I know that the dragon is based on snakes cuz people were fearful of it and lots of countries have mythology about snakes (eg: Quetzalcoatl), but why Phoenix? Why firebird?
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A lot of ancient stories and religions associate animals with concepts e.g. storms or the sun etc. they may seem like they originate from one place but most of the stories differ.
A bit more detail…
When looking back at ancient mythology there will usually be a blur of their actual origin due to the way stories were told orally but one thing a lot of these religions have in common is associating animals with a devine entity.
In a number of religions birds are commonly associated with the sun most likely due to their ability to fly towards it, causing a reflection of light or a glimmer. What this means is although religions may seem similar, like the fire bird and the phoenix they are actually based on different folklore or religion but hold similar comparisons, in this case a link to heat and fire.
The phoenix is a bird of Greek mythology about rebirth from ashes but it’s origins can be traced back to the Egyptian being Bennu, which in turned was the name given to a large heron fossil found in the middle east thought to have gone extinct over 2000 years ago. Whether this bird is the origin of a red bird is debatable as we don’t know what they looked like but this could be a basis of the origin of the myth, particularly depending on its flight path.
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