 The spear and the tusk But by the time Adonis reached manhood, as gloriously handsome as any god, Persephone had developed her own agenda. She refused to return Adonis. Persephone clutched, Aphrodite clung. Neither love-stricken goddess would give an inch over such male perfection. Finally they appealed to Zeus for mediation. The king of gods determined that Adonis should spend four months a year with Per-sephone, four months a year with Aphrodite, and the remaining months at his own disposal. His choice between the goddess of love and the wintry goddess of the underworld was a no-brainer. He adored spending time in gloriously sensual play with Aphrodite. The couple's frenzies did not escape the attention of jealous Ares, the god of war. He was the longtime lover of Aphrodite, for love and war are sometimes consorts. Adonis had become an enthusiastic hunter, and Ares had the handsome mortal wounded by a wild boar during a chase. The goring of Adonis by the boar's tusk echoed the threat imposed as a baby from the spear of Theias. The Fates were ever on the alert. The wheel of seasons 
Aphrodite heard her dying lover's groans as she rode through the air on her swan-drawn chariot.
She flew to him and promised, “Mem-orials of my grief shall endure, and the spectacle of your death,
my Adonis, and of my lamenta-tions shall be annually renewed. Your blood shall be changed into a
flower.” She sprinkled nectar on the blood, and in an hour flowers of a bloody hue like pomegranate
seeds arose. But they were short lived, because the wind blew the blossoms open and blew the petals
away. Their beauty delights us down the ages, and they are called “anemones,” or “wind flowers.”
And the beauty of Adonis is remembered down the ages, for a handsome man is still termed “an Adonis.”
Aphrodite pleaded with Zeus to restore her lover to life. Unable to resist the irresistible goddess, Zeus allowed Adonis to spend half the year on earth with Aphrodite, half the year in the underworld with Persephone. When Adonis was below ground, vegetation died; when he returned to earth, vegetation blos-somed. In his life-death-rebirth guise Adonis, like Aphrodite, had roots in ancient fertility rites. He was a descendant of the ancient god Tammuz, and his name derives from the Semitic biblical term Adonai, “Lord.” Sappho and her circle of girls on Lesbos had long worshipped Aphrodite, and by around 600 B.C. they were also recognizing Adonis. Elsewhere in Greece his midsummer festival was celebrated by women setting “Adonis gardens” on flat rooftops. They offered a statue of the god surrounded by pots of lettuce and fennel, grains of barley and wheat – plants that sprang up quickly and died quickly. Incense suffused the ritual, and at its climax the effigy and the little garden were tossed into the sea. The women wept and lamented the premature death of the beautiful god, bearer of fruitfulness. But the ceremony ended more joyously as they reassured each other that Adonis would revive. And with his resurrection at the tenderness of spring, the whole glorious world of nature would shake off withered leaves and awaken. |
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