Aphrodite and Adonis

A tale of love, passion, jealousy and death…

Aphrodite and Adonis is a classic myth about love, lust, passion, jealousy, rejection and death, and a proof that no one could escape from the powerful arrows of God Eros. The ancient people had a lot of imagination when they created the story of Aphrodite and Adonis, with many variations of course as each culture had its own version, but the most popular is the Greek myth and it goes something like this…

 Aphrodite fell in love with Adonis, on the day he was born. The moment she laid her eyes on him, she decided that he should be hers no matter what. She assigned Persephone, (Goddess of the underworld, springtime, flowers and vegetation) to his care, but Persephone also fell in love with Adonis and wanted to keep him for herself. Finally Zeus, (the God of the sky, lightning and thunder) had to mediate in the dispute of the two goddesses and judged that Adonis was to spend one-third of every year with each goddess and the last third wherever he chose. Adonis always chose to spend two-thirds of the year with Aphrodite. They made Adonis house, later called Adonis Baths there love nest, home, gave birth to many children and had an enjoyable “normal” life, with Adonis taking care of horses and hunting in the Akamas forest. 

Adonis Baths, a beautiful must visit place is located in Koili village in the province of Paphos, where Mavrokolympos flows, which is a small stream, around the ravines, the waters gather and form a small waterfall. These waters over the centuries eroded the soil and formed a small lake. Adonis Baths Waterfall is located 267 m above sea level.

However, as it is a story of love and jealousy, Artemis the Goddess of Hunting was jealous of the love between Adonis and Aphrodite and tried to kill him by throwing a golden almond against him while being in the baths. Poseidon the God of Sea saw what was about to happen so he covered the golden almond with a torrent and prevented Adonis from getting hit and drowning. However, Artemis had another plan, she asked Mars the God of War to push the mountain onto Adonis at the baths, but Poseidon stopped the rocks moving towards the bank of the river and Adonis was saved again. Not clear though why Poseidon helped Adonis twice… 

Adonis was not so lucky whilst hunting one day. A man disguised as wild boar fatally wounded him. He returned to the baths but died in the arms of Aphrodite. Aphrodite could not bear to lose her beloved, and begged for him to send back to earth every six months. His death is also believed to be the power struggle between Persephone, Artemis and Aphrodite.

A few things about the protagonists:
Aphrodite, was the goddess of beauty, love, pleasure, passion and procreation and was born in Cyprus, more accurately, she was "foam born" in Petra tou Romiou, in Paphos. Aphrodite was believed to be born sometime between the 5th and the 8th-century BCE Archaic Period.
In regards to Aphrodite's parents, one genealogy gives her parents as Zeus, king of the gods, and Dione, an early earth/mother goddess, but more commonly, Aphrodite was believed to be born of the foam in the sea, which bubbled around the severed member of Uranus when Kronos slew him. 
Aphrodite is identified with the planet Venus, which is named after the Roman goddess Venus, with whom Aphrodite was extensively syncretized. She has also been called Goddess of love, Cythera, Cypris, Cypria and the Cypriate.

Adonis was mostly known as the mortal lover of the goddess Aphrodite. A young man of profound beauty desired and jealousies by many. According to the most popular belief Adonis, was the son of King Cinyras of Cyprus and the son of Myrrha, (daughter of Cinyras) disgusting yes, but according to the myth, father and daughter did not know about their relation as Aphrodite cursed his mother Myrrha to lust after her own father!  King Cinyras and daughter Myrrha had sex in complete darkness for nine nights. The King discovered after her identity and chased her with a sword. The gods transformed her into a myrrh tree and, in the form of a tree, she gave birth to Adonis. Aphrodite found the infant and gave him to be raised by Persephone, the queen of the Underworld.