In
Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...
, Adonis, ; derived from the
Canaanite word ''ʼadōn'', meaning "lord".
[ R. S. P. Beekes, ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, p. 23.] was the mortal lover of the goddess
Aphrodite
Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols include ...
.
One day, Adonis was gored by a
wild boar
The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...
during a hunting trip and died in Aphrodite's arms as she wept. His blood mingled with her tears and became the
anemone
''Anemone'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. Plants of the genus are commonly called windflowers. They are native to the temperate and subtropical regions of all continents except Australia, New Zealand an ...
flower. Aphrodite declared the
Adonia
The Adonia (Greek: ) was a festival celebrated annually by women in ancient Greece to mourn the death of Adonis, the consort of Aphrodite. It is best attested in classical Athens, though other sources provide evidence for the ritual mourning of ...
festival commemorating his tragic death, which was celebrated by women every year in midsummer. During this festival, Greek women would plant "gardens of Adonis", small pots containing fast-growing plants, which they would set on top of their houses in the hot sun. The plants would sprout, but soon wither and die. Then the women would mourn the death of Adonis, tearing their clothes and beating their breasts in a public display of grief.
![Cupid with Venus and Adonis, fresco in Pompeii](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Cupid_with_Venus_and_Adonis%2C_fresco_in_Pompeii.jpg)
The Greeks considered Adonis's cult to be of
Near East
The ''Near East''; he, המזרח הקרוב; arc, ܕܢܚܐ ܩܪܒ; fa, خاور نزدیک, Xāvar-e nazdik; tr, Yakın Doğu is a geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region in Western Asia, that was once the hist ...
ern origin. Adonis's name comes from a
Canaanite word meaning "lord" and most modern scholars consider the story of Aphrodite and Adonis to be derived from the earlier
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...
n myth of
Inanna
Inanna, also sux, 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒀭𒈾, nin-an-na, label=none is an List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with beauty, sex, Divine law, divine justice, and political p ...
(Ishtar) and
Dumuzid
Dumuzid or Tammuz ( sux, , ''Dumuzid''; akk, Duʾūzu, Dûzu; he, תַּמּוּז, Tammûz),; ar, تمّوز ' known to the Sumerians as Dumuzid the Shepherd ( sux, , ''Dumuzid sipad''), is an ancient Mesopotamian god associated with shep ...
(Tammuz).
In late 19th and early 20th century
scholarship of religion, Adonis was widely seen as a prime example of the
archetypal
The concept of an archetype (; ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, and literary analysis.
An archetype can be any of the following:
# a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main model that ...
dying-and-rising god
A dying-and-rising, death-rebirth, or resurrection deity is a religious motif in which a god or goddess dies and is resurrected.Leeming, "Dying god" (2004)Miles 2009, 193 Examples of gods who die and later return to life are most often cited f ...
. His name is often applied in modern times to handsome youths, of whom he is the archetype.
Cult
Origin
![Marriage_of_Inanna_and_Dumuzi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Marriage_of_Inanna_and_Dumuzi.png)
The worship of Aphrodite and Adonis is probably a Greek continuation of the ancient
Sumer
Sumer () is the earliest known civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. It is one of the cradles of c ...
ian worship of
Inanna
Inanna, also sux, 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒀭𒈾, nin-an-na, label=none is an List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with beauty, sex, Divine law, divine justice, and political p ...
and
Dumuzid
Dumuzid or Tammuz ( sux, , ''Dumuzid''; akk, Duʾūzu, Dûzu; he, תַּמּוּז, Tammûz),; ar, تمّوز ' known to the Sumerians as Dumuzid the Shepherd ( sux, , ''Dumuzid sipad''), is an ancient Mesopotamian god associated with shep ...
. The
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
name ('), ) is derived from the
Canaanite word ''ʼadōn'', meaning "lord".
[ R. S. P. Beekes, ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, p. 23.] This word is related to
''Adonai'' ( he, אֲדֹנָי), one of the titles used to refer to the God of the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;["Tanach"](_blank)
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...
and still used in
Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...
to the present day. The Syrian name for Adonis is ''Gauas''.
The cult of Inanna and Dumuzid may have been introduced to the
Kingdom of Judah
The Kingdom of Judah ( he, , ''Yəhūdā''; akk, 𒅀𒌑𒁕𒀀𒀀 ''Ya'údâ'' 'ia-ú-da-a-a'' arc, 𐤁𐤉𐤕𐤃𐤅𐤃 ''Bēyt Dāwīḏ'', " House of David") was an Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. Ce ...
during the reign of
King Manasseh
Manasseh (; Hebrew: ''Mənaššé'', "Forgetter"; akk, 𒈨𒈾𒋛𒄿 ''Menasî'' 'me-na-si-i'' grc-gre, Μανασσῆς ''Manasses''; la, Manasses) was the fourteenth king of the Kingdom of Judah. He was the oldest of the sons of Hezekia ...
