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{{Short description|Greek god of beauty and desire}}
{{About|the ancient Greek mythological figure}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| name = Adonis
| image = Statue of an Athlete so-called Adonis-Uffizi.jpg
| caption = The Adonis Uffizi, made from [[pentelic marble]], 2nd century BC, currently held in the<br />[[Uffizi Gallery]], [[Florence]], [[Italy]]
| god_of = Mortal lover of Aphrodite
| abode = 
| symbol = anemones, as well as [[lettuce]], [[fennel]], and other fast-growing plants
| consort = [[Aphrodite]]
| parents = [[Phoenix (son of Agenor)|Phoenix]] and [[Alphesiboea]] (by [[Hesiod]])<br />[[Cinyras]] and [[Myrrha]] (by [[Ovid]])
| children = [[Beroe (Beirut nymph)|Beroe]], [[Golgos]], Taleus, [[Zariadres (mythology)|Zariadres]]
| festivals = [[Adonia]]
}}

In [[Greek mythology]], '''Adonis''' ({{Langx|grc|Ἄδωνις|translit=Adōnis}}; {{Langx|phn|𐤀𐤃𐤍|translit=ʾAdón}}) was the mortal lover of the goddesses [[Aphrodite]] and [[Persephone]]. He was considered to be the [[Idealism|ideal]] of male beauty in [[classical antiquity]].

The [[myth]] goes that Adonis was gored by a [[wild boar]] during a hunting trip and died in Aphrodite's arms as she wept; his blood mingled with her tears and became the [[anemone]] flower. The [[Adonia]] festival commemorated his tragic death, celebrated by women every year in [[midsummer]]. During this festival, Greek women would plant "gardens of Adonis", small pots containing fast-growing plants, which they would set on top of their houses in the hot sun. The plants would sprout but soon wither and die. Then, the women would mourn the death of Adonis, tearing their clothes and beating their breasts in a public display of grief.
[[File:Cupid with Venus and Adonis, fresco in Pompeii.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Antique fresco in [[Pompeii]] depicting Adonis, [[Cupid]], and [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]]]]

The Greeks considered Adonis's cult to be of [[Near East]]ern origin. Adonis's name comes from a [[Canaanite languages|Canaanite]] word meaning "lord" and most modern scholars consider the story of Aphrodite and Adonis to be derived from a [[Levant]]ine version of the earlier [[Mesopotamia]]n myth of [[Inanna]] (Ishtar) and [[Dumuzid the Shepherd|Dumuzid]] (Tammuz).

In late 19th and early 20th century [[Religious studies|scholarship of religion]], Adonis was widely seen as a prime example of the [[archetype|archetypal]] [[Dying-and-rising deity|dying-and-rising god]]. His name is often applied in modern times to handsome youths, of whom he is considered the archetype.

== Cult ==
=== Origin ===
[[File:Marriage_of_Inanna_and_Dumuzi.png|thumb|left|An ancient Sumerian depiction of the marriage of [[Inanna]] and [[Dumuzid the Shepherd|Dumuzid]]{{sfn|Lung|2014}}]]

{{Fertile Crescent myth (Levantine)}}{{Middle Eastern deities}}

The worship of Aphrodite and Adonis is probably a Greek continuation of the ancient [[Sumer]]ian worship of [[Inanna]] and [[Dumuzid the Shepherd|Dumuzid]].{{sfn|West|1997|page=57}}{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=67}}{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|page=97}} The [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] name {{lang|grc|[[:wikt:Ἄδωνις|Ἄδωνις]]}} (''{{lang|grc-Latn|Ádōnis}}''), {{IPA|grc|ádɔːnis}}) is derived from the [[Canaanite languages|Canaanite]] word {{lang|phn|[[:wikt:𐤀𐤃𐤍|𐤀𐤃𐤍]]}} (''{{lang|grc-Latn|[[Adon|ʼadōn]]}}''), meaning "lord".{{sfn|Burkert|1985|pages=176–177}}{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|page=97}}<ref name="Robert S. P 2009, p. 23">[[Robert S. P. Beekes|R. S. P. Beekes]], ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, p. 23.</ref>{{sfn|Botterweck|Ringgren|1990|pages=59–74}}{{sfn|West|1997|page=57}}

