The Bennu bird serves as the Egyptian correspondence to the phoenix, and is said to be the soul of the Sun-God Ra.
Egyptian Description
According to ancient Egyptian myth, the Bennu had created itself from a fire that was burned on a holy tree in one of the sacred precincts of the temple of Ra. Other versions say that the Bennu bird burst forth from the heart of Osiris. This would mean that Ra reincarnated himself through Osiris, creating a precedent for Pharaohs. The Bennu was supposed to have rested on a sacred pillar that was known as the benben-stone. The Egyptian priests showed this pillar to visitors, who considered it the most holy place on earth.
The Book of the Dead says, “I am the Bennu bird, the Heart-Soul of Ra, the Guide of the Gods to the Tuat.”
Some of the titles of the Bennu bird were “He Who Came Into Being by Himself,” “Ascending One,” and “Lord of Jubilees.” While Bennu is the common name given to the bird in English, the original vowels of the name spelled as bnn by Egyptian scribes are uncertain, although it may have been pronounced something like *bānana. The name is related to the verb *wabāna (spelled wbn in Egyptian texts becoming Coptic ouoein), meaning “to rise brilliantly,” or “to shine.” The Bennu bird was the mythological phoenix of Egypt. It was associated with the rising of the Nile, resurrection, and the sun. Because the Bennu represented creation and renewal, it was connected with the Egyptian calendar. Indeed, the Temple of the Bennu was well known for its time-keeping devices.
Depiction
The Bennu was pictured as a grey, purple, blue, or white heron with a long beak and a two-feathered crest. Occasionally the Bennu was depicted as a yellow wagtail, or as an eagle with feathers of red and gold. In rare instances the Bennu was pictured as a man with the head of a heron, wearing a white or blue mummy dress under a transparent long coat. The Bennu was considered the “soul” of the god Atum, Ra, or Osiris.
Further Info
Related to the verb weben (wbn), meaning “to rise”, “rise in brilliance” or “shine” as well as ben-ben, the up thrust sacred stone of Heliopolis, benu (bennu) describes a bird that was an important avian deity. Originally of solar associations, the Benu bird came to be connected with three important gods consisting of Atum, Re and Osiris.
As an aspect of Atum, the Benu bird was said to have flown over the waters of Nun before the original creation. According to this tradition, the bird came to rest on a rock from which its cry broke the primeval silence and this determined what was and what was not to be in the unfolding creation.
The Benu, according to ancient Egyptian mythology, was also believed to be the ba of Re, and by Egypt’s Late Period, the hieroglyphic sign depicting the bird was used to write the name of this sun god. During the Middle Kingdom, it was said that the Benu of Re was the means by which Atum came into being in the Primeval water.
Like the sun god, the Benu’s own birth is attributed to self generation. A mythological papyri of the 21st Dynasty provides a vignette of a heart-amulet and scarab beetle near to which stand the Benu, which is described as “the one who came into being by himself”. It was believed to constantly rise renewed just like the sun, and was called the “lord of jubilees”. The Benu Bird was said to each morning appear under the form of the rising sun, and was supposed to shine upon the world from the top of the famous persea tree in Heliopolis wherein he renewed himself.
This most likely led to the concept of its long life, later identifying it with the Greek phoenix which also renewed itself from a fiery death like the sun rising at dawn. In fact, it may have been the prototype for the phoenix, and there may well be an etymological connection between the two birds’ names, though certainly there are distinct differences between myths surrounding them.
The bird was primarily associated with Atum and Re, but inevitably, its connection with rebirth came to associate it also with Osiris. In quoting from the Book of the Dead, Wallis Budge quotes a passage that reads, “I go in like the Hawk, and I come forth like the Bennu, the Morning Star (i.e., the planet Venus) of Ra; I am the Bennu which is in Heliopolis” and he goes on to say that the scholion on this passage expressly informs us that the Benu is Osiris. In essence, the Benu was considered a manifestation of the resurrected Osiris.
Herodotus tells us that the bird lived for 500 years before building a nest of aromatic boughs and spices which it then set ablaze and was consumed within the inferno. From the conflagration a new Benu bird arose who, after embalming its father’s ashes, flew with them to Heliopolis where it deposited the ashes on the altar of the temple of Re. However, this tale told by Herodotus has no foundation in actual pharaonic mythology, where the bird never seems to permanently die. There were, in fact, a number of classical interpretations of the Benu bird which resulted in a misunderstanding of the Egyptian myth, perhaps because of the association with the Egyptian bird and the Greek phoenix.