. mentions Adonis under his earlier East Semitic name
Tammuz
Dumuzid or Tammuz ( sux, , ''Dumuzid''; akk, Duʾūzu, Dûzu; he, תַּמּוּז, Tammûz),; ar, تمّوز ' known to the Sumerians as Dumuzid the Shepherd ( sux, , ''Dumuzid sipad''), is an ancient Mesopotamian god associated with shep ...
and describes a group of women mourning Tammuz's death while sitting near the north gate of the
Temple in Jerusalem
The Temple in Jerusalem, or alternatively the Holy Temple (; , ), refers to the two now-destroyed religious structures that served as the central places of worship for Israelites and Jews on the modern-day Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusa ...
.
The earliest known Greek reference to Adonis comes from a fragment of a poem by the poet
Sappho
Sappho (; el, Σαπφώ ''Sapphō'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; c. 630 – c. 570 BC) was an Archaic Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her Greek lyric, lyric poetry, written to be sung while ...
of
Lesbos
Lesbos or Lesvos ( el, Λέσβος, Lésvos ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece. It is separated from Anatolia, Asia Minor ...
(c. 630 – c. 570 BC), in which a chorus of young girls asks Aphrodite what they can do to mourn Adonis' death. Aphrodite replies that they must beat their breasts and tear their tunics. The cult of Adonis has also been described as corresponding to the cult of the Phoenician god
Baal
Baal (), or Baal,; phn, , baʿl; hbo, , baʿal, ). ( ''baʿal'') was a title and honorific meaning "owner", "lord" in the Northwest Semitic languages spoken in the Levant during Ancient Near East, antiquity. From its use among people, it cam ...
. As
Walter Burkert
Walter Burkert (; 2 February 1931 – 11 March 2015) was a German scholar of Greek mythology and cult.
A professor of classics at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, he taught in the UK and the US. He has influenced generations of studen ...
explains:
The exact date when the worship of Adonis became integrated into Greek culture is still disputed. Walter Burkert questions whether Adonis had not from the very beginning come to Greece along with Aphrodite. "In Greece," Burkert concludes, "the special function of the Adonis legend is as an opportunity for the unbridled expression of emotion in the strictly circumscribed life of women, in contrast to the rigid order of
polis
''Polis'' (, ; grc-gre, πόλις, ), plural ''poleis'' (, , ), literally means "city" in Greek. In Ancient Greece, it originally referred to an administrative and religious city center, as distinct from the rest of the city. Later, it also ...
and family with the official women's festivals in honour of
Demeter
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Demeter (; Attic: ''Dēmḗtēr'' ; Doric: ''Dāmā́tēr'') is the Olympian goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over crops, grains, food, and the fertility of the earth. Although s ...
." The significant influence of Near Eastern culture on early Greek religion in general, and on the cult of Aphrodite in particular, is now widely recognized as dating to a period of
orientalization during the eighth century BC, when
archaic Greece
Archaic Greece was the period in Greek history lasting from circa 800 BC to the second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC, following the Greek Dark Ages and succeeded by the Classical period. In the archaic period, Greeks settled across the ...
was on the fringes of the
Neo-Assyrian Empire
The Neo-Assyrian Empire was the fourth and penultimate stage of ancient Assyrian history and the final and greatest phase of Assyria as an independent state. Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew t ...
.
In Cyprus, the cult of Adonis gradually superseded that of
Cinyras
In Greek mythology, Cinyras (; grc, Κινύρας – ''Kinyras'') was a famous hero and king of Cyprus. Accounts vary significantly as to his genealogy and provide a variety of stories concerning him; in many sources he is associated with ...
. W. Atallah suggests that the later Hellenistic myth of Adonis represents the conflation of two independent traditions.
Festival of Adonia
![Women Adonia Louvre CA1679](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Women_Adonia_Louvre_CA1679.jpg)
The worship of Adonis is associated with the festival of the
Adonia
The Adonia (Greek: ) was a festival celebrated annually by women in ancient Greece to mourn the death of Adonis, the consort of Aphrodite. It is best attested in classical Athens, though other sources provide evidence for the ritual mourning of ...
, which was celebrated by Greek women every year in midsummer. The festival, which was evidently already celebrated in Lesbos by Sappho's time in the seventh century BC, seems to have first become popular in Athens in the mid-fifth century BC. At the start of the festival, the women would plant a "garden of Adonis", a small garden planted inside a small basket or a shallow piece of broken pottery containing a variety of quick-growing plants, such as
lettuce
Lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'') is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable, but sometimes for its stem and seeds. Lettuce is most often used for salads, although it is also seen in other kinds of food, ...
and
fennel
Fennel (''Foeniculum vulgare'') is a flowering plant species in the carrot family. It is a hardy, perennial herb with yellow flowers and feathery leaves. It is indigenous to the shores of the Mediterranean but has become widely naturalized ...
