The Phoenix bird is a mythological beat that is said to live between 500 and 1,500 years (depending on the legend) and at the end of it's life cycle it builds a nest of cinnamon twigs and then ignites the nest and itself. After being burned down to ashes a new young Poenix then rises out of the ashes! In this way the Poenix bird is believed to live an immortal life.

The rich and deep traditions, tales, and symbolism behind this beautiful bird have lead to many equally beautiful tattoo designs. If you are interested in a phoenix tattoo or phoenix tattoo designs, pictures or gallery then this page will help.

The Phoenix bird is of course a mytholigical bird and probably the most improtant of all the mytholigical birds really. There are many different cultures and traditions that have adopted the Phoenix bird over time adn so the exact details of the story and the information about the Pheonix can change slightly from culture to cutlure. Many diverse groups accepted some form of a blief in a phoenix at one time or another. For example the early Christians used the Phoenix in art to represent Christ and more specifically the ressurection of Christ. The Greeks and Romans also used the bird extensivly int heir art work and had a well developed lroe about these mythical birds.

Even though the stories vary slightly from one culture to the next their is an amazing amount of similarities behind all of them. In all of the stories it is noted that the Phoenix is a large bird with beautifull flame colored feathers of red and orange tint. In all the versions the bird is able to regenerate by burning itself and then rising from the ashes. The specifics details of how it regenerates itself differ by cutlure.

Early Christians - Saw it as a symbol of Christ and the Ressurection.

Greeks - One of the earliest names of the Phoenix was Bennu. This word got ranslated by the Greeks. The took the word Bennu and matched it with the Greek word meaning red which was Phoenix. So we borrow from the Ancient Greeks in how we name the bird. There are extensive refferences throughout Greek history in art, tales, and mythological lore about the phoenix bird. According to the Greeks the Phoenix bird lived in Arabia next to a well. Every morning the bird would take a bath in the well and sign while doing so. Then Apollo the Geek god of the sun would stop each morning in his trek to pull the sun across the sky and listen to the phoenix's beautiful song.

Their are also some traces of myths and lore surrounding the Phoenix bird in China, Japan and throughout the Middle East.

In almost every situation the bird is seen asa powerful force and a symbol of fire and divinity.

The phoenix bird really lends itself well to a tattoo. The strength power and beautiful colors of a Phoenix allw ork togheter to make a beautiful tattoo. If you are contemplatin a phoenix tattoo here are some ideas you might want to think about first.

The first thing you will want to determine is the size and placement of the tattoo. Very often people go for either a full back piece or a sleeve tattoo of a phoenix or they go for a smaller more stylized and even perhaps tribal form.

Place of a Phoenix Tattoo Large

1. Upper back
2. Lower back?
3. Full back
4. Chest tattoo
5. Full sleeve tattoo.

The other thing to consider is the style of the design. Many people like to get realistic or at least semi relaistic phoenix tattoos while others are intrested in the smaller peices and often get tribal tattoo style.

Cost - As always the cost is hard to determine becuase it is based on so many factors such as the size of the tattoo the prices at the shop, the artist, and if you are geting any custom design work done. With all of that said a smaller tattoo with little custom work can be done for $25 to $80 dollars. If you choose to use a flash design avalible at the studio the lower end cost wise is more likley. If you are thinking something large like a upper back tattoo or even a full back tattoo the time and cost is going to be significant. For example a full back tattoo could easily run $2000 and up.

Time Commitment - Again the size, style and intricacy of the design are all factors here. A smaller tattoo might take an hour or two tops. A large back piece can easily take a year or more of going to a tattoo shop for one hour a week.