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What is it about the phoenix that makes it such an outstanding myth? The answer is simple: The creature represents immortality, which was a particularly popular subject in the ancient Egyptian and Roman social circles, and probably doesn't hurt its reputation today, either. There's also the fact that the phoenix's life cycle is amazingly metal, and ticks pretty much all the boxes for properly myth-minded folks. 

As legend has it, every phoenix lives for 500 years or more. When it feels that its time is up, it builds a cool nest out of spices and nice-smelling wood. Then, it sets the whole thing in fire and jumps right in. The ensuing firestorm births a brand new phoenix, whose first act is to give its predecessor the sort of funeral its flashy demise deserves. The new phoenix collects the old one's ashes, and flies them in the city of the sun god, Heliopolis, where they rest in all eternity in an egg made of myrrh. Then, it flies off to be awesome until it's time to repeat the cycle. There's also a variation where they cut the middleman and the old phoenix flies to the Heliopolis altar for its fire trick, neatly saving its predecessor a presumably inconvenient round trip. 

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