, or even quick-sprouting grains such as
wheat
Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...
and
barley
Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...
. The women would then climb ladders to the roofs of their houses, where they would place the gardens out under the heat of the summer sun. The plants would sprout in the sunlight, but wither quickly in the heat. While they waited for the plants to first sprout and then wither, the women would burn incense to Adonis. Once the plants had withered, the women would mourn and lament loudly over the death of Adonis, tearing their clothes and beating their breasts in a public display of grief. The women would lay a statuette of Adonis out on a
bier
A bier is a stand on which a corpse, coffin, or casket containing a corpse is placed to lie in state or to be carried to the grave.''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'' (American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc., New York, ...
and then carry it to the sea along with all the withered plants as a
funeral procession
A funeral procession is a procession, usually in motor vehicles or by foot, from a funeral home or place of worship to the cemetery or crematorium. In earlier times the deceased was typically carried by male family members on a bier or in a cof ...
. The festival concluded with the women throwing the effigy of Adonis and the withered plants out to sea.
Mythology
Birth
While Sappho does not describe the myth of Adonis, later sources flesh out the details. According to the retelling of the story found in the poem ''
Metamorphoses
The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the wo ...
'' by the Roman poet
Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
(43 BC – 17/18 AD), Adonis was the son of
Myrrha
Myrrha (Greek: , ''Mýrra''), also known as Smyrna (Greek: , ''Smýrna''), is the mother of Adonis in Greek mythology. She was transformed into a myrrh tree after having had intercourse with her father, and gave birth to Adonis in tree form. A ...
, who was cursed by Aphrodite with insatiable lust for her own father, King
Cinyras
In Greek mythology, Cinyras (; grc, Κινύρας – ''Kinyras'') was a famous hero and king of Cyprus. Accounts vary significantly as to his genealogy and provide a variety of stories concerning him; in many sources he is associated with ...
of
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
,
Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
, ''Metamorphoses
The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the wo ...
'
10.298–355
/ref> after Myrrha's mother bragged that her daughter was more beautiful than the goddess. It was to her nurse that, with much reluctance, Myrrha revealed her shameful passion. Sometime later, during a festival in honor of Demeter
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Demeter (; Attic: ''Dēmḗtēr'' ; Doric: ''Dāmā́tēr'') is the Olympian goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over crops, grains, food, and the fertility of the earth. Although s ...
, the nurse found Cinyras half-passed out with wine, and Myrrha's mother nowhere near him. Thus she spoke to him of a girl that truly loved him and desired to sleep with him, giving a fictitious name and simply describing her as Myrrha's age. Cinyras agreed, and the nurse was quick to bring Myrrha to him. Myrrha left her father's room impregnated. After several couplings, Cinyras discovered his lover's identity, and drew his sword to kill her; driven out after becoming pregnant, Myrrha was changed into a myrrh
Myrrh (; from Semitic, but see '' § Etymology'') is a gum-resin extracted from a number of small, thorny tree species of the genus ''Commiphora''. Myrrh resin has been used throughout history as a perfume, incense and medicine. Myrrh mi ...
tree, but still gave birth to Adonis. According to classicist William F. Hansen, the story of how Adonis was conceived falls in line with the conventional ideas about sex and gender that were prevalent in the classical world, since the Greeks and Romans believed that women, such as Adonis's mother Myrrha, were less capable of controlling their primal wants and passions than men.
Aphrodite and Persephone
Aphrodite found the baby, and took him to the underworld to be fostered by Persephone
In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Persephone ( ; gr, Περσεφόνη, Persephónē), also called Kore or Cora ( ; gr, Κόρη, Kórē, the maiden), is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She became the queen of the underworld after ...
. She returned for him once he was grown and discovered him to be strikingly handsome. However Persephone too found Adonis to be exceedingly handsome and wanted to keep Adonis for she too fell in love with him; Zeus settled the dispute by decreeing that Adonis would spend one third of the year with Aphrodite, one third with Persephone, and one third with whomever he chose. Adonis chose Aphrodite, and they remained constantly together. Another version states that both goddesses got to keep him for half the year each at the suggestion of the Muse
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...
Calliope
In Greek mythology, Calliope ( ; grc, Καλλιόπη, Kalliópē, beautiful-voiced) is the Muse who presides over eloquence and epic poetry; so called from the ecstatic harmony of her voice. Hesiod and Ovid called her the "Chief of all Muses" ...
. Thus was Adonis' life divided between Aphrodite and Persephone, one goddess who loved him beneath the earth, the other above it. In his comical work ''Dialogues of the Gods
''Dialogues of the Gods'' ( grc, Θεῶν Διάλογοι) are 25 miniature dialogues mocking the Homeric conception of the Greek gods written in the Attic Greek dialect by the Greek author Lucian of Samosata. There are 25 dialogues in total. T ...
