Texts in Conversation
In the apocalyptic text 3 Baruch, the mythical phoenix of Greek and Roman tradition shields the earth from the sun. Rabbinic tradition in Genesis Rabbah describes a similar giant bird, showing how 3 Baruch connects the phoenix with Jewish tradition.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
3 Baruch 6:5
Greek Apocalypse of Baruch
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
2 and he showed me a chariot and four, under which burnt a fire, and in the chariot was sitting a man, wearing a crown of fire, (and) the chariot (was) drawn by forty angels. And behold a bird circling before the sun, about nine 3 cubits away. And I said to the angel, What is this bird? And he said to me, This is the 4 guardian of the earth. And I said, Lord, how is he the guardian of the earth? Teach me. And the angel said to me, This bird flies alongside of the sun, and expanding his wings receives its fiery 5 rays. For if he were not receiving them, the human race would not be preserved, nor any other 6 living creature. But God appointed this bird thereto. And he expanded his wings, and I saw on his right wing very large letters, as large as the space of a threshing-floor, the size of about four
Genesis Rabbah 19:4
Aggadah
Rabbinic
Rabbi Yehuda ben Rabbi Simon said: [The serpent said:] ‘Everything that was created after its counterpart dominates that counterpart. The heavens were created on the first day and the firmament on the second. Does it [the firmament] not hold them up? That is a rhetorical question. The firmament was created on the second day and the vegetation on the third – does it [the firmament] not supply water for it? Vegetation was created on the third day and the luminaries on the fourth – do they [the luminaries] not cause its [the earth’s] produce to grow? The luminaries were created on the fourth day and the birds on the fifth – the ziz is a very large bird and when it flies it obscures the orb of the sun. Man was created after everything in order to dominate everything. Hurry and eat [the fruit] now, before He creates additional worlds and they will dominate you.’
Date: 500 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
“... As in 3 Baruch the Bird’s main function – like the ozone layer in modern conception – is to protect all the living from solar radiation. Ziz (or Nets) also does it by stretching the wings: “R. Yudan son of R. Shimon says, ‘Ziz is a clean bird, and when it spreads its wings, it darkens the orb of the sun’” (Gen. Rab. 19.4). [...] The Sun Bird of 3 Baruch is “Phoenix” only in name. It bears the Greek name, but lacks the main features of the phoenix of Hellenistic and Christian traditions. At the same time, there is a striking similarity between “Phoenix” as described in 3 Baruch and Rabbinic traditions about Ziz, Ben Nets, Field Rooster, and Bar Yokni (distinct from the traditions of Hol, Urshina, Malham). In its main functions – and, first of all, protecting the earth from the sun’s radiation – it is identical to gigantic birds of Jewish lore as preserved by Rabbinic sources. The name “Phoenix” here is misleading and appeared only in order to “translate” the image from one culture to another. ...”
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