Adonis is one of the most captivating figures in Greek mythology. The mortal is widely regarded as a symbol of youthful beauty and the transient nature of life.

The myth of Adonis is intertwined with themes of love, death, and rebirth, as well as the emotional intensity of human experiences like mourning and desire. In Greek mythology, Adonis’s tale is significant for its connections to powerful goddesses such as Aphrodite and Persephone, and it reflects both ancient religious practices and the universal cycle of life and death.

In this exploration, World History Edu delves into the origins of Adonis, his cultural connections, and the details of his life and death in Greek mythology.

 

The Near Eastern Origins of Adonis

The story of Adonis, though often viewed as a distinctly Greek myth, has roots that extend far beyond Greece’s borders. Many scholars argue that Adonis’s origins lie in the ancient Near East, particularly in the worship of the Sumerian gods Inanna (later known as Ishtar in the Akkadian pantheon) and Dumuzid (or Tammuz). The Sumerian goddess Inanna, like the Greek Aphrodite, was associated with love, beauty, and fertility, while Dumuzid, her consort, was a god of vegetation and the changing seasons, particularly spring. The parallels between Dumuzid and Adonis are striking, as both are associated with cycles of life, death, and rebirth.

Inanna’s descent into the underworld, where she attempts to seize power but is ultimately trapped, mirrors elements of Persephone’s descent into the Greek underworld. Dumuzid, like Adonis, is mourned annually as he dies and is reborn, symbolizing the cycle of vegetation with the changing seasons. This annual mourning is reflected in the Adonia festival in Greek culture, which commemorates Adonis’s death and rebirth each year.

This symbolic connection to fertility and the changing seasons was integral to ancient agricultural societies, emphasizing the death and renewal of crops.

The name “Adonis” itself is derived from the Canaanite word “adōn,” meaning “lord,” which is also the origin of the Hebrew term “Adonai,” used to refer to God in Judaism. This linguistic link between Adonis and the Near East highlights the cultural exchange between the Mediterranean and Near Easterncivilizations.

Additionally, in the Phoenician and Syrian pantheons, Adonis is associated with the god Tammuz, whose worship spread across the ancient Near East and even into the Hebrew Bible, where Tammuz is mentioned in the book of Ezekiel as a deity whose worship involved mourning rites.

The importation of the Tammuz-Adonis figure into Greek culture is a testament to the rich interactions between these ancient civilizations, especially during the period of Greek orientalization in the 8th century BCE when Greece was influenced by Assyrian, Babylonian, and Phoenician culture.

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The Birth of Adonis: The Curse of Myrrha

The myth of Adonis’s birth is one of the more dramatic tales in Greek mythology, filled with forbidden love, deception, and divine punishment.

According to the most popular version, Adonis was born to Myrrha (also called Smyrna), the daughter of a powerful king. The story begins with Myrrha’s mother, who, in her pride, claimed that her daughter was more beautiful than the goddess Aphrodite herself. Angered by this hubris, Aphrodite cursed Myrrha with an insatiable and unnatural lust for her own father, King Cinyras of Cyprus.

Overwhelmed by this forbidden desire, Myrrha sought the help of her nurse, who devised a plan to fulfill Myrrha’s wishes. During a festival in honor of the goddess Demeter, Myrrha’s nurse tricked Cinyras into sleeping with his own daughter by concealing her identity. For several nights, Myrrha and her father met in secret until one night Cinyras discovered the truth. Horrified by the realization that he had been deceived into committing incest, Cinyras drew his sword, intending to kill Myrrha. In a desperate attempt to save herself and her unborn child, Myrrha fled.

As punishment for her sins, the gods transformed Myrrha into a myrrh tree. Despite this transformation, Myrrha gave birth to Adonis while in tree form, and the newborn Adonis was said to have emerged from the tree as a beautiful baby boy. This unusual birth is a testament to the tragic and mystical nature of the myth, as Adonis was literally born out of tragedy and forbidden desire. Myrrha’s fate also serves as a cautionary tale about the consequences of challenging the gods and succumbing to desires that violate the natural order.

The symbolism of Adonis’s birth from a tree is also significant. In ancient mythology, trees were often associated with life, fertility, and rebirth. The myrrh tree itself is a source of fragrant resin, used in religious rituals and as an embalming agent, further linking Adonis with themes of life and death.

READ MORE: Worst Punishments in Greek Mythology

Adonis, Aphrodite, and Persephone

Adonis’s beauty was so extraordinary that he attracted the attention of two powerful goddesses: Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, and Persephone, the queen of the underworld. Both goddesses desired to possess him, which led to a divine conflict that only Zeus, the king of the gods, could resolve.

According to the myth, after Adonis was born, Aphrodite discovered the infant and, enamored with his beauty, placed him in a chest and entrusted him to Persephone for safekeeping in the underworld.

However, when Persephone opened the chest and saw the beautiful boy, she too was struck by his charm and refused to return him to Aphrodite. The two goddesses soon entered into a bitter dispute over Adonis, each claiming the right to keep him.