'', the satirical author Lucian
Lucian of Samosata, '; la, Lucianus Samosatensis ( 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer
Pamphleteer is a historical term for someone who creates or distributes pamphlets, unbound (and therefore ...
features Aphrodite in several dialogues, in one of which she complains to the moon goddess
A lunar deity or moon deity is a deity who represents the Moon, or an aspect of it. These deities can have a variety of functions and traditions depending upon the culture, but they are often related. Lunar deities and Moon worship can be found ...
Selene
In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Selene (; grc-gre, Σελήνη , meaning "Moon"''A Greek–English Lexicon's.v. σελήνη) is the goddess and the personification of the Moon. Also known as Mene, she is traditionally the daughter o ...
that Eros
In Greek mythology, Eros (, ; grc, Ἔρως, Érōs, Love, Desire) is the Greek god of love and sex. His Roman counterpart was Cupid ("desire").''Larousse Desk Reference Encyclopedia'', The Book People, Haydock, 1995, p. 215. In the earli ...
made Persephone fall in love with Adonis and now she has to share him with her.
Death
Then, one day while Adonis was out hunting, he was wounded by a wild boar, and bled to death in Aphrodite's arms. In different versions of the story, the boar was either sent by Ares, who was jealous that Aphrodite was spending so much time with Adonis, by Artemis, who wanted revenge against Aphrodite for having killed her devoted follower Hippolytus, or by Apollo, to punish Aphrodite for blinding his son Erymanthus. The story also provides an etiology
Etiology (pronounced ; alternatively: aetiology or ætiology) is the study of causation or origination. The word is derived from the Greek (''aitiología'') "giving a reason for" (, ''aitía'', "cause"); and ('' -logía''). More completely, e ...
for Aphrodite's associations with certain flowers. Reportedly, as she mourned Adonis's death, she caused anemone
''Anemone'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. Plants of the genus are commonly called windflowers. They are native to the temperate and subtropical regions of all continents except Australia, New Zealand an ...
s to grow wherever his blood fell, and declared a festival on the anniversary of his death.
Other loves
Adonis was also said to have been loved by other gods such as Apollo
Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
, Heracles
Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive ...
and Dionysus
In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Romans ...
. He was described as androgynous
Androgyny is the possession of both masculine and feminine characteristics. Androgyny may be expressed with regard to biological sex, gender identity, or gender expression.
When ''androgyny'' refers to mixed biological sex characteristics i ...
for he acted like a man in his affections for Aphrodite but as a woman for Apollo
Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
. "Androgynous" here means that Adonis took on the passive feminine role in his love with Apollo.
Heracles
Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive ...
' love of Adonis is mentioned in passing by Ptolemy Hephaestion. The text states that due to his love of Adonis, Aphrodite taught Nessos
In Greek mythology, Nessus ( grc, Νέσσος, Nessos) was a famous centaur who was killed by Heracles, and whose poisoned blood in turn killed Heracles. He was the son of Centauros. He fought in the battle with the Lapiths and became a fer ...
the centaur
A centaur ( ; grc, κένταυρος, kéntauros; ), or occasionally hippocentaur, is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse.
Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as being ...
the trap to ensnare him.
Another tradition stated that Dionysus
In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Romans ...
, the Greek god of wine and madness, carried off Adonis.
Other versions
In ''Idyll'' 15 by the early third-century BC Greek bucolic
A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music ( pastorale) that depic ...
poet Theocritus
Theocritus (; grc-gre, Θεόκριτος, ''Theokritos''; born c. 300 BC, died after 260 BC) was a Greek poet from Sicily and the creator of Ancient Greek pastoral poetry.
Life
Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from hi ...
, Adonis is described as a still an adolescent with down on his cheeks at the time of his love affair with Aphrodite, in contrast to Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'' in which he is portrayed as a fully mature man. Pseudo-Apollodorus ('' Bibliotheke'', 3.182) describes Adonis as the son of Cinyras
In Greek mythology, Cinyras (; grc, Κινύρας – ''Kinyras'') was a famous hero and king of Cyprus. Accounts vary significantly as to his genealogy and provide a variety of stories concerning him; in many sources he is associated with ...
, of Paphos
Paphos ( el, Πάφος ; tr, Baf) is a coastal city in southwest Cyprus and the capital of Paphos District. In classical antiquity, two locations were called Paphos: Old Paphos, today known as Kouklia, and New Paphos.
The current city of Pap ...
on Cyprus, and Metharme
Galatea (; grc-gre, Γαλάτεια; "she who is milk-white") is a name popularly applied to the statue carved of ivory by Pygmalion of Cyprus, which then came to life in Greek mythology. In modern English, the name usually alludes to that sto ...
