The myth of Adonis and Aphrodite

Front panel of sarcophagus with a myth of Aphrodite and Adonis.
Parian marble. Late 2nd century A.D., Mantua, Ducal Palace.

The Greek myth of Aphrodite and Adonis is an interesting myth of love, lust and rejection, peppered with revenge and jealousy. It’s a classic love saga with layers of symbolism. Let us first understand the birth of the main characters in the myth.

Aphrodite was born from the place where the genitals of Cronos were thrown after he was castrated by his son, Zeus. In art, Aphrodite is generally shown as a beautiful young woman standing on a scallop shell. Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of beauty, love and carnal pleasures. Though she was married to Hephaestus, she was known to be having affairs with many other gods, Ares, the god of war being one of them (Read “Aphrodite’s Infidelity”   http://utkarshspeak.blogspot.in/2013/05/aphrodites-infidelity.html ) and mortals like Adonis amongst others.

Aphrodite

The birth of Adonis is a bit scandalous and different. It has many variations, but let’s refer to the most common version here. Adonis’s mother was the beautiful Myrrha, the daughter of King Cinyras. Myrrha’s mother would boast that Myrrha was the most beautiful of all and that her beauty surpassed that of even Aphrodite. This angered Aphrodite and she cursed Myrrha to fall in love with her own father, King Cinyras. Accordingly, Myrrha fell in love with her father, and without knowing what was at play, one night in the cover of darkness, Myrrha managed to seduce her father to sleep with her, after getting him drunk.

When the father discovered that he was tricked by his own daughter and that she was expecting his child, he chased her with a sword to kill her. The

Myrrh Tree

gods however took pity on the girl and changed her into a tree, better known as the myrrh tree, a tree which produces resin. Later, the goddess of birth enabled her to deliver a baby and Adonis, the baby was found near the myrrh tree. Aphrodite took pity on the baby and gave it to Persephone, the wife of Hades, the god of the underworld, managing to hide the baby from others, as it was a sinful birth out of incestuous relationship. Adonis was a child whose mother was also his sister and whose father was also his grandfather!

Baby Adonis grew up to be a very handsome man,

which made both Persephone and Aphrodite fall in love with him! Soon a fight broke up between the two as to who should keep the handsome young man. Zeus had to intervene, and it was decided that Adonis would spend one third of the year with Persephone, one third with Aphrodite and the remaining would be left on Adonis to decide. Adonis decided to spend the rest with Aphrodite, as he preferred to be on earth. However, Aphrodite was still not happy with the arrangement, as she wanted Adonis completely to herself. It is said that Aphrodite had seduced Adonis, into lazing around when at Hades, and enjoying him for the rest of the year, leaving Persephone fuming.

Venus and Adonis, 1794,
Antonio Canova (1757-1822),  *

Soon Adonis started spending more time with Aphrodite, however, popular versions say, that he wasn't quite in love with Aphrodite. Adonis loved hunting instead. Aphrodite had a premonition of hunting leading Adonis to some trouble. She kept warning him against hunting. She had an uncanny fear that some animal would want to take revenge on her by harming Adonis, especially lions, as she had cursed two lovers to become lions since she was upset with them over something (which is another story). To further dissuade him, she had warned not to challenge animals which charged back or came back at him, or were not scared of him.

Once, when Aphrodite left for some place, Adonis

The Death of Adonis,
by Giuseppe Mazzuoli, 1709
(Hermitage Museum)

charged into the forest for hunting. Soon he came across a wild boar, which had long tusks and started to chase it. The boar surprisingly could not be scared away and the hunt changed sides. The boar ended up chasing Adonis, and before long the boar plunged its tusks deep into his groin and killed him. Later it was found that the boar was no ordinary boar, but Ares, one of the lovers of Aphrodite, who was jealous of Adonis for taking so much of Aphrodite’s, attention and affection. Some versions say that it was Persephone, who had told Ares about the relationship, as she was jealous of Aphrodite! In a severely wounded state Adonis called out for Aphrodite, who turned back to the forest to find Adonis breathing his last.

The place where the drops of Adonis’s blood fell,

gave birth to beautiful red anemones, a flower found during the spring in the Mediterranean, and the rest of the blood flowed into a river, which today flows as the river Nahr Ibrahim in Lebanon, also known as the Adonis River.

Adonis, after his death went to the underworld, where he was greeted by Persephone. The very idea of Adonis being in the company of Persephone forever, made Aphrodite uneasy and she landed at the doors of the underworld, leading to another confrontation. Once again Zeus, had to intervene, and it was resolved that Adonis would now spend half year with each of them.

As mentioned earlier, the myth has layers of meaning. The story symbolises many things.

