Adonis

In Greek mythology, Adonis was a beautiful youth, loved by Aphrodite, who was killed by a boar while hunting. He was worshipped as well as told of in myth: the Greeks of later centuries kept a yearly festival, the Adonia, in which women mourned him. According to the most popular account, he was the son of Theias, king of Assyria, and Myrrha (also known as Smyrna), Theias’ daughter (Apollodorus, Library 3.14.4).

Adonis' Birth

Apollodorus says that Panyassis made Adonis a son of Theias, king of Assyria, who had a daughter Smyrna. Because Smyrna’s father did not honour Aphrodite, the goddess made Smyrna conceive a passion for him, and with the help of her nurse she shared her father’s bed without his knowledge for twelve nights. When Theias found out, he drew his sword and pursued her; as he overtook her, she prayed to the gods to become invisible, and they, taking pity, turned her into the tree called smyrna, the myrrh tree. Ten months later, the tree split open and Adonis was born (Library 3.14.4).

In another version, told by the Roman poet Ovid, the father was Cinyras, king of Cyprus, and the daughter Myrrha: she was led to her father’s bed in the dark by her nurse, and when Cinyras brought a lamp and recognised her he drew his sword; she fled, wandered for nine months, and was changed into a tree. The tree burst, and the nymphs received the baby Adonis (Metamorphoses 10.298–518). Apollodorus adds that Hesiod called Adonis a son of Phoenix and Alphesiboea (Library 3.14.4).

A Love Dispute

The Handsome

Because of his beauty, Aphrodite hid the infant Adonis in a chest, without telling the other gods, and entrusted it to Persephone. When Persephone saw him, she would not give him back. The case was tried before Zeus, who divided the year into three parts: Adonis was to stay by himself for one part, with Persephone for another, and with Aphrodite for the third. Adonis, however, gave his own share to Aphrodite as well (Apollodorus, Library 3.14.4). In Apollodorus the arrangement is therefore two thirds of the year with Aphrodite and one with Persephone.

In Ovid, Aphrodite herself is struck by Cupid’s arrow, loves Adonis when he is a grown youth, and neglects heaven, Paphos, Cnidos and Amathus to follow him on his hunts; she warns him to avoid lions, wolves and bears and any beast that does not flee (Metamorphoses 10.519–559). Neither Apollodorus nor Ovid gives Aphrodite and Adonis children; the late poet Nonnus records a “younger legend” that Beroe, the nymph of Beirut, was their daughter (Dionysiaca 41.155–157).

Adonis' Death

The Hunter

Adonis was a great hunter. According to Apollodorus, he was wounded and killed by a boar while hunting, through the anger of Artemis (Library 3.14.4). In Ovid’s version, his hounds roused a boar, Adonis wounded it with a spear, and the boar turned and drove its tusks into his groin; Aphrodite, hearing his groans from her swan-drawn chariot in the sky, came down and found him dying (Metamorphoses 10.708–730). In another version, told by the later poet Nonnus, the boar was Ares, the lover of Aphrodite, who in jealous madness took the shape of the beast to kill Adonis (Dionysiaca 41.204–211).

Aphrodite then sprinkled nectar on his blood, and from it a flower sprang up, blood-red like the pomegranate seed, so frail that the winds which give it its name, the anemone, shake it off; she vowed to renew the memory of her sorrow every year (Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.724–739).

The Adonia

The Adonia was the festival in which Adonis was mourned, and women played the main part. In Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, a woman on a rooftop wailing for Adonis during a debate on the Sicilian expedition is remembered with disapproval (Lysistrata 387–398); Plutarch says the Adonia happened when the Athenian fleet sailed for Sicily, with images of the dead being carried out and women beating their breasts (Nicias 13). Plato refers to the “gardens of Adonis”, quickly growing and quickly fading plants kept for eight days (Phaedrus 276b). Theocritus’ Idyll 15 describes a magnificent Adonis festival at Alexandria, in the palace of Queen Arsinoe, with a couch for Adonis and Aphrodite and a hymn sung in his honour (Idyll 15).

Adonis Sources

The main sources for Adonis are Apollodorus’ Library (3.14.4), Ovid’s Metamorphoses (10.298–739), Aristophanes’ Lysistrata (387–398), Plato’s Phaedrus (276b), Plutarch’s Nicias (13), Theocritus’ Idyll 15 and Nonnus’ Dionysiaca (41.155–157, 41.204–211).

See Also: Myrrha, Theias, Aphrodite, Adonis and Aphrodite, Persephone, Artemis, Ares