Adonis
Publié le 22/02/2012
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Greek The beloved of Aphrodite and
the personification of masculine beauty. His mother
was the beautiful Myrrha; his father, King Theias,
king of Syria, was the father of Myrrha. The strange
parentage of Adonis came about because Aphrodite
was jealous of Myrrha's beauty and caused the girl
to unite with her own father. When Cinyrus found
out that he had been tricked, he chased Myrrha with
a sword, intending to kill her and her unborn child.
Aphrodite, repenting of her deed, quickly turned the
girl into a myrrh tree. The king's sword split the tree
and out stepped the beautiful child Adonis.
Aphrodite hid the baby in a box and gave it to
Persephone, queen of death, to look after. Persephone
reared Adonis in the Underworld (1). He grew to be
a handsome young man, whereupon Aphrodite claimed
him back. Persephone refused to give him up. Appealed
to by the two goddesses, Zeus decreed that each should
have him for half of the year. When he stayed in the
underworld, it was winter. When he returned, the
Earth blossomed into spring and summer.
In some versions of the story, when Ares hears that
Aphrodite loves the youth Adonis, he changes himself
into a wild boar and gores the boy to death. Anemones
spring from the blood of Adonis and his spirit returns
to the underworld. In response to the two tearful
goddesses, Zeus determines that Adonis should stay
with each of them in turn for half the year.
According to scholars, the death and resurrection
of Adonis represents the decay and revival of the
plant year. He was worshiped as a corn god, a god of
grain crops, which were much more important to the
ancient inhabitants of the Mediterranean lands than
the berries and roots of the wilderness that nourished
their primitive, pre-agrarian ancestors.
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