Adonis

Ezek. viii. 14. Ps. cvi. 28. Levit. xix. 27, 28. Ezek. viii. 3, 5.ADONIS. The text of the Vulgate in Ezekiel viii. 14. imports, that this Prophet saw Women sitting in the Temple, and weeping for Adonis; but according to the reading of the Hebrew text, they are said to weep for Tammuz, or the hidden one. Among the Egyptians Adonis was adored under the name of Osiris, the husband of Isis¹: But he was sometimes called too by the name of Ammuz², or Tammuz, the concealed, to denote probably his death or burial. The Hebrews in derision call him sometimes the Dead, because they wept for him, and represented him as one dead in his coffin; and at other times they call him the Image of Jealousy, because he was the object of the God Mars’s Jealousy. The Syrians, Phœnicians, and People of the isle of Cyprus, called him Adonis; and we are of opinion that the Ammonites and Moabites gave him the name of Baal-peor³.

The manner wherein they celebrated the festivals of this false Deity was this: They represented him as lying dead in a coffin, they wept for him, bemoaned themselves, and sought for him with great eagerness and inquietude. After this they feigned that they had found him again, and he was living: At this good news they shewed marks of the most extraordinary joy, and were guilty of a thousand lewd practices to convince Venus how gladly they congratulated her upon the return and recovery of her Husband, as before they had condoled with her upon the loss of him, and his death. The Hebrew Women therefore, of whom Ezekiel is speaking, celebrated the Feasts of Tammuz or Adonis in Jerusalem, and God shewed the Prophet these Women weeping, even in his Temple, for this infamous God.

The Rabbins tell us, that Tammuz⁴ was an idolatrous Prophet, who having been put to death by the King of Babylon, all the Idols of the Country flocked together about a statue of the Sun, which this Prophet, who was a magician, had suspended between Heaven and Earth: There they began all together to deplore the Prophet’s death; for which reason a Festival was instituted every year, to renew the memory of this Ceremony, at the beginning of the month Tammuz, which answers pretty nearly to our June. In this Temple a statue was † Ausonius.erected, re presenting Tammuz to the life. The Statue was hollow, the Eyes were of lead. Below a gentle fire was kindled, which insensibly heated the Statue, melted the lead, and made room for the People to believe that the Idol wept. During all this time the Babylonish Women who were in the Temple fell a shrieking, and made strange lamentations. This is the Story they tell us. But I should be glad to see good Proofs of it.

As to Adonis; the account we have of him from fabulous History is this. Adonis was the Son of Cyniras, King of Cyprus, and Myrrha the Daughter of this Prince. So that he was at once both the Brother and the Son of Myrrha. He was so very beautiful that Venus run away with him, and lived with him in the midst of a wood, where Adonis exercised himself in hunting. A wild Boar having unhappily killed him, Venus lamented for him in an inconsolable manner. The Eastern People, in imitation of her mourning, generally established some solemn days for the bewailing of Adonis. The Poets relate, that Venus obtained the favour of Proserpine to have her Minion restored to life, and that he should pass six months on Earth, and six in Hell. Hereupon those publick Rejoicings were founded, which succeeded the Lamentations of his death. Some say he was of Syria, others again of Cyprus, others again of Egypt. See those Authors, who treat of Fables; and in particular, M. Le Clerc’s Biblioth. Universelle. T. 3. Septemb, 1686. An historical Explanation of the Fable of Adonis.

What the fabulous Relations tell us concerning the Birth of Adonis, is much the same with what we learn from the sacred History concerning Lot’s Incest with his Daughters. Myrrha the Daughter of Cyniras King of Cyprus, conceived an infamous Passion for her Father; she was got with child by him, without his knowing it, and was delivered of Adonis. Chemosh was the Deity of the Moabites. Moab sprung like Adonis, from an incestuous Conversation. There is some affinity between the words Chemosh, and Ammuz or Tammuz, whom we take to be the same with Adonis. Adonis, as Macrobius informs us, was the Sun; Chemosh likewise represented this Luminary, and under this Idea was adored by the Moabites.

The Scene of Adonis’s History is said to have been at Biblos in Phœnicia⁵, and this pretended Deity is supposed to have been killed by a wild Boar in the Mountains of Libanus, from which the River Adonis descends. This River once a year changed the colour of its Waters, and appeared as red as Blood. This was the signal for celebrating their Adonia, or Feasts of Adonis. It was not lawful to omit the observance of them; great Lamentations were made at this time thro’ Town and Country, they cried dreadfully, whipt themselves, and imitated all the Ceremonies of the most serious Mourning for a dead Person. After the Mourning was ended, they performed the funeral Solemnities for him as one just deceased. The next day it was given out that he was alive, and had ascended into the Air.

The common People were persuaded to believe, that the Egyptians, at the feasts of Adonis, sent a Box by Sea made of rushes or Egyptian paper, and fashioned in the form of a Headf, in which a letter was inclosed, informing the Inhabitants of Biblos, a City above seven days journey distant from the Coasts of Egypt, that their God Adonis, whom they apprehended to be lost, had been discovered. The vessel which carried this Letter arrived always safe at Biblos at the end of seven days. Lucian tells us⁶ he was a witness of this Event. Procopius, S. Cyril of Alexandria⁷, and some other learned Men, are of opinion that Isaiah alludes If. xviii. 2. .השלח ביום ציריםto this superstitious Custom, when he says, Wo to the Land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the River of 70. ‘Αποστέλλων ἐν θαλάσσῃ ὅμηρα. Mittens in mari obsides.Ethiopia: that sendeth Ambassadors by the Sea, even vessels of bul-rushes upon the Waters. Some translate, That sendeth Images or Idols by the Sea⁸. But the Hebrew signifies properly Ambassadors deputed thither by Sea, to carry the news of Adonis’s Resurrection. In our Comment on Isaiah, we have given another sense to this Passage, which has no relation to Adonis.

The Heathens who were reproached with the impertinency of these Feasts of Adonis, and the childish and shameful subject which had given occasion for them, explained things by saying that Adonis, by his Death and Resurrection, represented the Sun, which every year is more remote from us during the Winter, and advances nearer to us in the spring; or Seeds sown in the Earth, which die there before they shoot up and appear above ground. But these Explanations come too late. It is a large concession, to allow that the Women of Israel, who worshiped Adonis, intended no more than paying their Adorations to the Sun: These, it is very credible, were limited to Adonis the Husband of Venus, or, if you please, to Osiris the Husband of Isis: For it is very probable, that in Ezekiel’s time none had as yet any knowledge in Judea of the Deities or Theology of the Greeks.

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