The Birth of Adonis
Victor Haddad (C)
The Birth of Adonis (126cm x 96cm) Mythology
Adonis
was the son of Myrrha. Born from incestuous loves of this
princess with King Cyniras, her father, he was as handsome
as a God and a hunter. Venus fell in love with him and begged
him not to hunt but defenseless animals.
However, one day, in the mountains of Lebanon, he chased a
wild boar; this later by turning back, tore him with his fangs,
injuring him to death.
Goddess Ashtarout shall vainly wait for the one who will never
come back. Driven by her divine instinct, she thinks about
an imminent misfortune. Sitting by her window, she looks worriedly
her sight lost in the distance.
Suddenly the horizon is torn by the silhouette of a peasant
hurrying up. Out of breath, he announces in a broken voice:
"A wild boar has injured Adonis to death. His divine
blood has been shed impregnating the soft ground. The water
of the river that gets lost in the remotest sea, has been
oozing with it."
Ashtarout, waking up from her blackout, laments and goes into
the morning of her beloved. Driven by her love, stronger than
death, she forces her way to sheol, penetrates in the world
of Raphaims, meets the divine Mot and with the persuasion
force given by love, snatches Adonis from the laws of sheol,
out of the jealous desires of the keen of darkness and brings
him back on earth, alive, resurrected. It was the third day.
A spring sun was dancing with the river water, going down
in floods, from on rock to another, towards the sea, carrying
to the Gebeal people, the good news: "Adonis is alive".
Unknown flowers until then spread their red petals, facing
the sky similar to children mouths longing for a motherly
kiss. Every drop of the blood shed by Adonis God has flourished
in an anemone. Since that time, every year, anemone flowers
cover the Lebanese countryside, paying homage to the young
God of Afka.