ADONIS

(A·doʹnis).

In Greek mythology, the handsome youth beloved of Aphrodite the goddess of sensual love. The name “Adonis,” however, is derived from the Semitic word ʼa·dhohnʹ, “lord,” indicating that his worship did not originate in Greece. This deity has commonly been identified with the Babylonian Tammuz, and it is believed that the worship of Adonis was adopted by the Greeks from the Semites of Syria and Babylonia as early as the seventh century B.C.E.

Various mythological accounts tell of the violent death of Adonis and his return to life. These myths are generally interpreted as representing the death of vegetation in winter and its return to life in the spring.

In Syria, Phoenicia, Greece and other places, chiefly the women annually bewailed the death of Adonis and carried images of his body as in funeral procession, later tossing them into the sea or springs. In the territory of Byblos in Phoenicia, women even shaved their heads, and those refusing to have their heads shaved were forced to prostitute themselves to strangers, the money acquired thereby being dedicated to Astarte (Ashtoreth).

The ancients evidently believed that their engaging in these rituals promoted the growth of vegetation and that throwing the images of Adonis into the water ensured a good supply of rain for their crops. Even some of the Israelites may have become ensnared by these practices of neighboring peoples. This seems to be indicated by a possible alternate rendering of Isaiah 17:10 (NW, 1958 ed., ftn. b). Israel had forgotten Jehovah and was planting “pleasant plantations” or “plantations to Adonis,” containers filled with earth in which were planted various kinds of seeds that quickly sprouted and then rapidly withered, symbolic of the life and death of Adonis.—See TAMMUZ.