Titian’s Venus and Adonis, c. 1555 |
Adonis
Adonis was an outstandingly beautiful youth who won the heart of Aphrodite, the goddess of love.
Adonis' parents
In the most common story, Adonis was the product of an incestuous passion Myrrha entertained for her father, the Syrian king Theias.
The gods turned Myrrha into a myrrh tree, to save her from Theias’ wrath. Adonis was born when the tree trunk split open, struck by the furious king's knife/arrow, or - in a version of events that foreshadows his death - when a boar rent the bark with his tusks.
Adonis and the changing seasons
Delighted by his beauty, Aphrodite entrusted the infant Adonis to the care of Persephone, the goddess of the underworld. However, Persephone also fell in love with him and refused to relinquish the boy.
Zeus resolved the dispute by ruling that Adonis should spend four months of the year with each goddess. Adonis could choose where to spend his remaining time, and he always spent two-thirds of the year with Aphrodite.
Adonis was a keen hunter, and he met his death at the tusks of a wild boar. A beautiful red anenome grew where drops of his blood fell onto the earth.
In one version of the story, Aphrodite sued Zeus to bring Adonis back to life. He agreed, allowing Adonis to spend six months of the year with the goddess and the remaining time in the underworld.
Adonis’ death and resurrection, and the division of his time between the two goddesses, thus make him (like Persephone) another personification of the natural cycle of growth and decay with the changing seasons.