\b0 The fate of Adonis was sealed from his birth. He was generated from the forbidden passion that his mother\cf0
\b \cf4 \ATXht11912 Smyrna\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 , \cf7 or Myrrha, conceived for her own father\cf0 \b \cf4 \ATXht10323 Cinyras\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , King of Cyprus, in whose bed she lay for twelve nights in a row as an unknown maid. In the end, Cinyras discover
ed, by lamplight, the identity of his lover and, horrified, pursued his daughter with his sword in hand to wash away the shame of both with blood. But Smyrna, who was carrying an incestuous child in her womb, cried out for protection from the gods and wa
s changed into the tree of myrrh whose bark oozes with scented tears. Ten months later a child of extraordinary beauty emerged from the trunk of the tree and was given the name of Adonis, "fruit of the wood."\par
\b \cf4 \ATXht2 Aphrodite\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , struck by the beauty of the young Adonis, wished to conceal him from the gaze of all women, whether divine or mortal, and, placing him in a coffer, gave him to\cf0 \b \cf4 \ATXht11617 Persephone\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 for safekeeping. But, Persephone, too,
became infatuated with Adonis and refused to give him back. The question was brought before\cf0 \b \cf4 \ATXht8 Zeus\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , who expressed the same judgment as he had once done with Persephone herself, when she was\cf0 \b \cf4 \ATXht1020 disp
uted between Demeter and Hades\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 . Thus, it was decided that Adonis would spend a third of the year with Aphrodite, a third with Persephone, and a third wherever he himself chose. In reality Adonis always spent two thirds of the year in the
loving company of Aphrodite, until he was killed by the tusk of a boar that was set on him, for unknown reasons, by an angry\cf0 \b \cf4 \ATXht13 Artemis\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 . From the blood of his wounds sprang a fragile but beautiful flower, the anemone.
