Topics (move over topic to see place in topic list)
03 Religious festivals, cults, rituals and practices
02 Religious and ideological symbols and iconographic motifs
03 Religious festivals, cults, rituals and practices
03 Religious festivals, cults, rituals and practices
Keywords
Adonis
festivals
Period
3rd century CE
Roman Empire
Channel
Christian-Greek philosophers and scholars
Text
Origen, Selecta in Ezechielem 8.12: The god whom the Greeks call Adonis is called Tammuz, as they say, among the Jews and among the Syrians … They seem to perform some sort of initiation rites every year, first, because they bewail him as if he were dead, and second, because they rejoice on his behalf as if he had risen from the dead. Those who are knowledgeable about the deeper interpretation of the Greek myths and what is called mythic theology say that Adonis is the symbol of the fruits of the earth, which are mourned when they are sown, but which rise, thereby causing joy among the farmers when they (= the seeds) grow up.
Mettinger, T. Riddle of Resurrection. "Dying and Rising Gods" in the Ancient Near East. Coniectanea Biblica Old Testament Series 50. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International 2001.