. According to Pseudo-Apollodorus's ''Bibliotheke'', Hesiod
Hesiod (; grc-gre, Ἡσίοδος ''Hēsíodos'') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by western authors as 'the first written poet i ...
, in an unknown work that does not survive, made of him the son of Phoenix
Phoenix most often refers to:
* Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore
* Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States
Phoenix may also refer to:
Mythology
Greek mythological figures
* Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
and the otherwise unidentified Alphesiboea
Alphesiboea (Ancient Greek: Ἀλφεσιβοίας) was the name of several characters in Greek mythology:
*Alphesiboea, mother of Adonis with Phoenix.
*Alphesiboea, a Psophian princess as the daughter of King Phegeus in Arcadia. She was the sis ...
.
In one version of the story, Aphrodite injured herself on a thorn
Thorn(s) or The Thorn(s) may refer to:
Botany
* Thorns, spines, and prickles, sharp structures on plants
* ''Crataegus monogyna'', or common hawthorn, a plant species
Comics and literature
* Rose and Thorn, the two personalities of two DC Com ...
from a rose
A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...
bush and the rose, which had previously been white, was stained red by her blood. In other version an anemone flower grew on the spot where Adonis died, and a red rose where Aphrodite's tears fell. The third century BC poet Euphorion of Chalcis
Euphorion of Chalcis ( el, Εὐφορίων ὁ Χαλκιδεύς) was a Greek poet and grammarian, born at Chalcis in Euboea about 275 BC.
Euphorion spent much of his life in Athens, where he amassed great wealth. After studying philosophy w ...
remarked in his ''Hyacinth
Hyacinth or Hyacinthus may refer to:
Nature Plants
* Hyacinth (plant), genus ''Hyacinthus''
** '' Hyacinthus orientalis'', common hyacinth
* Grape hyacinth, '' Muscari'', a genus of perennial bulbous plants native to Eurasia
* Hyacinth bean, ''L ...
'' that "Only Cocytus
Cocytus or Kokytos ( grc, Κωκυτός, literally "lamentation") is the river of wailing in the underworld in Greek mythology. Cocytus flows into the river Acheron, on the other side of which lies Hades, the underworld, the mythological abo ...
washed the wounds of Adonis".[Remarked upon in passing by ]Photius
Photios I ( el, Φώτιος, ''Phōtios''; c. 810/820 – 6 February 893), also spelled PhotiusFr. Justin Taylor, essay "Canon Law in the Age of the Fathers" (published in Jordan Hite, T.O.R., & Daniel J. Ward, O.S.B., "Readings, Cases, Materia ...
, ''Biblioteca'' 190
on-line translation
. According to Lucian
Lucian of Samosata, '; la, Lucianus Samosatensis ( 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer
Pamphleteer is a historical term for someone who creates or distributes pamphlets, unbound (and therefore ...
's ''De Dea Syria
''On the Syrian Goddess'' ( grc-gre, Περὶ τῆς Συρίης Θεοῦ; ) is a Greek treatise of the second century AD which describes religious cults practiced at the temple of Hierapolis Bambyce, now Manbij, in Syria. The work is writ ...
'', each year during the festival of Adonis, the Adonis River in Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
(now known as the Abraham River
The Abraham River (, Nahr Ibrahim) also known as Adonis River (), is a small river in the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate in Lebanon, with a length of about . The river emerges from a huge cavern, the Afqa Grotto, nearly above sea level before it dr ...
) ran red with blood.
In post-classical literature culture
The medieval French poet Jean de Meun
Jean de Meun (or de Meung, ) () was a French author best known for his continuation of the '' Roman de la Rose''.
Life
He was born Jean Clopinel or Jean Chopinel at Meung-sur-Loire. Tradition asserts that he studied at the University of Paris. He ...
retells the story of Adonis in his additions to the ''Roman de la Rose
''Le Roman de la Rose'' (''The Romance of the Rose'') is a medieval poem written in Old French and presented as an allegorical dream vision. As poetry, ''The Romance of the Rose'' is a notable instance of courtly literature, purporting to provid ...
'', written in around 1275. De Muen moralizes the story, using it as an example of how men should heed the warnings of the women they love. In Pierre de Ronsard
Pierre de Ronsard (; 11 September 1524 – 27 December 1585) was a French poet or, as his own generation in France called him, a "prince of poets".
Early life
Pierre de Ronsard was born at the Manoir de la Possonnière, in the village of C ...
's poem "Adonis" (1563), Venus laments that Adonis did not heed her warning, but ultimately blames herself for his death, declaring, "In need my counsel failed you." In the same poem, however, Venus quickly finds another shepherd as her lover, representing the widespread medieval belief in the fickleness and mutability of women.
