Adonis' birth is shrouded in confusion for those who require a
single, authoritative version. The resolutely patriarchal Hellenes
sought a father for the god, and found him in Byblos and Cyprus, faithful indicators of the direction from which his cult had come. Walter Burkert questions whether Adonis had not from the very beginning come to Greece with Aphrodite (Burkert 1985, p. 177).
Adonis' birth is shrouded in confusion for those who require a single, authoritativ
Multiple versions of the birth of Adonis exist: The most commonly accepted version is that
Aphrodite urged
Myrrha to commit
incest with her father,
Theias, the King of
Smyrna or
Syria
(which helps confirm the area of Adonis' origins). Myrrha's nurse
helped with the scheme, and Myrrha coupled with her father in the
darkness. When Theias at last discovered this deception by means of an
oil lamp, he flew into a rage, chasing his daughter with a knife.
Myrrha fled from her father, and Aphrodite turned her into a
myrrh
tree. When Theias shot an arrow into the tree — or when a boar used its
tusks to rend the tree's bark — Adonis was born from the tree. This
myth fits both Adonis' nature as a vegetation god and his origins from
the hot foreign desert lands where the myrrh tree grew. (It was not to
be seen in Greece.)
- Pseudo-Apollodorus, (Bibliotheke, 3.182) considered Adonis to be the son of Cinyras, of Paphos on Cyprus, and Metharme.
- Hesiod, in a fragment, believes he is the son of Phoenix and Aephesiboea.
Death of Adonis, by Luca Giordano.
As soon as Adonis was born. the baby was so beautiful that Aphrodite
placed him in a closed chest, which she delivered for security to Persephone,
who was also entranced by his unearthly beauty and refused to give him
back. The argument between the two goddesses was settled, either by Zeus or Calliope, with Adonis spending four months with Aphrodite, who seduced him with the help of Helene,
her friend, four months with Persephone and four months of the years to
himself. Some say Aphrodite eventually seduced Adonis into spending his
four months alone with her.
Adonis died at the tusks of a wild boar, sent by either Artemis in retaliation for Aphrodite instigating the death of Hippolytus, a favorite of the huntress goddess, or Aphrodite's paramour, Ares.[1] As Aphrodite sprinkled nectar on his body, each drop of Adonis' blood turned into a blood-red anemone, and the river Adonis (modern Nahr Ibrahim) flowing out of Mount Lebanon
in coastal Lebanon ran red, according to Lucian (chs. 6 – 9).
Therefore, Persephone ultimately laid claim to Adonis as his shade was
transported forever more to the Underworld. Lucian, who attributes the color of the river Adonis to siltation, adds "Nonetheless, there are some inhabitants of Byblos who say that Osiris of Egypt lies buried among them, and the mourning and the ceremonies are all made in honor of Osiris instead of Adon" [2].
Certainly there are many parallels with the myth of Osiris, encased in
the coffin, imprisoned in the tree from which he issues forth.
"In Greece" Burkert concludes, "the special function of the Adonis
cult 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 and family with the official women's festivals in honour of Demeter."
The most detailed and prettiest literary version of the story of Adonis is Ovid, Metamorphoses, x
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MgA. Šárka Ksandrová
En101 Representant, Ostrava, CR, EU
+420731303950, skype: sarahaba, ICQ: Charlie (168-529-177)