A Who's Who of World Mythology : Adonis


In Babylonian myth, Adonis was the title applied to Tammuz, derived from Adoni meaning Lord. His Sumerian name was Dumuzi. The fourth month of the year (June) was named for him Du’uzu. Tammuz is a very early Babylonian and Assyrian god, brother and lover of Belili. She is a Sumerian Moon Goddess and goddess of trees, love, and the underworld. Later he was the husband of Inanna (Ishtar in Akkadian versions) who replaced Belili. An agricultural god, he was the archetypal dying god assimilated to so many later “dying” gods, ritually sacrificed to ensure the return of vegetation. His sacred river, Nahr Ibrahim is sacred to him largely because with heavy rains is flows red due to a high ferrous oxide content.

“The Lady of Battles,” Ishtar is a goddess of love and war. One of her most important myths involves Tammuz. No reason is given for her descent into the underworld, though this may be a holdover from Tammuz’s first consort Belili, a goddess of the Underworld. Before leaving on her journey, she instructed her vizier Ninshubur to visit three gods in the event she did not return. During her journey into the Underworld, she was require to pass seven gates, removing one article of clothing or jewelry before moving on. By the time she reached her destination she was naked and powerless from the loss of her clothing and jewels, symbols of her power. Confronting Ereshkigal, she attempted to seize her sister’s throne, but like all others, she was condemned to death and hung on a hook on the wall. In the meantime, Ninshubur approached Enki who created two sexless beings from the dirt under his fingernails. Giving them the Plant and the Water of Life, he sent them to the Underworld to retrieve Ishtar. Unfortunately, she was only able to leave if she provided a substitute for herself. She nominated her husband Dumuzi (Tammuz) as her substitute, and he was forced to alternate half the year in the Underworld with his sister Geshtinanna, “Lady of the Grape Vine.”

Adonis or Adon became his name, rather than his title, in Phoenician and Syrian cultures. Attis was his Phrygian name and Atunis, Etruscan. In such Hellenic cultures, he is the son the mythical King Cinyras and Myrrha. According to Hesiod, he was the son of Phoenix and Alphesiboea. Like his earlier counterparts, he was the consort of a Love Goddess, Aphrodite. Frequently he was depicted in the nude and carrying a lyre. According to legend, he was gored to death by a wild boar on a hunting expedition and was condemned to spend half the year in the Underworld. Like his counterparts, he “died” during the hottest part of the year when the vegetation withered with heat. In the spring, he was welcomed back by effeminate priests who gashed themselves with knives.

As Attis, he was modeled heavily on Dumuzi. According to myth, Kybele, the “great mother” was either his mother or his consort. In other traditions, he was conceived immaculately by the demi-goddess Nana when she placed a ripe almond in her bosom. Like his Hellenic counterpart, sometimes he meets his end via a wild boar, but an alternate tale tells that he died under a pine tree after self-castrating himself to offer his vitality to Kybele. For this reason, his priests (Galli) in Greek and Roman tradition held bloody Spring rites, gashing themselves with knives or castrating themselves while wearing feminine garments. His worship was transplanted from Phrygia to Rome in 204 BC when the Romans carried away the stone representing Cybele (Kybele) and installed it in the Temple of Victory on Palatine Hill. His sacred day is March 22. On this day, pines were carried to his temple and decorated with flowers and models of Attis. Easter later took over his holy day.