Adonis’s six month term can be seen in two ways. The first one is symbolic of man’s spending half his life with his mother and the other with his wife, the former being symbolised by Adonis being brought up by Persephone and the latter by Adonis spending his youth with Aphrodite. The other symbolism is the change in seasons. When Adonis spent time with Persephone, it was winter and when he came back to Aphrodite, he brought with him spring and summer, a time for love and romance, his relationship with Aphrodite. The struggle for Adonis was the perennial struggle for love (as life) and death. An important aspect of the myth was the death and resurrection of Adonis, which represented the perishing and the revival of the plants annually.

Adonis was the symbol of masculinity and good looks. Adonis, though born out of an incestuous relationship, which was out of jealousy of Aphrodite, ensured that Aphrodite, who brought disgrace to his mother, did not find love herself. Aphrodite was known for having many lovers, but never loved her own husband. Though she loved Adonis, Adonis loved hunting. The anemone flowers are a reminder to Aphrodite’s frustrated love. It is said, that the flowers, have a short span of life. No sooner they bloom, the wind pulls them down, as the flowers have weak and slender stems and cannot withstand slightest of the breeze! 

The theme of incest, though provoked by Aphrodite out of sheer jealousy, gets the disdain that the society understands or should. The incestuous relationship between the father and daughter, receives poetic justice, by Adonis avenging the trauma and pain that her mother underwent, in causing similar grief in Aphrodite, after his own death.

All in all an interesting Greek myth of tragic and unfulfilled love and lust.

* Aphrodite was referred to as Venus in Roman Mythology

Aphrodite’s infidelity

Here is an interesting Greek myth which talks of Aphrodite’s infidelity.

Let me introduce the characters first –

Aphrodite – goddess of love and wife of Hephaestus; she is also known as Venus in Roman mythology

Hephaestus – the blacksmith of gods, also known as Vulcan in Roman mythology, (the word ‘volcano’ gets its name from Vulcan; the ancient Romans believed that a volcano occurred when Vulcan was working in his forge making thunderbolts and weapons for the gods)

Ares – the god of war also known as Mars in Roman mythology.

Helios – the Sun god

Aphrodite and Hephaestus did not have a happy married life as Aphrodite never liked the old and lame Hephaestus. From his end, Hephaestus was too busy with his craft and did not make any effort to work on the relationship. Ares was a handsome young man, and soon Aphrodite and Ares were meeting at Hephaestus’s home, in his absence.

During one such escapade, Helios, who is everywhere during the day, saw them on Hephaestus’ bed. He reported the matter to Hephaestus, who was angry. Hephaestus planned to catch them red-handed. Hephaestus made a fine invisible net of bronze and laid it on his bed. He left for his work soon after. When Ares saw him leaving, he immediately came to Aphrodite and both headed for the bed. No sooner had they gone to bed, both of them were ensnared in the invisible net, so much so, that they couldn’t even move.

On getting the message from Helios, Hephaestus came back and caught them in the act. He made a lot of noise and called all the gods and goddesses to come and see both of them. The goddesses were embarrassed by the act of Aphrodite and so they all stayed back, but the gods came and took voyeuristic pleasure in seeing both in the act, with not a shred of cloth on them.

Some gods made fun of Hephaestus for making a marital issue public, while some envied Ares, while still others just laughed at the predicament. After much embarrassment, Poseidon, the god of seas, decided to mediate. He requested Hephaestus to let go of Ares after making him pay a fine for adultery. Poseidon even agreed to stand guarantee for the payment. Hephaestus released both of them and Ares immediately left the city. It is said that Aphrodite later gave birth to a child, who was named Harmonia (the origin of the word ‘Harmony’).

On the surface of it, the myth gives a moral message against infidelity, which I will skip as I am sure all the readers have understood it. Let me give you an insight into the symbolism of such myths.

According to some scholars, this was a comment on the art of blacksmithing -

Fire (i.e. Hephaestus) softens iron (i.e. Ares). In this work, as in any work, one needs to apply passion (i.e. Aphrodite). After the iron has been softened, one needs to use water (i.e. Poseidon) to cool it off. From this myth, one can surmise, that the essence of hot and dry and its opposite, i.e. the cold and wet, sometimes draw the universe together and sometimes pull it apart. When together, it gives birth to harmony. This is one of the most beautiful interpretations of an otherwise simple tale of infidelity.

Some scholars have gone ahead to say, that the union of Aphrodite and Ares amounts to adultery. According to them, the two are not naturally inclined to be together, and thus goes against the norm, but when together, produce harmony. Some scholars have interpreted the laughter of the gods too. According to them, the union of love and strife is a cause for joy, which is to be seen in the form of divine laughter as against the cynical as seen in the myth.

Whatever message one takes is on one’s own self, but one thing is for sure, the myth is pregnant with inherent symbolism!