Short answer: Adonis was a mortal man so beautiful that Aphrodite, the goddess of love herself, fell for him, and Persephone, queen of the underworld, refused to give him back. Zeus had to rule on the custody dispute. Adonis died young, killed by a wild boar, and his blood became the anemone flower. Calling someone "an Adonis" today is quoting a 3,000-year-old myth.
The custody battle
Aphrodite hid baby Adonis in a chest and gave it to Persephone for safekeeping. Persephone opened the box, saw what was inside, and declined to return it. The case went to Zeus, whose verdict splits the year: a third with Persephone below, a third with Aphrodite, a third wherever Adonis chose. He chose Aphrodite, meaning the goddess of love won two thirds of the year, and the underworld got the rest. The Greeks read his coming and going as the seasons themselves.
The boar and the flower
| Moment | Detail |
|---|---|
| The warning | Aphrodite begged him to avoid dangerous beasts |
| The hunt | Adonis speared a wild boar; it did not die |
| The death | The boar gored his thigh; some say the boar was a jealous Ares in disguise |
| The flower | Where his blood soaked the ground, anemones bloomed: beautiful and quick to fall |
Quick questions
Was Adonis a god?
No, and that is the point of the story: the most desired being in Greek myth was mortal. Later cults did worship him, with yearly festivals (the Adonia) where women planted fast-sprouting "gardens of Adonis" that withered in days, on purpose: beauty that does not last.
Why did his mother turn into a tree?
The dark prologue: his mother Myrrha was cursed by Aphrodite, fled her family's rage, and was transformed into the myrrh tree. Adonis was born from the split trunk. His whole life runs from a tree to a flower.
What does "an Adonis" mean today?
An exceptionally handsome young man. The myth also carries the fine print people forget: in the story, being that beautiful was fatal.
Aphrodite's whole file, from the judgement of Paris to Eris and the golden apple, is narrated like a film in MythologyNow.
