the same presence, of the Peul in the nature of
burial markings and place names along the way.
Most contemporary scholars place little confi-
dence in the old reports that there were two groups
of Peul, the blacks and the reds. They argue instead
that the Peul contain people who are of many
shades and complexions due to their interactions
with many people in their pastoral lifestyle.
Indeed, the Peul have always had a special regard
for cattle, but this is not something unusual in
Africa given that the Nuer, Dinka, and Maasai are
also noted cattle raisers. The pastoral way of life
does not preclude agriculture, and many of the
Peul have mastered the agrarian lifestyle found in
the rainforest regions of West Africa.
The Peul tend to be highly patrilineal. It is dif-
ficult to discover any hint of a matrilineal tradi-
tion among the Peul. Most of their societies are
based on a patrilineal endogamous kinship pat-
tern where each of the families is responsible for
the administration of its share of the cattle inheri-
tance. When they have found communities among
the Tamashek or Serer that have influenced their
pattern, the Peul have been able to settle and
engage in agriculture and cattle-raising. They are
known as pastoralists, but they are not all
nomadic. Many of the Peul groups have found
that they can be quite successful as agricultural-
ists, although it is safe to say that they have never
found this style of life as rewarding as the pas-
toralist traditions for which they are famous.
It is believed that although there is a strong
patrilineal descent system, because of the influence
of Islam, there are no ceremonial or religious ritu-
als to ancestors. Some authors believe that Islam
has almost completely eradicated any form of tra-
ditional pastoral religion among the Peul. Yet there
are revivalist elements among Peul intellectuals
who are searching for pre-Islamic traditions.
Molefi Kete AsanteSeealsoBurial of the Dead
Further Readings
Diop, C. A. (1974).The African Origin of Civilization.
Chicago: Lawrence Hill.
Lam, M. A. (1992).L’origine Egyptienne des Peuls.
Paris: Presence Africaine.
PHOENIX
Animals and birds have been regarded in African
religion and philosophy as teachers of wisdom
and knowledge for a long time. In ancient Egypt,
especially at the sacred city of On, the Benu bird,
known in Greek times as the phoenix, was closely
related to the benben stone, which was known by
the Greeks as the obelisk.
The benben stone was associated with the
supreme deity in its Ra and Atum manifesta-
tions, and therefore rituals were developed that
projected the ability of the benben to rise (the
verb in ancient Mdw Ntr,weben) above circum-
stances. Indeed, the Greek wordphoenixcomes
into being long after the Egyptian use of the
Benu bird to reflect this activity related to
renaissance.
One of the oldest presentations of the Benu
bird appears in the Pyramid Texts, where it is seen
as a yellow wagtail reflecting the supreme deity of
the city of On, Atum. In Utterance 600, it is writ-
ten that the god Atum is “risen up” as the benben
in the mansion of the Benu in On.
However, there are other manifestations of the
Benu bird as Ra and Ausar. In those examples, for
instance, inThe Book of the Dead, the Benu bird
is shown as a gray heron (Ardea cinera) that has a
long straight beak and a two-feathered crest. One
can see this quite explicitly where the scribe
Nakht admires the Benu bird by touching it
gently with his hands in one of the registers in
The Book of the Deadwritten during the 19th
dynasty, around 1280 BC.
The ritual for transformation into a Benu bird
was a highly developed oratorical formula that
involved, among other things, a depiction of a
Benu bird. This desire, in fact, longing of per-aa
(the pharaoh) and others to be transformed into
Benu birds was a serious undertaking for immor-
tality. Indeed, it might have been connected to
the wish to be a star in the firmament. This is not
far-fetched, because it has been said that the
Benu bird might symbolize the planet Venus and
the transformation might relate to the various
phases of Venus.
It should be noted that birds were plentiful in
ancient Egypt, and the association of the Benu bird
with the benben stone and with transformation528 Phoenix