This word is related to [[Names of God in Judaism|''Adonai'']] ({{langx|he|אֲדֹנָי}}), one of the titles used to refer to the God of the [[Tanakh|Hebrew Bible]] and still used in [[Judaism]] to the present day.{{sfn|Botterweck|Ringgren|1990|pages=59–74}} The Syrian name for Adonis is ''Gauas''.{{sfn|Detienne|1977|page=137}}

The cult of Inanna and Dumuzid may have been introduced to the [[Kingdom of Judah]] during the reign of [[Manasseh of Judah|King Manasseh]].{{sfn|Pryke|2017|page=193}} [[Ezekiel 8]] ({{bibleverse|Ezekiel|8:14|HE}}) mentions Adonis under his earlier East Semitic name [[Tammuz (mythology)|Tammuz]]{{sfn|Pryke|2017|page=195}}{{sfn|Warner|2016|page=211}} and describes a group of women mourning Tammuz's death while sitting near the north gate of the [[Temple in Jerusalem]].{{sfn|Pryke|2017|page=195}}{{sfn|Warner|2016|page=211}}

The earliest known Greek reference to Adonis comes from a fragment of a poem by the poet [[Sappho]] of [[Lesbos]] ({{Circa|630|570 BC}}),{{sfn|West|1997|pages=530–531}} in which a chorus of young girls asks Aphrodite what they can do to mourn Adonis' death.{{sfn|West|1997|pages=530–531}} Aphrodite replies that they must beat their breasts and tear their [[tunic]]s.{{sfn|West|1997|pages=530–531}} The cult of Adonis has also been described as corresponding to the cult of the Phoenician god [[Baal]].{{sfn|West|1997|page=57}} As [[Walter Burkert]] explains:

{{blockquote|text=Women sit by the gate weeping for Tammuz, or they offer incense to [[Baal]] on roof-tops and plant pleasant plants. These are the very features of the Adonis legend: which is celebrated on flat roof-tops on which sherds sown with quickly germinating green salading are placed, Adonis gardens&nbsp;... the climax is loud lamentation for the dead god.{{sfn|Burkert|1985|page=177}}}}

The exact date when the worship of Adonis became integrated into Greek culture is still disputed. Walter Burkert questions whether Adonis had not from the very beginning come to Greece along with Aphrodite.{{sfn|Burkert|1985|page=177}} "In Greece," Burkert concludes, "the special function of the Adonis legend 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]]."{{sfn|Burkert|1985|page=177}} The significant influence of Near Eastern culture on early Greek religion in general, and on the cult of Aphrodite in particular,{{sfn|Burkert|1998|pages=1–6}} is now widely recognised as dating to a period of [[Orientalizing period|orientalisation]] during the eighth century BC,{{sfn|Burkert|1998|pages=1–6}} when [[archaic Greece]] was on the fringes of the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]].{{sfn|Burkert|1998|pages=1–41}}

In Cyprus, the cult of Adonis gradually superseded that of [[Cinyras]]. W. Atallah suggests that the later Hellenistic myth of Adonis represents the conflation of two independent traditions.<ref>Atallah 1966.</ref>

=== Festival of Adonia ===
{{Main|Adonia}}

[[File:Women Adonia Louvre CA1679.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Fragment of an Attic red-figure wedding vase ({{circa}} 430–420 BC), showing women climbing ladders up to the roofs of their houses carrying "gardens of Adonis"]]