To resolve the conflict, Zeus decreed that Adonis would spend one-third of the year with Aphrodite, one-third with Persephone, and the remaining third wherever he chose. Adonis, being deeply in love with Aphrodite, chose to spend his free time with her, which infuriated Persephone.

This division of time between the upper world (Aphrodite) and the underworld (Persephone) has been interpreted as symbolic of the changing seasons, with Adonis representing the cycle of life, death, and rebirth in nature. During the part of the year he spent with Aphrodite, Adonis symbolized spring and summer, when life flourishes, while his time with Persephone represented autumn and winter, when life retreats and the earth lies barren.

In some versions of the myth, the Muse Calliope, acting as an arbiter, suggested that Adonis should split his time equally between Aphrodite and Persephone, spending half the year with each. This version of the story further emphasizes the balance between life and death, light and dark, love and loss.

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The Death of Adonis

The tragic death of Adonis is one of the central elements of his myth and serves as a poignant reminder of the fleeting nature of beauty and life. Adonis was a passionate hunter, and it was during one of his hunts that his life came to an untimely end. While hunting in the woods, Adonis was attacked by a wild boar, which gored him fatally. Despite Aphrodite’s attempts to reach him, Adonis died in her arms, his blood spilling onto the earth.

The cause of the boar’s attack varies in different versions of the myth. In some accounts, the boar was sent by Ares, the god of war, who was jealous of Aphrodite’s love for Adonis. Ares, who had long been Aphrodite’s lover, could not bear to see her with another, and in his jealousy, he transformed into a boar to kill Adonis.

In other versions, Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, sent the boar as retribution for Aphrodite’s role in the death of her devoted follower, Hippolytus.

A third version implicates Apollo, the god of prophecy and healing, who wanted to punish Aphrodite for blinding his son, Erymanthus. These varying interpretations of the boar’s origin highlight the complexity of relationships between the gods and their often petty jealousies and rivalries.

As Adonis lay dying, Aphrodite wept over him, and where his blood touched the ground, anemone flowers sprang up. The anemone, with its delicate and short-lived blooms, became a symbol of Adonis and the ephemeral nature of life. In this way, Adonis’s death was not only a personal tragedy for Aphrodite but also a metaphor for the cyclical nature of life and the inevitability of death.

The annual Adonia festival, in which women planted fast-growing but short-lived plants, mirrored the fleeting beauty of Adonis and symbolized the rhythm of life and death in nature.

In some late versions of the myth, particularly in Roman retellings, Adonis’s blood was said to have transformed into roses, further cementing his association with beauty and love. Aphrodite’s grief at Adonis’s death was profound, and she declared an annual festival to commemorate his passing.

This mourning rite became a central aspect of the Adonia festival, during which Greek women would openly express their sorrow and lamentation for Adonis, embodying the emotional depth of his myth.

 

The Adonia Festival

The death of Adonis was commemorated annually in the Adonia, a festival celebrated by women in ancient Greece.

The festival was typically held in midsummer and was characterized by intense emotional displays of mourning and symbolic rituals that reflected Adonis’s short life and untimely death. During the festival, women would plant small “gardens of Adonis,” consisting of fast-growing plants like lettuce, fennel, or wheat, in shallow pots or baskets. These plants were placed on rooftops, where they sprouted quickly under the hot sun but withered just as rapidly. This rapid growth and decay symbolized the brevity of Adonis’s life and served as a metaphor for the impermanence of beauty and youth.

As the plants withered, women would lament loudly, tearing their clothes and beating their breasts in public displays of grief. The festival culminated in a funeral procession in which an effigy of Adonis, along with the withered plants, was carried to the sea and cast into the water. This symbolic act of returning Adonis to the sea mirrored the cyclical nature of life and death and underscored the myth’s connection to agricultural fertility rituals.

The Adonia festival also provided women with a rare opportunity to express their emotions in a public forum. In contrast to the more structured and formal roles that women played in other Greek religious festivals, the Adonia allowed for a more unrestrained outpouring of grief and passion.

The festival’s connection to the cycles of nature and fertility reinforced the idea that life and death were intertwined and that beauty, like the seasons, was transient and subject to decay.

Adonis in Literature and Art

The myth of Adonis has had a profound influence on Western literature, art, and culture. In ancient times, Adonis was not only a symbol of beauty and youth but also a representation of the fragility of life. His story was a favorite subject of classical poets, and later writers in the medieval and Renaissance periods drew heavily on the themes of his myth.

In the Roman period, the poet Ovid retold the story of Adonis in his epic Metamorphoses, providing one of the most detailed and enduring versions of the myth. Ovid’s portrayal of Adonis as a tragic figure loved by the goddess Venus (the Roman equivalent of Aphrodite) became a template for later retellings, including those by medieval and Renaissance writers.

During the Renaissance, the myth of Adonis inspired numerous works of literature, including WilliamShakespeare’s narrative poem Venus and Adonis (1593). In this poem, Shakespeare explores the themes of love, desire, and the inevitability of death, portraying Adonis as an innocent and beautiful youth who is tragically caught in the web of divine love and jealousy. Shakespeare’s version of the myth was immensely popular in its time and helped cement Adonis’s image as a symbol of youthful beauty and the fleeting nature of life.

