIX.
 What Dr. See Has to Say Concerning
 the Bird of Mythology.
 Dr. J. J. See the noted astronomer, who lately lectured in Phoenix, has his own theory regarding the Phoe- nix, that wondrous bird of mythology whence comes the name of Arizona's capital city. He has kindly favored The Republican with copy Of a thesis prepared by him on the subject. It is herewith printed for the first time in the columns of any news paper:
 The beautiful Egyptian fable of the Phoenix enjoyed great popularity among the ancients, and the mere fame of dhe legend renders the ac- counts left us by the Greeks and Ro- mans necessarily somewhat incon- sistent, on account of the distortions which it suffered from different writ CTS; the gist of the mystery is, how ever, condensed in the following statement:
 The Phoenix was a miraculous bird of Arabian origin, the only one of its kind in the world, adorned with golden and red plumage, and in form resembling an eagle; it was sacred to the sun and appeared at the temple of Heliopolis at long intervals of time; i; when of a very great age it built it's nest of twigs and branches, ignited it with fire, forthwith lighted upon the funeral pyre and was consumed to ashes, from the glowing embers of which the new Phoenix at once tri- mphantly arose.
 The true explanation of the mystery of this acknowledged symbolism is a matter upon which even. Egyptolo- gists have meyer been ,agread; but since the story of the Phoenix seems to hinge upon astronomical phenome- ma, we may perhaps venture to offer an hypothesis which has presented it. self in connection with the investiga- tfon of the ancient color of Sirius, and seems exceedingly probable
 Of all the authorities who have left us accounts of the Phoenix none are perhaps more trustworthy than Taci- tus, who speaks of the bird Phoenix coming in Egypt after a long course of ages during the comsulship of Pau Jus and Fabius and Iucius Vitellius (34 A. D.) After noticing the miracu- lous reports of the bird, and briefly describing it, the historian adds that it was sacred to the sun, and con tinuos:
 De numeEo annOrum varia trad untur. Maxine vulgatum quingent- orum spatium: sum. qui asseverent anflle quadIingentos sexaginta unum inter jici, prioresque alites Sesostride primum, post AmaS;d.e dominan ibus dein Ptolemaeo qui ex Macedon ;bus tertius regnavit, in divitatem cui Heli oplis nomen advolavisse mIlto cate farum volucrum comita u movam fac fem m.rani.ium. Sed antiquities qui dem obscura; inter Ptolemaeum a, Tfbarium minus ducenti quinquagints ami fuerunt- Unde nonulh fa'sun hume PhOenicem neque Arabum ter ris credidere, nehilque usurpavisse e1 his, Quae v.etus memoria firmavit."- (Annalium, Lib. VI, Cap. 2S.)
 Tacitus therefore says that thu Phoenix is vulgarly reported to liv. 800 years, but there are some (and h1 appears to imply that these are tn. select few. the learned ones," per haps the Egyptian priests) who posi- lively affirm that the miraculous b:r, lives 1,461 years. This is the Eangtl Of the SOtlhic period, and such a coin cidence in the length of time cann0 be the result of chance. Therefore strong presumption is at once raise in favor of the idea that the Phoeni is symbo,ization of the Dog sta0 The Egyptian year, as is we'll known consisted of 365 days, and consequent ay the calendar annually fell ishont ( the Julian or Tatural year one-fourt of day; this annual difference wou] accumulate and in 1,461 Egyptia years amount to a whole year, so thi the cycle would begin anew. Th, great cycle is what is known as til Sothic period, which began when u first of ThOth (the first month of tl Egyptian calendar) coincided with u heiiacal rising of Sirius. This ph nOmena of the sun and Dog star ri ing together took place on the 20 of July, and marked the beginni1 of the inundation of the Nile
 In the preceding investigation ' have shown that Sirius was ancien. fiery red, and this color will now n only enable US to explain the gor eozIs plumage of the Phoenix (me tionad by Herodotus and Pliny), b also how the old PhOeIix was my tiealfy spoken of as consuming itsl with self ignilted fire and the ne bird arising from the glowing ash,
 For the colors of the Phoenix we merely the hues of the golden sl
 and of the Iuddy Sir.us And [
 Phoenix cycle closed its long care when the first of Thoth came round
 the day of the fixed year (July 20)
 which Sirius and the sun rose t
 gether, and the new Sothic or Pho
 nix cycle began on the same d5
 Therefore since the beginning and e
 of the Sothic period was de ertmin
 by ihe he,iacai rising of Sirius, a
 that star was fiery red, it is easy
 see why the priests represented [