The worship of Adonis is associated with the festival of Adonia, which was celebrated by Greek women every year in midsummer.{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|page=97}}<ref>W. Atallah, ''Adonis dans la littérature et l'art grecs'', Paris, 1966.</ref> The festival, which was evidently already celebrated in Lesbos by Sappho's time in the seventh century BC, seems to have first become popular in Athens in the mid-fifth century BC.{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|page=97}}{{sfn|Burkert|1985|pages=176–177}} At the start of the festival, the women would plant a "garden of Adonis", a small garden planted inside a small basket or a shallow piece of broken pottery containing a variety of quick-growing plants, such as [[lettuce]] and [[fennel]], or even quick-sprouting grains, such as [[wheat]] and [[barley]].{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|page=97}}{{sfn|Detienne|1977}}{{sfn|Burkert|1985|page=177}} The women would then climb ladders to the roofs of their houses, where they would place the gardens out under the heat of the summer sun.{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|page=97}}{{sfn|Burkert|1985|page=177}} The plants would sprout in the sunlight, but wither quickly in the heat.{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|pages=97–98}} While they waited for the plants to first sprout and then wither, the women would burn incense to Adonis.{{sfn|Burkert|1985|page=177}} Once the plants had withered, the women would mourn and lament loudly over the death of Adonis, tearing their clothes and beating their breasts in a public display of grief.{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|page=98}}{{sfn|Burkert|1985|page=177}} The women would lay a statuette of Adonis out on a [[bier]] and then carry it to the sea along with all the withered plants as a [[funeral procession]].{{sfn|Burkert|1985|page=177}}{{sfn|Detienne|1977|p=xii}} The festival concluded with the women throwing the effigy of Adonis and the withered plants out to sea.{{sfn|Burkert|1985|page=177}}

== Mythology ==
=== Birth ===
While Sappho does not describe the myth of Adonis, later sources flesh out the details.{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|page=95}} According to the retelling of the story found in the poem ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' by the Roman poet [[Ovid]] (43 BC – AD 17/18), Adonis was the son of [[Myrrha]], who was cursed by Aphrodite with insatiable lust for her own father, King [[Cinyras]] of [[Cyprus]],<ref name="OvidMyrrhaAdonis">[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Metamorph10.php#anchor_Toc64105571 10.298–355]</ref>{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=75}}{{sfn|Hansen|2004|page=289}} after Myrrha's mother bragged that her daughter was more beautiful than the goddess.<ref name="OvidMyrrhaAdonis"/>{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=75}} It was to her nurse that, with much reluctance, Myrrha revealed her shameful passion.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Metamorph10.php#anchor_Toc64105572 10.356-430]</ref> Sometime later, during a festival in honour of [[Demeter]], the nurse found Cinyras half-passed out with wine and Myrrha's mother nowhere near him. Thus, she spoke to him of a girl who truly loved him and desired to sleep with him, giving her a fictitious name and simply describing her as Myrrha's age. Cinyras agreed, and the nurse was quick to bring Myrrha to him. Myrrha left her father's room impregnated.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Metamorph10.php#anchor_Toc64105573 10.431-502]</ref> After several couplings, Cinyras discovered his lover's identity and drew his sword to kill her; driven out after becoming pregnant, Myrrha was changed into a [[myrrh]] tree but still gave birth to Adonis.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Metamorph10.php#anchor_Toc64105574 10.503]</ref>{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|pages=75–76}}{{sfn|Hansen|2004|pages=289–290}} According to classicist William F. Hansen, the story of how Adonis was conceived falls in line with the conventional ideas about sex and gender that were prevalent in the classical world, since the Greeks and Romans believed that women, such as Adonis's mother Myrrha, were less capable of controlling their primal wants and passions than men.{{sfn|Hansen|2004|page=290}}

=== Aphrodite and Persephone ===
[[File:Aphrodite Adonis Louvre MNB2109.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.3|Attic [[Red-figure pottery|red-figure]] ''[[aryballos]]'' painting by Aison ({{circa}} 410 BC) showing Adonis consorting with [[Aphrodite]]]]

