Editing Adonis (section)

=== As a dying and rising god ===
[[File:JamesGeorgeFrazer.jpg|thumb|Photograph of [[James George Frazer|Sir James George Frazer]], the [[Anthropology|anthropologist]] who is most directly responsible for promoting the concept of a "dying and rising god" archetype{{sfn|Ehrman|2012|pages=222–223}}{{sfn|Barstad|1984|page=149}}{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|pages=142–143}}]]
{{main|Dying-and-rising deity}}
The late nineteenth-century Scottish [[Anthropology|anthropologist]] [[James George Frazer|Sir James George Frazer]] wrote extensively about Adonis in his monumental study of comparative religion, ''[[The Golden Bough]]'' (the first edition of which was published in 1890){{sfn|Ehrman|2012|pages=222–223}}{{sfn|Mettinger|2004|page=375}} as well as in later works.{{sfn|Barstad|1984|pages=149–150}} Frazer claimed that Adonis was just one example of the archetype of a "dying-and-rising god" found throughout all cultures.{{sfn|Barstad|1984|page=149}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2012|pages=222–223}}{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|pages=140–142}} In the mid-twentieth century, some scholars began to criticise the designation of "dying-and-rising god", in some cases arguing that deities like Adonis, previously referred to as "dying and rising", would be better termed separately as "dying gods" and "disappearing gods",{{sfn|Smith|1987|pages=521–527}}{{sfn|Mettinger|2004|page=374}} asserting that gods who "died" did not return, and those who returned never "really" died.{{sfn|Smith|1987|pages=521–527}}{{sfn|Mettinger|2004|page=374}}

Biblical scholars Eddy and Boyd (2007) applied this rationale to Adonis based on the fact that his portion of the year spent in the Underworld with Persephone is not really a death and resurrection, but merely an instance of a living person staying in the Underworld.{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|page=143}} They further argued that Adonis is not explicitly described as rising from the dead in any extant Classical Greek writings,{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|page=143}}{{sfn|Burkert|1985|page=177}} though the fact that such a belief existed is attested by authors in Late Antiquity.{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|page=143}} For example, [[Origen]] discusses Adonis, whom he associates with Tammuz, in his  ''Selecta in Ezechielem'' ( "Comments on Ezekiel"), noting that "they say that for a long time certain rites of initiation are conducted: first, that they weep for him, since he has died; second, that they rejoice for him because he has risen from the dead (''apo nekrôn anastanti'')" (cf. J.-P. Migne, ''Patrologiae Cursus Completus: Series Graeca'', 13:800).

Some other scholars have continued to cite Adonis/Tammuz as an example of a dying and rising god, suggesting that the descent into and return from the underworld is a functional analogue for death even if no physical cause of death is depicted.{{sfn|Dalley|1989}}{{sfn|Corrente|2012}}{{sfn|Corrente|2019}}

<gallery mode="packed" heights="180px">
File:Annibale Carracci - Venus, Adonis and Cupid - WGA4428.jpg|''Venus and Adonis'' ({{circa}} 1595) by [[Annibale Carracci]]
File:Cornelis Holsteyn - Venus de dood van Adonis bewenend 1638-58.jpg|''Venus and Cupid lamenting the dead Adonis'' (1656) by [[Cornelis Holsteyn]]
File:Luca Giordano 020.jpg|''Death of Adonis'' (1684–1686) by [[Luca Giordano]]
File:Giuseppe-Mazzuoli-The-Death-of-Adonis-hermitag.jpg|''[[The Death of Adonis (Mazzuoli)]]'' (1709) by [[Giuseppe Mazzuoli (1644–1725)|Giuseppe Mazzuoli]]
File:Venus and Adonis. Francois Lemoyne.jpg|''[[Aphrodite|Venus]] and Adonis'' (1792) by [[François Lemoyne]]
File:The Awakening of Adonis - John William Waterhouse (1899).jpg|''The Awakening of Adonis'' (1899–1900) by [[John William Waterhouse]]
</gallery>