Iconography
At Heliopolis where the Benu bird first served as a symbol of solar deities, its iconography was probably fashioned from the yellow wagtail (Motacilla flava) which, according to the Pyramid Texts, represented Atum. However, by the New Kingdom, the bird was usually depicted as a gray heron (ardea cinera). At that point in Egyptian mythology, it was usually represented with long legs and beak, and a two-feather crest growing form the back of its head. Typically, the bird surmounted a stylized ben-ben stone as a symbol of the great solar god, but its association with Osiris meant that it was also sometimes represented in the sacred willow of that god. Sometimes, it was also depicted wearing the Atef Crown in its aspect as Osiris. In at least, one the sarcophagus of the Divine Adoratrice of Amun, Ankhnesneferibre, now in the British Museum, the Benu is imagined as perched on a sacred willow tree in the temple. However, the Benu could also be depicted in a hybrid form with the head of a man. Classically, the Benu bird is described as being as large as an eagle, with red and gold (solar or flame-colored) plumage.
The bird was frequently depicted in the vignettes of the netherworld books as well as on heart amulets and other objects, particularly those of a funerary nature. When carved on the back of a heart-scarab and buried with the dead, it is a symbol of anticipated rebirth in the netherworld and ensures that the heart does not fail in the examination of past deeds in the Hall of the Two Truths (judgment of the dead). In the Book of the Dead there are formulae to transform the deceased into the Great Benu. Here, the deceased says, “I am the Benu, the soul of Ra, and the guide of the gods in the Duat.” In another verse, he says, “I am pure. My purity is the purity of the Great Benu which is in the city of Suten-henen.”
Worship
Surprisingly little is known of the formal veneration of this important aspect of ancient Egyptian mythology. However, it is highly probable that it formed the basis for an important role in the cults near Heliopolis, where the cult was first established and probably most important. Wallis Budge tells us that “the sanctuary of the Bennu was the sanctuary of Ra and Osiris, and was called Het Benben, i.e., the ‘House of the Obelisk’…” However, almost nothing else is known about the worship of the most ancient of Egyptian icons.
The Phoenix
The phoenix or phenix is a mythical sacred firebird that can be found in the mythologies of the Arabian, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Chinese, Indian and (according to Sanchuniathon) Phoenicians.
A phoenix is a mythical bird with a colorful plumage and a tail of gold and scarlet (or purple, blue, and green according to some legends). It has a 500 to 1000 year life-cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of twigs that then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix or phoenix egg arises, reborn anew to live again. The new phoenix is destined to live as long as its old self. In some stories, the new phoenix embalms the ashes of its old self in an egg made of myrrh and deposits it in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis (literally “sun-city” in Greek). It is said that the bird’s cry is that of a beautiful song. The Phoenix’s ability to be reborn from its own ashes implies that it is immortal, though in some stories the new Phoenix is merely the offspring of the older one. In very few stories they are able to change into people.
Identification
Originally, the phoenix was identified by the Egyptians as a stork or heron-like bird called a benu, known from the Book of the Dead and other Egyptian texts as one of the sacred symbols of worship at Heliopolis, closely associated with the rising sun and the Egyptian sun-god Ra.
The Greeks subsequently pictured the bird more like a peacock or an eagle and identified it with their own word phoenix (Φοίνιξ), meaning the color purple-red or crimson (cf. Phoenicia) or a palm tree. According to the Greek mythology the phoenix lived in Phoenicia next to a well. At dawn, it bathed in the water of the well, and the Greek sun-god Helios stopped his chariot (the sun) in order to listen to its song. Featured in the painting Heracles Strangles Snakes (House of the Vettii, Pompeii Italy) as Zeus, the king of the gods. Herodotus spoke about the unique capability of the bird to be consumed in the flames and be reborn from the ashes.
Associated LOST Characters
 RA |
 OSIRIS |
 ATUM |
 HELIOS |
 ZEUS |
Hy-Bird (Hurley-Bird)
Epilogue – The New Man in Charge
The DHARMA Initiative genetically engineered large birds called “hy-birds” to test how animals adapt to the Island’s unique properties. DHARMA kept the birds at the Hydra station, which featured large aviary cages. (“The New Man in Charge”)
1×24 – Exodus, Part 2
Hurley’s first sight of one of them convinced him that whoever came up with the name Dark Territory was “a genius.” He heard it shortly afterward, before and during the smoke monster’s attack. (“Exodus, Part 2”)
2×23 – Live Together, Die Alone, Part 1
A bird appeared again during the survivors’ mission to rescue Walt. Michael tried to shoot it, revealing that Jack had unloaded his gun before giving it to him. The birds’ wings span 16 feet, and their cry sounds like the name “Hurley”. DVDs even subtitle one’s cry as “Hurley”, but Sawyer mocked Hurley for noting the resemblance. (“Live Together, Die Alone, Part 1”)
>: 4-8-15-16-23-42 [EXECUTE] - LOST Solved 
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