Aphrodite found the baby,{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=76}} and took him to the underworld to be fostered by [[Persephone]].{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=76}} She returned for him once he was grown{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=76}} and discovered him to be strikingly handsome.{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=76}} However, Persephone too found Adonis to be exceedingly handsome<ref>Grimal, s.v. [https://archive.org/details/concisedictionar00grim/page/12/mode/2up?view=theater Adonis]; Bell, s.v. [https://archive.org/details/womenofclassical00bell/page/54/mode/2up?view=theater Aphrodite]; Tripp s.v [https://archive.org/details/meridianhandbook00trip/page/12/mode/2up?view=theater Adonis]</ref> and wanted to keep Adonis{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=76}} for she too fell in love with him;<ref>[[Greek anthology]] ''Agathias Scholasticus'' [https://topostext.org/work/532#5.289 5.289]</ref><ref>[[Alciphron]], ''Letters to Courtesans'' [https://topostext.org/work/495#4.14.1 4.14.1]</ref><ref>[[Clement of Alexandria]], ''[[Protrepticus (Clement)|Exhortations]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/215#2.29 2.29]</ref> Zeus settled the dispute by decreeing that Adonis would spend one third of the year with Aphrodite, one third with Persephone, and one third with whomever he chose.<ref>[[Pseudo-Apollodorus]], ''Bibliotheca'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+3.14.4&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022 3.14.4]</ref>{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=76}} Adonis chose Aphrodite, and they remained constantly together.{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=76}} Another version states that both goddesses got to keep him for half the year each at the suggestion of the [[Muse]] [[Calliope]].<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Astronomica'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.7.4 2.7.4]</ref> Thus was Adonis' life divided between Aphrodite and Persephone, one goddess who loved him beneath the earth, the other above it.<ref>[[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], ''On Animals'' [http://www.attalus.org/translate/animals9.html#36 9.36]</ref> In his comical work ''[[Dialogues of the Gods]]'', the satirical author [[Lucian]] features Aphrodite in several dialogues, in one of which she complains to the [[List of lunar deities|moon goddess]] [[Selene]] that [[Eros]] made Persephone fall in love with Adonis and now she has to share him with her.<ref>[[Lucian]], ''[[Dialogues of the Gods]]'' [http://lucianofsamosata.info/wiki/doku.php?id=home:texts_and_library:dialogues:dialogues-of-the-gods#section11 Aphrodite and the Moon]</ref>

=== Death ===
Then, one day, while Adonis was out hunting, he was wounded by a wild boar and bled to death in Aphrodite's arms.{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=76}} In different versions of the story, the boar was either sent by Ares, who was jealous that Aphrodite was spending so much time with Adonis,{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|page=96}} by Artemis, who wanted revenge against Aphrodite for having killed her devoted follower [[Hippolytus (son of Theseus)|Hippolytus]],{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|page=96}} or by Apollo, to punish Aphrodite for blinding his son [[Erymanthus (person)|Erymanthus]].<ref>According to [[Nonnus]], ''Dionysiaca'' 42.1f. [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]] on [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Eclogues]]'' x.18; ''Orphic Hymn'' lv.10; Ptolemy Hephaestionos, i.306u, all noted by Graves. Atallah (1966) fails to find any cultic or cultural connection with the boar, which he sees simply as a heroic [[Mytheme|myth-element]].</ref> The story also provides an [[etiology]] for Aphrodite's associations with certain flowers.{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|page=96}} Reportedly, as she mourned Adonis's death, she caused [[anemone]]s to grow wherever his blood fell,{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=76}}{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|page=96}} and declared a festival on the anniversary of his death.{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=76}} In one late account, his blood transformed into [[rose]]s instead.<ref name="10.18">[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]] ''Commentary on Virgil's Eclogues'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Serv.+Ecl.+10.18&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0091 10.18]</ref>

In a very different version from the standard, surviving in the works of fifth century AD grammarian [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]] and perhaps originating from the island of [[Cyprus]], Adonis was made to fall in love with a mortal girl named [[Erinoma]] by Aphrodite herself at the command of [[Hera]]. Erinoma, a virgin girl favoured by [[Artemis]] and [[Athena]], rejected his advances, so Adonis crept stealthily into her bedroom and raped her. Adonis then fled and went into a cave to hide from Zeus, who also loved Erinoma and would surely avenge the violence done against her. [[Hermes]], however, lured him out with a trick, and [[Ares]] wounded him mortally in the form of a boar. Adonis died, but was eventually restored to life after Aphrodite begged Zeus. Erinoma bore him a son named Taleus.<ref name="10.18"/>{{sfn|Fontenrose|1981|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=tD4lJxC95mEC&pg=PA171 171]}}