The story of Venus and Adonis from Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'' was tremendously influential during the Elizabethan era
The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...
. In Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser (; 1552/1553 – 13 January 1599) was an English poet best known for ''The Faerie Queene'', an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of ...
's epic poem ''The Faerie Queene
''The Faerie Queene'' is an English epic poem by Edmund Spenser. Books IIII were first published in 1590, then republished in 1596 together with books IVVI. ''The Faerie Queene'' is notable for its form: at over 36,000 lines and over 4,000 sta ...
'' (1590), tapestries depicting the story of Adonis decorate the walls of Castle Joyous. Later in the poem, Venus takes the character Amoretta to raise her in the "Garden of Adonis". Ovid's portrayal of Venus's desperate love for Adonis became the inspiration for many literary portrayals in Elizabethan literature of both male and female courtship.
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's erotic narrative poem
Narrative poetry is a form of poetry that tells a story, often using the voices of both a narrator and characters; the entire story is usually written in metered verse. Narrative poems do not need rhyme. The poems that make up this genre may be s ...
'' Venus and Adonis'' (1593), a retelling of the courtship of Aphrodite and Adonis from Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'', was the most popular of all his works published within his own lifetime. Six editions of it were published before Shakespeare's death (more than any of his other works) and it enjoyed particularly strong popularity among young adults. In 1605, Richard Barnfield
Richard Barnfield (baptized 29 June 1574 – 1620) was an English poet.
His obscure though close relationship with William Shakespeare has long made him interesting to scholars. It has been suggested that he was the " rival poet" mentioned in ...
lauded it, declaring that the poem had placed Shakespeare's name "in fames immortall Booke". Despite this, the poem has received mixed reception from modern critics. Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poe ...
defended it, but Samuel Butler complained that it bored him and C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univers ...
described an attempted reading of it as "suffocating".
The story of Adonis was the inspiration for the Italian poet Giambattista Marino
Giovanni Battista was a common Italian given name (see Battista for those with the surname) in the 16th-18th centuries. It refers to "John the Baptist" in English, the French equivalent is "Jean-Baptiste". Common nicknames include Giambattista, Gi ...
to write his mythological epic ''L'Adone'' (1623), which outsold Shakespeare's ''First Folio
''Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies'' is a collection of plays by William Shakespeare, commonly referred to by modern scholars as the First Folio, published in 1623, about seven years after Shakespeare's death. It is cons ...
''. Marino's poem focuses on the pleasures of love, which it describes explicitly. It describes Adonis as shooting the boar with Cupid's arrow and proclaims the tusk that crushes his hip a "loving" one. Shakespeare's homoerotic descriptions of Adonis's beauty and Venus's masculine pursuit of him inspired the French novelist and playwright Rachilde
Rachilde was the pen name and preferred identity of novelist and playwright Marguerite Vallette-Eymery (11 February 1860 – 4 April 1953). Born near Périgueux, Dordogne, Aquitaine, France during the Second French Empire, Rachilde went on t ...
(Marguerite Vallette-Eymery) to write her erotic novel ''Monsieur Vénus
''Monsieur Vénus'' () is a novel written by the French symbolist and decadent writer Rachilde (née Marguerite Eymery). Initially published in 1884, it was her second novel and is considered her breakthrough work. Because of its highly erotic c ...
'' (1884), about a noblewoman named Raoule de Vénérande who sexually pursues a young, effeminate
Effeminacy is the embodiment of traits and/or expressions in those who are not of the female sex (e.g. boys and men) that are often associated with what is generally perceived to be feminine behaviours, mannerisms, styles, or gender roles, rather ...
man named Jacques who works in a flower shop. Jacques is ultimately shot and killed in a duel, thus following the model of Adonis's tragic death.
As a dying and rising god
The late nineteenth-century Scottish anthropologist
An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...
Sir James George Frazer
Sir James George Frazer (; 1 January 1854 – 7 May 1941) was a Scottish social anthropologist and folklorist influential in the early stages of the modern studies of mythology and comparative religion.
Personal life
He was born on 1 Janu ...
wrote extensively about Adonis in his monumental study of comparative religion ''The Golden Bough
''The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion'' (retitled ''The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion'' in its second edition) is a wide-ranging, comparative study of mythology and religion, written by the Scottish anthropologist Sir ...
'' (the first edition of which was published in 1890) as well as in later works. Frazer claimed that Adonis was just one example of the archetype of a "dying-and-rising god" found throughout all cultures. In the mid-twentieth century, some scholars began to criticize the designation of "dying-and-rising god", in some cases arguing that deities like Adonis, previously referred to as "dying and rising", would be better termed separately as "dying gods" and "disappearing gods", asserting that gods who "died" did not return, and those who returned never "really" died.
