Adonis was a handsome young mortal who won the heart of Aphrodite herself. She fawned over him and refused to ascend to Olympus, preferring to have him sleep in her arms in the country side. Aphrodite, jealous of Princess Myrrha's beauty, cursed her to sleep with her own father, and thus became pregnant with Adonis. When her father King Cinyrus found out about this attravisty, he chased his daughter down with a sword intending to kill her. Aphrodite out of guilt saved the girl by turning her into a myrrh tree.
She then hid the unborn Adonis in a chest to Queen Persephone for safe keeping. The goddess of the Dead opened the chest out of curiosity and fell in love with the baby instantly and refused to give him up. This is where it gets interesting, Zeus settled the dispute for custody by having the boy spend one part of the year at a time with either the Goddess of Death or the Goddess of Love. During the winter he spent with Persephone and during spring he was with Aphrodite. Once again a struggle for love and death in the seasons is represented through myth.
Adonis was a skilled hunter, and was constantly begged by Aphrodite to find a less dangerous sport. Myth says that the god Ares killed him one afternoon disguised as a boar by goring him through. Aphrodite heard his cries for help, and tried to find him in time but was unable and only found the boy bleeding and dead in the grass. She transformed his blood to bloom flowers in honor of him, anemone blossoms (or roses to some). Thus Adonis' death is used to show the death and revival of plant life in Greek mythology.
She then hid the unborn Adonis in a chest to Queen Persephone for safe keeping. The goddess of the Dead opened the chest out of curiosity and fell in love with the baby instantly and refused to give him up. This is where it gets interesting, Zeus settled the dispute for custody by having the boy spend one part of the year at a time with either the Goddess of Death or the Goddess of Love. During the winter he spent with Persephone and during spring he was with Aphrodite. Once again a struggle for love and death in the seasons is represented through myth.
Adonis was a skilled hunter, and was constantly begged by Aphrodite to find a less dangerous sport. Myth says that the god Ares killed him one afternoon disguised as a boar by goring him through. Aphrodite heard his cries for help, and tried to find him in time but was unable and only found the boy bleeding and dead in the grass. She transformed his blood to bloom flowers in honor of him, anemone blossoms (or roses to some). Thus Adonis' death is used to show the death and revival of plant life in Greek mythology.