=== Other loves ===
Adonis was also said to have been loved by other gods such as [[Apollo]], [[Heracles]] and [[Dionysus]]. He was described as [[Androgyny|androgynous]], for he acted like a man in his affections for Aphrodite but as a woman for [[Apollo]].<ref>''Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History Book 5'' (summary from Photius, Myriobiblon 190).</ref> "Androgynous" here means that Adonis took on a [[Gay sex roles#Bottom|receptive role]] during sex with Apollo, which was interpreted in classical Greece to be the feminine position.

[[Heracles]]' love of Adonis is mentioned in passing by Ptolemy Hephaestion. The text states that due to his love of Adonis, Aphrodite taught [[Nessus (centaur)|Nessus]] the [[centaur]] the trap to ensnare him.<ref>''Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History Book 2'' (summary from Photius, Myriobiblon 190).</ref>

Another tradition states that [[Dionysus]], the Greek god of wine and madness, carried off Adonis.<ref>Phanocles ap.</ref><ref>Plut. Sumpos. iv. 5.</ref>

=== Other versions ===
[[File:Nahr Ibrahim, river in Lebanon 2011 - P1060155 r1.jpg|thumb|left|The Adonis River (now known as the [[Abraham River]]) in [[Lebanon]] was said to run red with blood each year during the festival of Adonis.{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=76}}]]

In ''Idyll'' 15 by the early third-century BC Greek [[bucolic]] poet [[Theocritus]], Adonis is described as still an adolescent with down on his cheeks at the time of his love affair with Aphrodite, in contrast to Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'', in which he is portrayed as a fully mature man.{{sfn|Hull|2010|page=7}} Pseudo-Apollodorus (''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheke]]'', 3.182) describes Adonis as the son of [[Cinyras]], of [[Paphos]] on Cyprus, and [[Metharme]]. According to Pseudo-Apollodorus's ''Bibliotheke'', [[Hesiod]], in an unknown work that does not survive, made of him the son of [[Phoenix (son of Agenor)|Phoenix]] and the otherwise unidentified [[Alphesiboea]].<ref>Ps.-Apollodorus, iii.14.4.1.</ref>

In one version of the story, Aphrodite injured herself on a [[Thorns, spines, and prickles|thorn]] from a [[rose]] bush{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|page=96}} and the rose, which had previously been white, was stained red by her blood.{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|page=96}} In another version, an anemone flower grew on the spot where Adonis died, and a red rose where Aphrodite's tears fell.<ref>Roman, L., & Roman, M. (2010). {{Google books|tOgWfjNIxoMC|Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman mythology.|page=11}}</ref> The third century BC poet [[Euphorion of Chalcis]] remarked in his ''[[Hyacinth (mythology)|Hyacinth]]'' that "Only [[Cocytus]] washed the wounds of Adonis".<ref>Remarked upon in passing by [[Photios I of Constantinople|Photius]], ''Biblioteca'' 190 ([http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/photius_copyright/photius_05bibliotheca.htm on-line translation]).</ref> According to [[Lucian]]'s ''[[De Dea Syria]]'',{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=279}} each year during the festival of Adonis, the Adonis River in [[Lebanon]] (now known as the [[Abraham River]]) ran red with blood.{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=76}}

== In post-classical literature culture ==
The medieval French poet [[Jean de Meun]] retells the story of Adonis in his additions to the ''[[Roman de la Rose]]'', written around 1275.{{sfn|Hull|2010|page=7}} De Muen moralises the story, using it as an example of how men should heed the warnings of the women they love.{{sfn|Hull|2010|page=7}} In [[Pierre de Ronsard]]'s poem "Adonis" (1563), Venus laments that Adonis did not heed her warning, but ultimately blames herself for his death, declaring, "In need my counsel failed you."{{sfn|Hull|2010|page=7}} In the same poem, however, Venus quickly finds another shepherd as her lover, representing the widespread medieval belief in the fickleness and mutability of women.{{sfn|Hull|2010|page=7}}