Biblical scholars Eddy and Boyd (2007) applied this rationale to Adonis based on the fact that his portion of the year spent in the Underworld with Persephone is not really a death and resurrection, but merely an instance of a living person staying in the Underworld. They further argued that Adonis is not explicitly described as rising from the dead in any extant Classical Greek writings, though the fact that such a belief existed is attested by authors in Late Antiquity. For example, Origen
Origen of Alexandria, ''Ōrigénēs''; Origen's Greek name ''Ōrigénēs'' () probably means "child of Horus" (from , "Horus", and , "born"). ( 185 – 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an Early Christianity, early Christian scholar, ...
discusses Adonis, whom he associates with Tammuz, in his ''Selecta in Ezechielem'' ( "Comments on Ezekiel"), noting that "they say that for a long time certain rites of initiation are conducted: first, that they weep for him, since he has died; second, that they rejoice for him because he has risen from the dead (''apo nekrôn anastanti'')" (cf. J.-P. Migne, ''Patrologiae Cursus Completus: Series Graeca'', 13:800).
Some other scholars have continued to cite Adonis/Tammuz as an example of a dying and rising god, suggesting that the descent into and return from the underworld is a functional analogue for death even if no physical cause of death is depicted.
File:Annibale Carracci - Venus, Adonis and Cupid - WGA4428.jpg, ''Venus and Adonis'' ( 1595) by Annibale Carracci
Annibale Carracci (; November 3, 1560 – July 15, 1609) was an Italian painter and instructor, active in Bologna and later in Rome. Along with his brother and cousin, Annibale was one of the progenitors, if not founders of a leading strand of th ...
File:Cornelis Holsteyn - Venus de dood van Adonis bewenend 1638-58.jpg, ''Venus and Cupid lamenting the dead Adonis'' (1656) by Cornelis Holsteyn
Cornelis Holsteyn (1618 – 2 December 1658) was a Dutch Golden Age painter from Haarlem.
Biography
According to the RKD he was a painter of historical allegories, portraits, and interior decorations, trained by his father Pieter Holsteyn I. ...
File:Luca Giordano 020.jpg, ''Death of Adonis'' (1684–1686) by Luca Giordano
Luca Giordano (18 October 1634 – 3 January 1705) was an Italian late-Baroque painter and printmaker in etching. Fluent and decorative, he worked successfully in Naples and Rome, Florence, and Venice, before spending a decade in Spain.
Ear ...
.
File:Giuseppe-Mazzuoli-The-Death-of-Adonis-hermitag.jpg, ''The Death of Adonis (Mazzuoli)
''The Death of Adonis'' is a 1700-1710 marble sculpture by Giuseppe Mazzuoli, now in the Hermitage Museum. The tale of the death of Adonis comes from Ovid's ''Metamorphoses
The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμ ...
'' (1709) by Giuseppe Mazzuoli
File:Venus and Adonis. Francois Lemoyne.jpg, ''Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...
and Adonis'' (1792) by François Lemoyne
François Lemoyne or François Le Moine (; 1688 – 4 June 1737) was a French rococo
Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which co ...
File:The Awakening of Adonis - John William Waterhouse (1899).jpg, ''The Awakening of Adonis'' (1899-1900) by John William Waterhouse
John William Waterhouse (6 April 184910 February 1917) was an English painter known for working first in the Academic style and for then embracing the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's style and subject matter. His artworks were known for their dep ...
See also
* Adonia
The Adonia (Greek: ) was a festival celebrated annually by women in ancient Greece to mourn the death of Adonis, the consort of Aphrodite. It is best attested in classical Athens, though other sources provide evidence for the ritual mourning of ...
, feasts celebrating Adonis
* Adonism
Adonism is a Neopagan religion founded in 1925 by the German esotericist Franz Sättler (1884 – c.1942), who often went by the pseudonym of Dr. Musalam. Although Sättler claimed that it was the continuation of an ancient pagan religion, it ha ...
(religion)
* Apheca
Afqa ( ar, افقا; also spelled ''Afka'') is a village and municipality located in the Byblos District of the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate, northeast of Beirut in Lebanon. It has an average elevation of 1,200 meters above sea level and a total la ...
, ancient name of Afqa
Afqa ( ar, افقا; also spelled ''Afka'') is a village and municipality located in the Byblos District of the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate, northeast of Beirut in Lebanon. It has an average elevation of 1,200 meters above sea level and a total la ...
in Lebanon
* Myrrha
Myrrha (Greek: , ''Mýrra''), also known as Smyrna (Greek: , ''Smýrna''), is the mother of Adonis in Greek mythology. She was transformed into a myrrh tree after having had intercourse with her father, and gave birth to Adonis in tree form. A ...
