In the ancient Greek myth, Adonis was a youth who was so beautiful when he was born that Aphrodite, the goddess of love, put him into a wooden chest and gave him to Persephone, the goddess of the underworld, to keep him safe. When Persephone saw how beautiful he was, she refused to give him back to Aphrodite. This sparked a quarrel between two goddesses. Zeus, the king of the gods, resolved the quarrel when he decided to have Adonis spend four months each year with each of the two, with four months of the year to himself.
The myth goes on that Adonis was killed by the tusks of a boar sent by one of the other gods. In another version of the myth, Adonis was born from a tree when a boar tore up the bark of a tree with its tusks.
In ancient Greece, women practiced the cult of Adonis. At midsummer, they planted "gardens of Adonis," consisting of fast-growing salad greens, on flat rooftops. After the plants withered and died, the women wailed and mourned their beautiful god. However, the next year he returned, for he was a god of vegetation, a god of birth-death-and rebirth.
English word: In English, just as in ancient Greek, Adonis refers to a beautiful youth.
The myth goes on that Adonis was killed by the tusks of a boar sent by one of the other gods. In another version of the myth, Adonis was born from a tree when a boar tore up the bark of a tree with its tusks.
In ancient Greece, women practiced the cult of Adonis. At midsummer, they planted "gardens of Adonis," consisting of fast-growing salad greens, on flat rooftops. After the plants withered and died, the women wailed and mourned their beautiful god. However, the next year he returned, for he was a god of vegetation, a god of birth-death-and rebirth.
English word: In English, just as in ancient Greek, Adonis refers to a beautiful youth.
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