The story of Venus and Adonis from Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'' was tremendously influential during the [[Elizabethan era]].{{sfn|Hull|2010|pages=7–8}} In [[Edmund Spenser]]'s epic poem ''[[The Faerie Queene]]'' (1590), tapestries depicting the story of Adonis decorate the walls of Castle Joyous.{{sfn|Hull|2010|page=7}} Later in the poem, Venus takes the character Amoretta to raise her in the "Garden of Adonis".{{sfn|Hull|2010|page=7}} Ovid's portrayal of Venus's desperate love for Adonis became the inspiration for many literary portrayals in Elizabethan literature of both male and female courtship.{{sfn|Hull|2010|pages=7–8}}

[[William Shakespeare]]'s erotic [[Narrative poetry|narrative poem]] ''[[Venus and Adonis (Shakespeare poem)|Venus and Adonis]]'' (1593), a retelling of the courtship of Aphrodite and Adonis from Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'',{{sfn|Lákta|2017|pages=56–58}}{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|page=131}} was the most popular of all his works published within his own lifetime.{{sfn|Lákta|2017|page=58}}{{sfn|Hiscock|2017|page=unpaginated}} Six editions of it were published before Shakespeare's death (more than any of his other works){{sfn|Hiscock|2017|page=unpaginated}} and it enjoyed particularly strong popularity among young adults.{{sfn|Lákta|2017|page=58}} In 1605, [[Richard Barnfield]] lauded it, declaring that the poem had placed Shakespeare's name "in fames immortall Booke".{{sfn|Hiscock|2017|page=unpaginated}} Despite this, the poem has received a mixed reception from modern critics.{{sfn|Lákta|2017|page=58}} [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]] defended it, but [[Samuel Butler (poet)|Samuel Butler]] complained that it bored him, and [[C. S. Lewis]] described an attempted reading of it as "suffocating".{{sfn|Lákta|2017|page=58}}

The story of Adonis was the inspiration for the Italian poet [[Giambattista Marino]] to write his mythological epic ''L'Adone'' (1623), which outsold Shakespeare's ''[[First Folio]]''.{{sfn|Hull|2010|page=7}} Shakespeare's homoerotic descriptions of Adonis's masculine and Venus's beauty inspired the French novelist and playwright [[Rachilde]] (Marguerite Vallette-Eymery) to write her erotic novel ''[[Monsieur Vénus]]'' (1884), about a noblewoman named Raoule de Vénérande who sexually pursues a young, [[Effeminacy|effeminate]] man named Jacques who works in a flower shop.{{sfn|Hull|2010|page=8}} Jacques is ultimately shot and killed in a duel, thus following the model of Adonis's tragic death.{{sfn|Hull|2010|page=8}}

=== As a dying and rising god ===
[[File:JamesGeorgeFrazer.jpg|thumb|Photograph of [[James George Frazer|Sir James George Frazer]], the [[Anthropology|anthropologist]] who is most directly responsible for promoting the concept of a "dying and rising god" archetype{{sfn|Ehrman|2012|pages=222–223}}{{sfn|Barstad|1984|page=149}}{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|pages=142–143}}]]
{{Main|Dying-and-rising deity}}
The late nineteenth-century Scottish [[Anthropology|anthropologist]] [[James George Frazer|Sir James George Frazer]] wrote extensively about Adonis in his monumental study of comparative religion, ''[[The Golden Bough]]'' (the first edition of which was published in 1890){{sfn|Ehrman|2012|pages=222–223}}{{sfn|Mettinger|2004|page=375}} as well as in later works.{{sfn|Barstad|1984|pages=149–150}} Frazer claimed that Adonis was just one example of the archetype of a "dying-and-rising god" found throughout all cultures.{{sfn|Barstad|1984|page=149}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2012|pages=222–223}}{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|pages=140–142}} In the mid-twentieth century, some scholars began to criticise the designation of "dying-and-rising god", in some cases arguing that deities like Adonis, previously referred to as "dying and rising", would be better termed separately as "dying gods" and "disappearing gods",{{sfn|Smith|1987|pages=521–527}}{{sfn|Mettinger|2004|page=374}} asserting that gods who "died" did not return, and those who returned never "really" died.{{sfn|Smith|1987|pages=521–527}}{{sfn|Mettinger|2004|page=374}}

