Abstract

In recent times, there has been a debate about the Schmitt’s notion of political theology, by which the notions of messianism and katéchon have been rediscovered. Both the questions are connected with the one of apocalypse and apocalypse nowadays is linked to the western perception of the crisis of capitalism. Thus a question is: how does this complex of conceptions relate with Far-East Culture? Is that apocalyptic imagination valid also for these countries or do they have a different conception that involves also a different way of perceiving political power and capitalism? In order to answer this question we have investigated the origins of apocalyptic thought, found by us in ancient Iranian tradition. Thus we have considered an alternative myth for Asian cultures: the one of phoenix and its related context of the fire-bird. We examined its relationships with political power and recently with free market ideology. So the final question is: is it not possible that the symbol of phoenix can be the Oriental alternative to the Western apocalyptic destinal imagination?