Editing Adonis (section)

== Cult ==
=== Origin ===
[[File:Marriage_of_Inanna_and_Dumuzi.png|thumb|left|An ancient Sumerian depiction of the marriage of [[Inanna]] and [[Dumuzid the Shepherd|Dumuzid]]{{sfn|Lung|2014}}]]

{{Fertile Crescent myth (Levantine)}}{{Middle Eastern deities}}

The worship of Aphrodite and Adonis is probably a Greek continuation of the ancient [[Sumer]]ian worship of [[Inanna]] and [[Dumuzid the Shepherd|Dumuzid]].{{sfn|West|1997|page=57}}{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=67}}{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|page=97}} The [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] name {{lang|grc|[[:wikt:Ἄδωνις|Ἄδωνις]]}} (''{{lang|grc-Latn|Ádōnis}}''), {{IPA|grc|ádɔːnis}}) is derived from the [[Canaanite languages|Canaanite]] word {{lang|phn|[[:wikt:𐤀𐤃𐤍|𐤀𐤃𐤍]]}} (''{{lang|grc-Latn|[[Adon|ʼadōn]]}}''), meaning "lord".{{sfn|Burkert|1985|pages=176–177}}{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|page=97}}<ref name="Robert S. P 2009, p. 23">[[Robert S. P. Beekes|R. S. P. Beekes]], ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, p. 23.</ref>{{sfn|Botterweck|Ringgren|1990|pages=59–74}}{{sfn|West|1997|page=57}} 

This word is related to [[Names of God in Judaism|''Adonai'']] ({{langx|he|אֲדֹנָי}}), one of the titles used to refer to the God of the [[Tanakh|Hebrew Bible]] and still used in [[Judaism]] to the present day.{{sfn|Botterweck|Ringgren|1990|pages=59–74}} The Syrian name for Adonis is ''Gauas''.{{sfn|Detienne|1977|page=137}}

The cult of Inanna and Dumuzid may have been introduced to the [[Kingdom of Judah]] during the reign of [[Manasseh of Judah|King Manasseh]].{{sfn|Pryke|2017|page=193}} [[Ezekiel 8]] ({{bibleverse|Ezekiel|8:14|HE}}) mentions Adonis under his earlier East Semitic name [[Tammuz (mythology)|Tammuz]]{{sfn|Pryke|2017|page=195}}{{sfn|Warner|2016|page=211}} and describes a group of women mourning Tammuz's death while sitting near the north gate of the [[Temple in Jerusalem]].{{sfn|Pryke|2017|page=195}}{{sfn|Warner|2016|page=211}}

The earliest known Greek reference to Adonis comes from a fragment of a poem by the poet [[Sappho]] of [[Lesbos]] ({{Circa|630|570 BC}}),{{sfn|West|1997|pages=530–531}} in which a chorus of young girls asks Aphrodite what they can do to mourn Adonis' death.{{sfn|West|1997|pages=530–531}} Aphrodite replies that they must beat their breasts and tear their [[tunic]]s.{{sfn|West|1997|pages=530–531}} The cult of Adonis has also been described as corresponding to the cult of the Phoenician god [[Baal]].{{sfn|West|1997|page=57}} As [[Walter Burkert]] explains:

{{blockquote|text=Women sit by the gate weeping for Tammuz, or they offer incense to [[Baal]] on roof-tops and plant pleasant plants. These are the very features of the Adonis legend: which is celebrated on flat roof-tops on which sherds sown with quickly germinating green salading are placed, Adonis gardens&nbsp;... the climax is loud lamentation for the dead god.{{sfn|Burkert|1985|page=177}}}}

The exact date when the worship of Adonis became integrated into Greek culture is still disputed. Walter Burkert questions whether Adonis had not from the very beginning come to Greece along with Aphrodite.{{sfn|Burkert|1985|page=177}} "In Greece," Burkert concludes, "the special function of the Adonis legend is as an opportunity for the unbridled expression of emotion in the strictly circumscribed life of women, in contrast to the rigid order of [[polis]] and family with the official women's festivals in honour of [[Demeter]]."{{sfn|Burkert|1985|page=177}} The significant influence of Near Eastern culture on early Greek religion in general, and on the cult of Aphrodite in particular,{{sfn|Burkert|1998|pages=1–6}} is now widely recognised as dating to a period of [[Orientalizing period|orientalisation]] during the eighth century BC,{{sfn|Burkert|1998|pages=1–6}} when [[archaic Greece]] was on the fringes of the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]].{{sfn|Burkert|1998|pages=1–41}}

In Cyprus, the cult of Adonis gradually superseded that of [[Cinyras]]. W. Atallah suggests that the later Hellenistic myth of Adonis represents the conflation of two independent traditions.<ref>Atallah 1966.</ref>

=== Festival of Adonia ===
{{main|Adonia}}

[[File:Women Adonia Louvre CA1679.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Fragment of an Attic red-figure wedding vase ({{circa}} 430–420 BC), showing women climbing ladders up to the roofs of their houses carrying "gardens of Adonis"]]

The worship of Adonis is associated with the festival of Adonia, which was celebrated by Greek women every year in midsummer.{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|page=97}}<ref>W. Atallah, ''Adonis dans la littérature et l'art grecs'', Paris, 1966.</ref> The festival, which was evidently already celebrated in Lesbos by Sappho's time in the seventh century BC, seems to have first become popular in Athens in the mid-fifth century BC.{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|page=97}}{{sfn|Burkert|1985|pages=176–177}} At the start of the festival, the women would plant a "garden of Adonis", a small garden planted inside a small basket or a shallow piece of broken pottery containing a variety of quick-growing plants, such as [[lettuce]] and [[fennel]], or even quick-sprouting grains, such as [[wheat]] and [[barley]].{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|page=97}}{{sfn|Detienne|1977}}{{sfn|Burkert|1985|page=177}} The women would then climb ladders to the roofs of their houses, where they would place the gardens out under the heat of the summer sun.{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|page=97}}{{sfn|Burkert|1985|page=177}} The plants would sprout in the sunlight, but wither quickly in the heat.{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|pages=97–98}} While they waited for the plants to first sprout and then wither, the women would burn incense to Adonis.{{sfn|Burkert|1985|page=177}} Once the plants had withered, the women would mourn and lament loudly over the death of Adonis, tearing their clothes and beating their breasts in a public display of grief.{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|page=98}}{{sfn|Burkert|1985|page=177}} The women would lay a statuette of Adonis out on a [[bier]] and then carry it to the sea along with all the withered plants as a [[funeral procession]].{{sfn|Burkert|1985|page=177}}{{sfn|Detienne|1977|p=xii}} The festival concluded with the women throwing the effigy of Adonis and the withered plants out to sea.{{sfn|Burkert|1985|page=177}}