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Sarka Ksandrova

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Mythology, Europe, Greek mythology-ADONIS
10/25/2006 6:11:19 AM

Adonis

by Morgan Upright
Adonis is a complex figure, for the outlines of his tale were fully as a part of the sub-Olympian Greek mythology by Greek and Roman authors, and yet he also retains many deep associations with his Semitic origins. The name "Adonis" is a variation of the Semitic word "Adonai", which means "lord", and which is also one of the names used to refer to YHWH in the Old Testament.

At the beginning of his appearance in Greek myth, there is some confusion as to his parentage and his birth. Hesiod considers this Greek hero to be the son of Phoenix and Aephesiboea, while Apollodorus calls him the son of Cinyras and Metharme. The generally accepted version is that Aphrodite compelled Myrrha (or Smyrna) to commit incest with Theias, her father, the king of Assyria. Her nurse helped her with this trickery to become pregnant, and when Theias discovered this he chased her with a knife. To avoid his wrath the gods turned her into a myrrh tree. The tree later burst open, allowing Adonis to emerge. Another version says that after she slept with her father she hid in a forest where Aphrodite changed her into a tree. Theias struck the tree with an arrow, causing the tree to open and Adonis to be born. Yet another version says a wild boar open the tree with its tusks and freed the child; this is considered to be a foreshadowing of his death.

Once the child was born Aphrodite was so moved by his beauty that she sheltered him and entrusted him to Persephone. She was also taken by his beauty and refused to give him back.

The dispute between the two goddesses, in one version, was settled by Zeus; in others it was settled by Calliope on Zeus' behalf. The decision was that Adonis was to spend one-third of every year with each goddess and the last third wherever he chose. He always chose to spend two-thirds of the year with Aphrodite.

This went on till his death, where he was fatally wounded by a wild boar, said to be caused by Artemis. In some versions his death was caused not by Artemis, but by Aphrodite's lover, Ares, who was jealous of Adonis. Apollo is also said to be responsible because his son, Erymanthus, had seen Aphrodite naked and she blinded him for it. The story of Adonis provides a basis for the origin of myrrh and the origin of the rose, which grew from each drop of blood that fell.

The story of Adonis, despite its variants, is certainly another example of the dying vegetation god (see: Tammuz). The close association with Aphrodite or Persephone also brings his myth into line with the many other mated couples, where the male partener dies and is reborn, that is spread across North Africa and the Near East.


At the beginning of his appearance in Greek myth, there is some confusion as to his parentage and his birth. Hesiod considers this Greek hero to be the son of Phoenix and Aephesiboea, while Apollodorus calls him the son of Cinyras and Metharme. The generally accepted version is that Aphrodite compelled Myrrha (or Smyrna) to commit incest with Theias, her father, the king of Assyria. Her nurse helped her with this trickery to become pregnant, and when Theias discovered this he chased her with a knife. To avoid his wrath the gods turned her into a myrrh tree. The tree later burst open, allowing Adonis to emerge. Another version says that after she slept with her father she hid in a forest where Aphrodite changed her into a tree. Theias struck the tree with an arrow, causing the tree to open and Adonis to be born. Yet another version says a wild boar open the tree with its tusks and freed the child; this is considered to be a foreshadowing of his death.

Once the child was born Aphrodite was so moved by his beauty that she sheltered him and entrusted him to Persephone. She was also taken by his beauty and refused to give him back.

The dispute between the two goddesses, in one version, was settled by Zeus; in others it was settled by Calliope on Zeus' behalf. The decision was that Adonis was to spend one-third of every year with each goddess and the last third wherever he chose. He always chose to spend two-thirds of the year with Aphrodite.

This went on till his death, where he was fatally wounded by a wild boar, said to be caused by Artemis. In some versions his death was caused not by Artemis, but by Aphrodite's lover, Ares, who was jealous of Adonis. Apollo is also said to be responsible because his son, Erymanthus, had seen Aphrodite naked and she blinded him for it. The story of Adonis provides a basis for the origin of myrrh and the origin of the rose, which grew from each drop of blood that fell.

The story of Adonis, despite its variants, is certainly another example of the dying vegetation god (see: Tammuz). The close association with Aphrodite or Persephone also brings his myth into line with the many other mated couples, where the male partener dies and is reborn, that is spread across North Africa and the Near East.


http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/adonis.html

http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Adonis.html

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La Nell !

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Re: Mythology, Europe, Greek mythology,
10/25/2006 8:22:19 AM
Hi Sarka! I enjoyed that post very much and I too like history. Very educational! LaNell
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Bea
Bea Souza

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Re: Mythology, Europe, Greek mythology,
10/25/2006 9:09:15 AM

Hi Sarka! I enjoyed this post.  I too like history. Very educational. I hope you will have more.

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Sarka Ksandrova

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Re: Mythology, Europe, Greek mythology-ADONIS
10/25/2006 9:39:04 AM
So friends, Then who like historie, can go wit us to see more about all, what we can find to thats Name Interpretation...
 
For other uses of the name Adonis, see Adonis (disambiguation).

See Adonis interpreted by R. Segal for a Jungian interpretation of the Adonis myth

A 19th-century reproduction of a Greek bronze of Adonis found at Pompeii.
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A 19th-century reproduction of a Greek bronze of Adonis found at Pompeii.

Adonis, an annual vegetation life-death-rebirth deity, imported from Lebanese into Greek mythology, always retained aspects of his Semitic Near Eastern origins and was one of the most complex cult figures in classical times. He had multiple roles and there has been much scholarship over the centuries of his meaning and purpose in the Greek religious beliefs. His Semitic counterpart is Tammuz. His Etruscan counterpart was Atunis. (Some mythologists believe he was later exported to Germania, and his counterpart in Germanic mythology is Baldr.) He is an annually-renewed, ever-youthful vegetation god, a life-death-rebirth deity whose nature is tied to the calendar. His cult belonged to women: the cult of dying Adonis was fully-developed in the circle of young girls around Sappho on Lesbos, about 600 BCE, as a fragment of Sappho reveals.

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Sarka, skypename is sarahaba, http://en101.cz

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Georgios Paraskevopoulos

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ADONIS and Aprodite - A Parallel to Our AdLandPro LoveStory
10/25/2006 1:39:28 PM
Hello Sarka,

Thank you for the direct message to visit your Mythology Forum. You made a very nice topic. I could say a parallel of your name's story but also to the parallel stoyr we have here on AdLAndPro. I haven't seen the Central figures of the Adland version here yet.

Greek Mythology is "terrific".  I love to read mythology over and over. Every time someting new remains in my mind.

Adonis and Aphrodite are boht Cypriotic gods in love with each other.

The GODDESS OF LOVE has an ancient history. Ishtar/Astarte was the Semitic goddess of love. In Greece she was called Aphrodite, worshipped especially on the islands of Cyprus and Kythera. As goddess of love she was instrumental in the myths about Atalanta, Hippolytus, Myrrha, and Pygmalion. Adonis and Anchises were her human lovers. Venus, the Roman goddess, was worshiped originally as a goddess of fertility, both human, and of the garden. The Greek aspects were added on and for most practical purposes, Venus is synonymous with Aphrodite. The Romans had a special respect for Venus as the ancestor of the Roman people through her liaison with Anchises.

Warm Regards
Georgios
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