God a Day: ADONIS - Greek -God of Vegetation. Greek hero and deity of Syro-Phoenician origin (Semitic adon lord or master). The Phoenicians knew Adonis as Eshmun (qv). The Adonis cult was especially prominent in the Phoenician town of Byblos, and later spread to the Greek world through commercial contact. According to one Greek tradition Adonis was the result of an incestuous liaison in which Smyrna (Myrrha) deceived her father Theias as to her identity (perhaps at the instigation of Aphrodite). Upon discovering the ruse, Theias pursued Smyrna, who was changed by the gods into a myrrh tree, which eventually split open and gave birth to Adonis. (In some versions it was Theias who split the tree open with his sword, in another it was a wild boar which split the tree open with its tusks.) Aphrodite discovered the youth and placed him in a coffer which she entrusted to the underworld goddess Persephone. Acting against Aphrodites instructions, Persephone opened the coffer and was so smitten by the youth that she refused to return him to Aphrodite. Zeus was called in to arbitrate the dispute and determined that Adonis should spend one third of each year with each goddess, the remaining third left to his own discretion. In the end, Adonis elected to spend the remaining third of the year with Aphrodite. In another tradition, Adonis was said to have been killed by a boar while hunting and forced to spend a portion of each year in the underworld. In either case, Adonis fits the pattern of dying and resurrected vegetation gods in the eastern Mediterranean region such as the Egyptian Osiris, the Phrygian Attis and the Mesopotamian Dumuzi (Tammuz). Both the Phoenician and Greek myths retain this vegetation aspect. In the Greek world, festivals commemmorating the death and resurrection of Adonis, known as Adonia, were celebrated after the harvest. A common practice during the Adonia was the planting of Adonis gardens in small boxes or bowls, which grew and died quickly. Adon (Adonis), Handsome and Young God The son of Cinyras and Myrrha, according to Greek Mythology. He was a young god who was worshiped at a country shrine of Aphka at the source of the river Nahr Ibrahim. His name was/is used by the Jews whenever they encountered the name of Yahweh (YHWH) in prayer and they pronounced (and still pronounce) it Adonai. Lucian (second century A.D.) relates that the death of adon(is) was marked by annual rites of mourning when the river became red with the gods blood. One legend of his death happens around the love affair between him and the goddess Ashtarte which another god envied. He, in the form of a wild boar, attacks and kills Adonis and where his blood fell there grows red poppies every year. However, as Ashtarte weeps for his loss, she promises to bring him back to life every spring. The legend of Adonis carries over to Greek Mythology but the story changes slightly there. In Greek Mythology, he was Aphrodites beloved. In fact, he was so handsome that both Aphrodite and Persephone quarreled over him. When their violent dispute was brought before Zeus, it was ruled that for a third part of the year Adonis was to dwell by himself; for a third part with Aphrodite; and for a third part with Persephone. There is another myth that tells of his death. Aphrodite had warned Adonis against the dangers of the hunt, telling him to be especially wary of any wild beasts that would not turn and flee but stood firm Because he was so fond of hunting, he paid no heed to Aphrodite. As a result, he was mortally wounded by a wild boar. In his memory, she transformed his body into an anemone. According to this version, Persephone restored him to life on the condition that he spend six months of the year with her and the rest with Aphrodite. In Greek mythology, Adonis was a handsome young shepherd loved by APHRODITE. The offspring of a love affair between King Cinyras of Cyprus and his daughter Myrrha, Adonis was born from the trunk of the myrrh tree into which his mother had been changed by the gods. Aphrodite left the infant Adonis in the care of PERSEPHONE, the queen of the underworld, who also fell in love with him. While hunting, Adonis wounded a wild boar, which turned on him and killed him. Aphrodite pleaded that he be restored to her, but Zeus decided that both goddesses should share him for eternity: Adonis would spend the spring and summer with Aphrodite and the rest of the year with Persephone in the underworld. The anemone, the wild flower that each year blooms briefly and then dies, is said to have sprung from his blood. Adonis, imported probably from the Phoenicians, came to be revered as a dying-and-rising god. Athenians held Adonia, a yearly festival representing his death and resurrection, in midsummer. Credits: Mythology Greece Photo: wikipedia
Posted on: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 18:58:45 +0000
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