The phoenix enters into Greek mythology in the abduction of Europa, which originated on the island of Crete, but later cultivated into Greek mythology. The tale is of the king of Phoenicia, who was known as Agenor, or Phoenix.
His daughter Europa was wooed by Zeus, who being enamored by her stunning beauty and feminine charms, disguised himself as a bull. Using her natural affections as his lure, he eventually was able to get close enough to her, and carried her off through the waves to Crete. She later gave birth to Minos, Rhad-amanthys, and Sarpedon. The Greek God Phoibos(Apollo) was also associated with the Phoenix.
"The first care of the young bird as soon as fledged, and able to trust to his wings, is to perform the obsequies of his father. But this duty is not undertaken rashly. He collects a quantity of myrrh, and to try his strength makes frequent excursions with a load on his back. When he has gained sufficient confidence in his own vigour, he takes up the body of his father and flies with it to the altar of the Sun, where he leaves it to be consumed in flames of fragrance
Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust - we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.
~Albert Einstein, in The Saturday Evening Post, 26 October 1929
According to the Greek historian Herodotus, Egyptian men never became bald. The reason for this, Herodotus claimed, was that as children Egyptian males had their heads shaved, and their scalps were continually exposed to the health-giving rays of the sun.