, mother of Adonis per Greek mythology
* Adonis belt
The Apollo's belt, also known as Adonis belt or iliac furrows is a part of the human anatomy referring to the two shallow grooves of the human abdomen running from the iliac crest (hip bone) to the pubis (bone), pubis.
The shape of the groove ...
(anatomy)
* Adonis blue
The Adonis blue (''Lysandra bellargus'', also known as ''Polyommatus bellargus'') is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It inhabits the Palearctic realm (Western Europe, Central Europe, Southern Europe, Southern Russia, Iraq, Iran, Caucasus, T ...
, a brilliantly blue colored little butterfly
Psychology:
* Muscle dysmorphia
Muscle dysmorphia is a subtype of the obsessive mental disorder body dysmorphic disorder, but is often also grouped with eating disorders.Lee F Monaghan & Michael Atkinson, ''Challenging Myths of Masculinity: Understanding Physical Cultures'' (Sur ...
, as part of Adonis Complex
Muscle dysmorphia is a subtype of the obsessive mental disorder body dysmorphic disorder, but is often also grouped with eating disorders.Lee F Monaghan & Michael Atkinson, ''Challenging Myths of Masculinity: Understanding Physical Cultures'' (Sur ...
* '' Theorizing about Myth,'' a Jungian
Analytical psychology ( de , Analytische Psychologie, sometimes translated as analytic psychology and referred to as Jungian analysis) is a term coined by Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist, to describe research into his new "empirical science" ...
interpretation of the Adonis myth by R. Segal
Notes
References
Bibliography
* Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
, ''Metamorphoses
The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the wo ...
. Translated by A. D. Melville; introduction and notes by E. J. Kenney.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2008. .
* Gaius Julius Hyginus
Gaius Julius Hyginus (; 64 BC – AD 17) was a Latin author, a pupil of the scholar Alexander Polyhistor, and a freedman of Caesar Augustus. He was elected superintendent of the Palatine library by Augustus according to Suetonius' ''De Grammatic ...
, ''Astronomica from The Myths of Hyginus'' translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
* Apollodorus
Apollodorus (Ancient Greek, Greek: Ἀπολλόδωρος ''Apollodoros'') was a popular name in ancient Greece. It is the masculine gender of a noun compounded from Apollo, the deity, and doron, "gift"; that is, "Gift of Apollo." It may refer to: ...
, ''Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press
Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...
; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Aelian Aelian or Aelianus may refer to:
* Aelianus Tacticus, Greek military writer of the 2nd century, who lived in Rome
* Casperius Aelianus, Praetorian Prefect, executed by Trajan
* Claudius Aelianus, Roman writer, teacher and historian of the 3rd centu ...
, ''On Animals, Volume III: Books 12-17'', translated by A. F. Scholfield, Loeb Classical Library
The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a series of books originally published by Heinemann in London, but is currently published by Harvard University Press. The library contains important works of ancient Greek and L ...
No. 449, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press
Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...
, 1959
Online version at Harvard University Press
.
* Lucian
Lucian of Samosata, '; la, Lucianus Samosatensis ( 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer
Pamphleteer is a historical term for someone who creates or distributes pamphlets, unbound (and therefore ...
, ''Dialogues of the Gods
''Dialogues of the Gods'' ( grc, Θεῶν Διάλογοι) are 25 miniature dialogues mocking the Homeric conception of the Greek gods written in the Attic Greek dialect by the Greek author Lucian of Samosata. There are 25 dialogues in total. T ...
''; translated by Fowler, H W and F G. Oxford: The Clarendon Press. 1905.
* The Greek Anthology
The ''Greek Anthology'' ( la, Anthologia Graeca) is a collection of poems, mostly epigrams, that span the Classical and Byzantine periods of Greek literature. Most of the material of the ''Greek Anthology'' comes from two manuscripts, the ''Pa ...
. with an English Translation by. W. R. Paton. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1916. 1
Full text available at topostext.org
*
* Bell, Robert E., ''Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary'', ABC-CLIO 1991,
Internet Archive.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Grimal, Pierre, ''The Dictionary of Classical Mythology'', Wiley-Blackwell, 1996, .
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Mahony, Patrick J. ''An Analysis of Shelley's Craftsmanship in Adonais''. Rice University, 1964.
* O'Brian, Patrick. "Post Captain." Aubrey/Maturin series. W.W. Norton, pg. 198. 1994.
* Thiollet, Jean-Pierre, 2005. ''Je m'appelle Byblos
Byblos ( ; gr, Βύβλος), also known as Jbeil or Jubayl ( ar, جُبَيْل, Jubayl, locally ; phn, 𐤂𐤁𐤋, , probably ), is a city in the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate of Lebanon. It is believed to have been first occupied between 880 ...
'', H & D, p. 71-80.
*
* Tripp, Edward, ''Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology'', Thomas Y. Crowell Co; First edition (June 1970). .
*
*
External links
*
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