Adonis
But the goddess of love, who so punished Narcissa, knew the torments of love herself, and she had to mourn her beloved Adonis. She loved the son of the King of Cyprus, Adonis. None of the mortals was equal to him in beauty, he was even more beautiful than the Olympian gods. Aphrodite forgot both Patmos and the blooming Kyphera for him. Adonis was dearer to her than even the bright Olympus. She spent all her time with young Adonis. She hunted with him in the mountains and forests of Cyprus, like a virgin Artemis. Aphrodite forgot about her gold jewelry, about her beauty. Under the scorching rays and in bad weather, she hunted hares, timid deer and chamois, avoiding hunting formidable lions and wild boars. She asked Adonis to avoid the dangers of hunting lions, bears and wild boars, so that misfortune would not happen to him. Rarely did the goddess leave the king's son, and when she left him, she prayed every time to remember her requests.
Once, in the absence of Aphrodite, the dogs of Adonis while hunting attacked the trail of a huge boar. They picked up the beast and drove it away with furious barking. Adonis rejoiced at such a rich prey; he had no premonition that this was his last hunt. The barking of dogs is getting closer, now a huge boar has already flashed among the bushes. Adonis is already preparing to pierce the enraged boar with his spear, when suddenly the boar rushed at him and mortally wounded Aphrodite's pet with his huge fangs. Adonis died from a terrible wound.
When Aphrodite found out about the death of Adonis, full of unspeakable grief, she herself went to the mountains of Cyprus to look for the body of her beloved young man. Aphrodite walked along steep mountain rapids, among gloomy gorges, along the edges of deep precipices. Sharp stones and thorns of thorns hurt the delicate feet of the goddess. Drops of her blood fell to the ground, leaving a trail wherever the goddess passed. Finally, Aphrodite found the body of Adonis. She wept bitterly over the beautiful young man who died early. In order to preserve the memory of him forever, the goddess ordered a gentle anemone to grow out of the blood of Adonis. And where drops of blood fell from the wounded feet of the goddess, lush roses grew everywhere, scarlet like Aphrodite's blood. Zeus-the thunderer took pity over the grief of the goddess of love and he ordered his brother Hades and his wife Persephone to release Adonis to earth every year from the sad realm of the shadows of the dead. Since then, Adonis has remained in the kingdom of Aida for half a year, and lives on earth with the goddess Aphrodite for half a year. All nature rejoices when the young, beautiful pet of golden Aphrodite Adonis returns to earth to the bright rays of the sun.The myth of Adonis and Aphrodite was borrowed by the Greeks from the Phoenicians. The name Adonis is not Greek, but Phoenician and means "lord". The Phoenicians borrowed this myth from the Babylonians, who had a myth about the goddess of love Ishtar and the beautiful Tammuz, a dying and resurrecting god every spring.