Biblical scholars Eddy and Boyd (2007) applied this rationale to Adonis based on the fact that his portion of the year spent in the Underworld with Persephone is not really a death and resurrection, but merely an instance of a living person staying in the Underworld.{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|page=143}} They further argued that Adonis is not explicitly described as rising from the dead in any extant Classical Greek writings,{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|page=143}}{{sfn|Burkert|1985|page=177}} though the fact that such a belief existed is attested by authors in Late Antiquity.{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|page=143}} For example, [[Origen]] discusses Adonis, whom he associates with Tammuz, in his  ''Selecta in Ezechielem'' ( "Comments on Ezekiel"), noting that "they say that for a long time certain rites of initiation are conducted: first, that they weep for him, since he has died; second, that they rejoice for him because he has risen from the dead (''apo nekrôn anastanti'')" (cf. J.-P. Migne, ''Patrologiae Cursus Completus: Series Graeca'', 13:800).

Some other scholars have continued to cite Adonis/Tammuz as an example of a dying and rising god, suggesting that the descent into and return from the underworld is a functional analogue for death even if no physical cause of death is depicted.{{sfn|Dalley|1989}}{{sfn|Corrente|2012}}{{sfn|Corrente|2019}}

<gallery mode="packed" heights="180px">
File:Annibale Carracci - Venus, Adonis and Cupid - WGA4428.jpg|''Venus and Adonis'' ({{circa}} 1595) by [[Annibale Carracci]]
File:Cornelis Holsteyn - Venus de dood van Adonis bewenend 1638-58.jpg|''Venus and Cupid lamenting the dead Adonis'' (1656) by [[Cornelis Holsteyn]]
File:Luca Giordano 020.jpg|''Death of Adonis'' (1684–1686) by [[Luca Giordano]]
File:Giuseppe-Mazzuoli-The-Death-of-Adonis-hermitag.jpg|''[[The Death of Adonis (Mazzuoli)]]'' (1709) by [[Giuseppe Mazzuoli (1644–1725)|Giuseppe Mazzuoli]]
File:Venus and Adonis. Francois Lemoyne.jpg|''[[Aphrodite|Venus]] and Adonis'' (1792) by [[François Lemoyne]]
File:The Awakening of Adonis - John William Waterhouse (1899).jpg|''The Awakening of Adonis'' (1899–1900) by [[John William Waterhouse]]
</gallery>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Mythology|Asia}}
* [[Adonism]] (religion)
* [[Apheca]], the ancient name of [[Afqa]] in Lebanon
* [[Myrrha]], mother of Adonis, per Greek mythology
* [[Adonis belt]] (anatomy)
* [[Adonis blue]], a brilliantly blue colored little butterfly

'''Psychology:'''
* [[Muscle dysmorphia]], as part of the [[Adonis Complex]]
* ''[[Theorizing about Myth]]'': A [[Jungian]] interpretation of the Adonis myth by R. Segal

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
{{refbegin|30em}}
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* [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], ''Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]]; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], ''On Animals, Volume III: Books 12-17'', translated by A. F. Scholfield, [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 449, Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 1959. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL449/1959/volume.xml  Online version at Harvard University Press]. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99494-2}}.
* [[Lucian]], ''[[Dialogues of the Gods]]''; translated by Fowler, H W and F G. Oxford: The Clarendon Press. 1905.
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{{refend}}

== External links ==
*{{Commons category-inline}}

{{Metamorphoses in Greek mythology}}
{{Middle Eastern mythology}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Adonis| ]]
[[Category:Nature gods]]
[[Category:Beauty gods]]
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[[Category:Hellenistic Asian deities]]
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[[Category:Consorts of Aphrodite]]
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[[Category:Male lovers of Apollo]]
[[Category:Male lovers of Heracles]]
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[[Category:Metamorphoses into flowers in Greek mythology]]
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[[Category:Archetypal names]]
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