Adonis

Adonis raised his spear and wounded the boar with a sidelong stroke. The animal pulled the weapon free with its jaws and charged after him. Adonis turned to flee, but the boar overtook him, drove its tusks into his side, and left him dying on the plain.

Aphrodite had followed Adonis into the wilderness, where he hunted, and had warned him about the dangers of the chase. She was travelling in her swan-drawn chariot when she heard the groans of her beloved. She turned back, descended to the earth, and saw his lifeless body covered in blood. She beat her breast and tore her hair. She reproached the Fates and declared that his death and her mourning would be remembered each year.

Aphrodite said that Adonis's blood would become a flower. She sprinkled nectar over the blood. As the two mingled, bubbles rose from the ground, and a flower sprang up where each drop had stained the earth. The flower was the blood-red anemone, also called the windflower. In another telling, the crimson flower grew directly from the drops of Adonis's blood.

The flower's return became part of the yearly mourning for Adonis. Greek girls mourned him and then rejoiced when the anemone appeared again. In Syria, the flower was linked with the blood believed to have been shed by Adonis on Mount Lebanon. Some accounts give Aphrodite's tears, rather than his blood, as the source of roses or other flowers. The story also connects the anemone's spring flowering with festivals held for Adonis.

A sword split the myrrh tree on the hill, and the infant Adonis fell from its trunk. His mother, Smyrna, had been changed into the tree after Aphrodite punished her for claiming that she was more beautiful than the goddess. Aphrodite had caused Smyrna to desire her father, Cinyras. When he discovered that Smyrna was both his daughter and the mother of his unborn child, he chased her from the palace with a sword. Aphrodite regretted the punishment, or had already fallen in love with the child, depending on the account.

Aphrodite hid the infant in a chest and entrusted him to Persephone, queen of the Underworld. She asked Persephone to keep him in a dark place. Persephone opened the chest and found Adonis inside. He was so beautiful that she brought him out and raised him in her palace. When Aphrodite came to reclaim him, Persephone refused to surrender him. The dispute was taken before a judge. Zeus settled it in one account, while another names the Muse Calliope. Adonis was ordered to spend one third of the year with Persephone, one third with Aphrodite, and one third by himself.

Aphrodite then used her magic girdle to persuade Adonis to give her his own share of the year. She also kept the share assigned to Persephone. Persephone, angered by this breach of the judgement, went to Thrace and told Ares that Aphrodite preferred Adonis to him, despite Adonis being a mortal. Ares took the form of a wild boar and attacked Adonis while he was hunting on Mount Lebanon. He gored Adonis to death before Aphrodite’s eyes. Anemones grew from his blood, and his soul descended to Tartarus.

Aphrodite went to Zeus and asked that Adonis should spend only the darker half of the year with Persephone, while remaining her companion during the summer. Zeus granted this request. Some accounts instead say that the boar was Apollo, who sought revenge for an injury Aphrodite had caused him. Another version omits the childhood dispute and tells of Aphrodite falling in love with the grown Adonis, who was later killed by a boar while hunting.

Aphrodite changed Smyrna into a myrrh tree as Smyrna fled from her father, Cinyras. A sword split the tree, and the infant Adonis fell from it. Aphrodite placed the child in a chest and entrusted him to Persephone, queen of the Underworld, asking her to keep him in a dark place. Persephone opened the chest, saw that Adonis was beautiful, and raised him in her palace.

When Aphrodite came to reclaim him, Persephone refused. She had also fallen in love with Adonis. The dispute over his custody was settled by Zeus, or by the Muse Calliope in another account. Adonis was assigned part of his time to each goddess and another part to himself. In the account associated with Ovid, Aphrodite instead fell in love with Adonis when he was grown. She left her usual comforts and followed him into the wilderness while he hunted.

Aphrodite warned Adonis about the dangers of hunting, but he did not heed her. He wounded a wild boar, which then gored him. Adonis died from the wound. Aphrodite mourned him, and the story of his death became linked with the return of flowers, especially the blood-red anemone.

The annual festival for Adonis began with mourning and lamentation. His image was dressed like a corpse and carried out as if for burial. In some places it was thrown into the sea or into springs. The following day brought rejoicing because Persephone was believed to have restored Adonis to life. At Alexandria, images of Adonis and Aphrodite were displayed on couches among fruit, cakes, potted plants, and green bowers. The ceremonies differed in their details and in the season when they were held.