Floyd Jones, age 11, of Albuquerque, N.M., for his question:    

WAS THERE EVER A REAL PHOENIX BIRD?

Phoenix was the name of a mythological bird that represented the sun. The fabled bird can be found in Greek mythology only, not in real life.

Only one phoenix bird existed at any time, and it was always male. It had bright gold and reddish purple feathers and was larger than an eagle.

According to some Greek writers, the phoenix lived exactly 500 years. Other writers say its life cycle was as long as 97,200 years.

At the end of each life cycle, according to the myth, the phoenix burned itself on a funeral pyre. Another phoenix then rose from the ashes with renewed youth and beauty. It was a symbol of spiritual rebirth.

The Greeks probably took their idea of the phoenix from the Egyptians, who worshiped the benu, a sacred bird similar to the stork. The benu, like the phoenix, was connected with the sun worship rites. Both birds represented the sun, which dies in its flames each evening and emerges each morning.