In addition to literature, Adonis’s image was a popular subject in art. Renaissance painters such as Titian and Peter Paul Rubens depicted the tragic love story of Venus and Adonis in their works, often focusing on the emotional intensity of Venus’s grief at Adonis’s death. These artistic interpretations emphasized the sensuality and beauty of Adonis, as well as the sorrow of his untimely demise.

Adonis’s myth also found resonance in later periods, including the 19th century, when the French novelist Rachilde drew on Adonis’s androgynous nature in her novel Monsieur Vénus (1884). The character of Adonis, with his blend of masculine and feminine traits, became a symbol of fluid gender identity and sexual ambiguity, reflecting broader themes of beauty, love, and desire.

Adonis and the mortal girl Erinoma

In some later versions, Adonis falls in love with a mortal girl named Erinoma, a situation arranged by Aphrodite under Hera’s command. After Erinoma rejects him, Adonis rapes her and flees, fearing Zeus’s retribution. Eventually, Hermes lures Adonis out of hiding, and Ares, disguised as a boar, kills him. Despite his death, Adonis is restored to life after Aphrodite begs Zeus.

Did you know…?

• By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Adonis became an example of the dying-and-rising god archetype.
• Today, his name is synonymous with male beauty, with “Adonis” often used to describe exceptionally handsome young men, reflecting his lasting cultural influence.

Conclusion

The myth of Adonis is one of the most enduring and multifaceted stories in Greek mythology, representing the interconnected themes of love, beauty, life, death, and rebirth. Originating from the ancient Near East, the story of Adonis was adapted and transformed by the Greeks into a powerful narrative that resonated deeply with the human experience. Adonis’s tragic death, his relationships with Aphrodite and Persephone, and the annual mourning rites of the Adonia festival all reflect the universal cycle of life and death, beauty and decay.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the earliest known Greek reference to Adonis, and how is he portrayed in it?

The earliest Greek reference to Adonis is found in a fragment of poetry by Sappho, from the island of Lesbos. In this work, a chorus of young girls asks Aphrodite how they should mourn Adonis’s death. Aphrodite responds by instructing them to beat their breasts and tear their tunics. This depiction illustrates the intense emotional connection associated with Adonis’s death in ancient Greek culture.

How was Adonis worshiped during the festival of Adonia?

The Adonia festival was a midsummer event where Greek women planted “gardens of Adonis” in shallow pots or baskets filled with fast-growing plants like lettuce and wheat. These plants would quickly sprout under the hot sun but wither just as fast, symbolizing Adonis’s brief life. Women would mourn his death by burning incense, tearing their clothes, and beating their breasts. The festival ended with a symbolic funeral procession, where a statue of Adonis and the withered plants were cast into the sea.

What was the dispute between Aphrodite and Persephone regarding Adonis, and how was it resolved?

Both Aphrodite and Persephone fell in love with Adonis, leading to a dispute over who would get to keep him. To resolve the matter, Zeus decreed that Adonis would spend one-third of the year with Aphrodite, one-third with Persephone, and the remaining third with whomever he chose. Adonis ultimately chose to spend the extra time with Aphrodite. Another version of the myth suggests he split his time equally between the two goddesses.

How does Adonis die, and what are the different versions of this story?

Adonis dies after being mortally wounded by a wild boar while hunting. Various versions of the myth offer different explanations for the boar’s attack. Some suggest it was sent by Ares, who was jealous of Aphrodite’s love for Adonis.

Others propose that Artemis or Apollo sent the boar as revenge for perceived slights. In response to Adonis’s death, Aphrodite mourns deeply, and where his blood falls, anemone flowers are said to grow, symbolizing the transient nature of life and love.

What role does Adonis’s androgyny play in some versions of his myth?

In some stories, Adonis is portrayed as androgynous, meaning he took on both masculine and feminine roles in his relationships with gods and goddesses. He was said to act like a man with Aphrodite but take on a more passive, “feminine” role with Apollo. This fluidity in Adonis’s character added complexity to his myth and contributed to his allure.

How did the myth of Adonis influence medieval and Renaissance literature?

The myth of Adonis became a popular theme in medieval and Renaissance literature. Jean de Meun included the story in his additions to the Roman de la Rose, using it as a moral lesson. During the Renaissance, poets like Pierre de Ronsard explored Venus’s mourning for Adonis, interpreting it as a reflection of guilt and regret. The myth also influenced Elizabethan writers, including William Shakespeare, whose poem Venus and Adonis was one of his most popular works.

How did the myth of Adonis evolve in later cultural works?

The myth of Adonis persisted into the modern era, inspiring various cultural works. For example, the Italian poet Giambattista Marino wrote L’Adone in 1623, which became widely popular.

In the 19th century, French novelist Rachilde explored Adonis’s androgyny in her novel Monsieur Vénus, which dealt with themes of gender and sexual identity. Adonis’s story has continued to symbolize the intersections of love, beauty, life, and death.