Adonis
Phoenician/Greek
The irresistably handsome godling originated as a desert god who symbolized the scorched crops of summer. He was one of many deities assimilated into the Greek/Roman pantheons: he was the consort of Aphrodite (originally Astarte), born of a myrtle tree dwelling spirit and the seed of her father, an ancient king of Byblos. The incestuous offspring was raised by three Greek divinities (Aphrodite, Persephone, and Zeus), each of whom kept him for a third of the year.
Upon reaching maturity, he became the lover of his ageless stepmother, Aphrodite. Like other Phoenician gods such as Baal, Adonis was mortal, however, and died while hunting boar in a gorge near Byblos. The love goddess managed to secure his release from Hades for half of each year.
Byblos celebrated his passages between life and death with magnificent and exciting festivals. Female worshippers murmured adoni incessantly during these feasts. The citizenry developed the art of precisely cultivating flowers so that they bloomed and withered in coincidence with these celebrations, symbolizing the cycle of birth and death which Adonis was bound for all eternity.
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