Adonis facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Adonis |
|
|---|---|
| God of beauty, desire and vegetation | |
"The Death of Adonis"
|
|
| Abode | Lebanon |
| Symbol | anemones, as well as lettuce, fennel, and other fast-growing plants |
| Personal information | |
| Spouse | Aphrodite |
| Children | Golgos, Beroe |
| Parents | Cinyras and Myrrha (by Ovid), Phoenix and Alphesiboea (by Hesiod) |
Adonis was the mortal partner of the goddess Aphrodite in Greek mythology. Aphrodite found the infant and gave him to be raised by Persephone, the queen of the Underworld. Adonis's name comes from a Canaanite word meaning "lord"
Adonis grew into an astonishingly handsome young man (his name is often applied in modern times to handsome youths), causing Aphrodite and Persephone to fight over him, with Zeus eventually declaring that Adonis would spend one third of the year in the Underworld with Persephone, one third of the year with Aphrodite, and the final third of the year with whomever he chose. Adonis chose to spend his final third of the year with Aphrodite.
One day, 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.
Aphrodite declared the Adonia festival commemorating his tragic death, which was celebrated by women every year in midsummer.
Images for kids
-
An ancient Sumerian depiction of the marriage of Inanna and Dumuzid
-
Fragment of an Attic red-figure wedding vase (c. 430–420 BC), showing women climbing ladders up to the roofs of their houses carrying "gardens of Adonis"
-
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.
-
Photograph of Sir James George Frazer, the anthropologist who is most directly responsible for promoting the concept of a "dying and rising god" archetype
-
.
Venus and Cupid lamenting the dead Adonis (1656) by Cornelis Holsteyn
-
Death of Adonis (1684–1686) by Luca Giordano.
-
The Death of Adonis (Mazzuoli) (1709) by Giuseppe Mazzuoli
See also
In Spanish: Adonis para niños
