Adonis (, also: ??????) is a figure of West Semitic origin, where he is a central cult figure in various mystery religions, who enters Greek mythology in Hellenistic times. The standard modern survey and repertory is W. Atallah, Adonis dans la littérature et l'art grecs (Paris) 1966. He is closely related to the Egyptian Osiris, the Semitic Tammuz and Baal Hadad, the Etruscan Atunis and the Phrygian Attis, all of whom are deities of rebirth and vegetation.See life-death-rebirth deity. Some mythologists believe that Balder is to be read as his counterpart in Germanic mythology. Adonis is one of the most complex cult figures in classical times. He has had multiple roles, and there has been much scholarship over the centuries concerning his meaning and purpose in Greek religious beliefs. He is an annually-renewed, ever-youthful vegetation god, a life-death-rebirth deity whose nature is tied to the calendar. His cult belonged t

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