Adonis, << uh DON ihs, >> was a handsome youth in Greek mythology. Adonis’s beauty attracted Aphrodite, the goddess of love. According to one myth, Aphrodite warned him of the dangers of hunting. But Adonis did not heed her advice and was killed by a boar, or by Hephaestus, Aphrodite’s jealous husband, disguised as a boar. A flower called the anemone sprang either from Adonis’s blood or from Aphrodite’s tears at his death.
According to another myth, Aphrodite placed the infant Adonis in a chest and gave it to Persephone, the queen of the underworld, for safekeeping. Persephone became enchanted with the youth and wanted to keep him. To settle the quarrel between the goddesses, Zeus, king of the gods, ruled that Adonis would spend part of the year with Aphrodite and part of the year with Persephone. When Adonis stayed with Aphrodite on earth, plants and crops flourished. During his time in the underworld, vegetation died. The Greeks used this myth to explain why the seasons changed. They honored Adonis in ceremonies and by cultivating plants that grew and died quickly.
See also Aphrodite.
