Adonis ("AcWic, pro'i. from a Phoenician form of the Heb. *"HM, lord), was, according to Apollodorus (iii, 14, 3), the son of Cinyrus and Medaue, or, accord- ing to other accounts (Hesiod and Panyasis in Apol- lod. ut sup. 14), of Phoenix and Alphesibcea, or of an Assyrian king, Theias, by his own daughter, Smyrna, who was changed into a myrrh-tree (pfivpva) in en- deavoring to escape her father's rage on discovering the incest. The beauty of the youth made him a fa- vorite with Venus, with whom he was permitted to spend a portion of each year after his death, which occurred from a wound by a wild boar in the chase. (See Smith's Diet, of Class. Biog. and Mythol. s. v.) This event was celebrated by a yearly festival, origi- nally by the Syrians, who called a river near which the fatal accident occurred (Keland, Palasst. p. 269) by his name (Robinson's Researches, new ed. iii, 606), and thence by all the nations around the Mediterranean. See Braun, Selecta Sacra, p. 376 sq, ; Fickensecher, Erlliir. d. Mythus Adonis (Gotha, 1800); Groddeck, Ueb. d. Fest des Adonis, in his Antiquar. Vermche (Lemberg, 1800), p. 83 sq. ; Moinichen, De Adonidfi Phmnicum (Hafn. 1702); Maurer, De Adonide ejvsque cultu (Erlang. 1782).
The Vulg. gives Adonis as a rendering for Tammuz or Thammuz (IISR ; Sept. Uaftfiov'S), a Syrian deity, for whom the Hebrew idolatresses were accustomed to hold an annual lamentation (Ezek. viii, 14). This idol was doubtless the same with the Phoenician Adon or Adonis, and the feast itself such as they celebrated. Silvestre de Sacy thinks that the name Taramuz was of foreign origin, and probably Egyptian, as well as the god by whom it was borne. In fact, it would prob- ably not be difficult to identify him with Osiris, from whose worship his differed only in accessories. The feast held in honor of Tammuz was solstitial, and commenced with the new moon of July, in the month also called Tammuz. It consisted of two parts, the one
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consecrated to lamentation, and the other to joy ; in the days of grief they mourned the disappearance of the god, and in the clays of gladness celebrated his discovery and return. Adonis or Tammuz appears to have been a sort of incarnation of the sun, regard- ed principally as in a state of passion and sufferance, in connection with the apparent vicissitudes in its ce- lestial position, and with respect to the terrestrial met- amorphoses produced, under its influence, upon vege- tation in advancing to maturity. (See Lucian, De Dea Syra, § vii, 19 ; Selden, De Diis Syr-is, ii, 31 ; Creuzer, Symbolik, iv, 3.) See Tammuz.
Adonists, critics who maintain that the Hebrew points ordinarily annexed to the consonants of the word Jehovah are not the natural points belonging to that word,"but to the words A donai (q. v.) and Elohim ; and that they are applied to the consonants of the inef- fable name Jehovah, to warn the readers that, instead of the word Jehovah, which the Jews were forbid to pronounce, they are always to read A donai. They are opposed to Jehovists, who maintain the opposite view. See Jehovah.
Adon'i-ze'dek (Heb. Adoni'-Tse'dek, pn^-^snx, lord of justice, i. e. just lord; Sept. 'AcwvHjiSac v. r. 'AouvifitZix, Vulg. Adonisedec), the Canaanitish king of Jerusalem when the Israelites invaded Palestine (Josh, x, 1, 3), B.C. 1618. After Jericho and Ai were taken, and the Gibeonites had succeeded in forming a treaty with the Israelites, Adonizedek was the first to rouse himself from the stupor which had fallen on the Canaanites (Josh, i, 9-11), and he induced the other Amoritish kings of Hebron — Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon — to join him in a confederacy against the ene- my. They did not, however, march directly against the invaders, but went and besieged the Gibeonites, to punish them for the discouraging example which their secession from the common cause had afforded. Josh- ua no sooner heard of this than he marched all night from Gilgal to the relief of his allies ; and falling un- expectedly upon the besiegers, soon put them to utter rout. The pursuit was long, and was signalized by Joshua's famous command to the sun and moon, as well as by a tremendous hail-storm, which greatly distressed the fugitive Amorites. See Joshua. The five kings took refuge in a cave, but were observed, and by Joshua's order the mouth of it was closed with large stones, and a f^uard set over it, until the pursuit was over. When the pursuers returned, the cave was opened, and the five kings brought out. The Hebrew chiefs then set their feet upon the necks of the pros- trate monarchs — an ancient mark of triumph, of which the monuments of Persia and Egypt still afford illus- trations. See Triumph. They were then slain, and their bodies hung on trees until the evening, when (comp. Deut. xxi, 23) they were taken down and cast into the cave, the mouth of which was filled up with large stones, which remained long after (Josh, x, 1-27). The severe treatment of these kings by Joshua has been censured and defended with equal disregard of the real circumstances, which are, that the war was avowedly one of extermination, no quarter being giv- en or expected on either side ; and that the war-usages of the Jews were neither worse nor better than those of the people with whom they fought, who would most cer- tainly have treated Joshua and the other Hebrew chiefs in the same manner had they fallen into their hands. (Simeon's Works, ii, 592.) — Kitto. See Canaanites.