Difference between revisions of "Adonis"

<p> <strong> [[Adonis]] </strong> . The phrase rendered by [[Ev]] [Note: English Version.] ‘pleasant plants,’ and by RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘plantings of Adonis’ (&nbsp; Isaiah 17:10 ), alludes to the miniature gardens whose rapid decline symbolized the death of this god, or rather the spring verdure of which he is a personification. This phase of the myth, which the [[Greeks]] obtained from the Semitic [[Tammuz]] cult, through the PhÅ“nicians, where the god was worshipped under the title of [[Adon]] (‘lord’), is used by Isaiah to depict the fading hope of Israel. See Tammuz. </p> <p> [[N.]] Koenig. </p>

<p> '''(1):''' (n.) [[A]] youth beloved by Venus for his beauty. He was killed in the chase by a wild boar. </p> <p> '''(2):''' (n.) [[A]] preeminently beautiful young man; a dandy. </p> <p> '''(3):''' (n.) [[A]] genus of plants of the family Ranunculaceae, containing the pheasant's eye (Adonis autumnalis); - named from Adonis, whose blood was fabled to have stained the flower. </p>

<p> (ςΑδωνις, prob. from a Phoenician form of the Hebrew אָדוֹן, ''lord),'' was, according to Apollodorus (3, 14, 3), the son of Cinyrus and Medane, or, according to other accounts (Hesiod and Panyasis in Apollod. ut sup. 14), of [[Phoenix]] and Alphesibcea, or of an [[Assyrian]] king, Theias, by his own daughter, Smyrna, who was changed into a myrrh-tree (σμύρνα ) in endeavoring to escape her father’ s rage on discovering the incest. The beauty of the youth made him a favorite with Venus, with whom he was permitted to spend a portion of each year after his death, which occurred from a wound by a wild boar in the chase. (See Smith’ s ''Dict. of Class. Biog. and Mythol.'' s.v.) This event was celebrated by a yearly festival, originally by the Syrians, who called a river near which the fatal accident occurred (Reland, Paloest. p. 269) by his name (Robinson’ s Researches, new ed. 3, 606), and thence by all the nations around the Mediterranean. See Braun, Selecta Sacra, p. 376 sq,; Fickensecher, Erklar. d. Mythus Adonis (Gotha, 1800); Groddeck, Ueb. d. Fest des Adonis, in his Antiquar. Versuche (Lemberg, 1800), p. 83 sq.; Moinichen, De Adonide Phoenicum (Hafn. 1702); Maurer, De Adonide ejusque cultu (Erlang. 1782). </p> <p> The Vulg. gives Adonis as a rendering for Tammuz or [[Thammuz]] (תִּמּוּז; Sept. Θαμμούζ ), a [[Syrian]] deity, for whom the Hebrew idolatresses were accustomed to hold an annual lamentation (&nbsp;Ezekiel 8:14). This idol was doubtless the same with the Phoenician Adon or Adonis, and the feast itself such as they celebrated. Silvestre de Sacy thinks that the name Tammuz was of foreign origin, and probably Egyptian, as well as the god by whom it was borne. In fact, it would probably not be difficult to identify him with Osiris, from whose worship his differed only in accessories. The feast held in honor of Tammuz was solstitial, and commenced with the new moon of July, in the month also called Tammuz. It consisted of two parts, the one consecrated to lamentation, and the other to joy; in the days of grief they mourned the disappearance of the god, and in the days of gladness celebrated his discovery and return. Adonis or Tammuz appears to have been a sort of incarnation of the sun, regarded principally as in a state of passion and sufferance, in connection with the apparent vicissitudes in its celestial position, and with respect to the terrestrial metamorphoses produced, under its influence, upon vegetation in advancing to maturity. (See Lucian, De Dea Syra, § 7, 19; Selden, De Diis Syris, 2, 31; Creuzer, Symbolik, 4, 3.) (See [[Tammuz]]). </p>

<p> '''''a''''' -'''''dō´nis''''' : [[A]] name for the [[Babylonian]] god [[Tammuz]] . The word occurs only in the English Revised Version, margin of &nbsp;Isaiah 17:10 , where for "pleasant plants" is read "plantings of Adonis." The American Standard Revised Version rightly omits this marginal suggestion. </p>