The Tragic Love Story of Ishtar and Adonis: A Phoenician Myth
She is the Phoenicians’ goddess of beauty and love. Her story is as sad as strange: Ishtar, was not a mere beautiful human woman but a Phoenician goddess with a godly lineage.
She loved a mortal soul, Adonis, a strong and handsome young man, a love so strong that she wanted to marry him. The love of Ishtar for Adonis provoked the wrath of the gods, as they held the right to turn humans into gods and a goddess wasn’t allowed to marry a mortal.
They conspired against him and sent the god of evil in the form of a pig to kill Adonis. The latter was a strong warrior. He fought with the pig on the banks of Adonis River, now known as “Nahr Ibrahim”. Ishtar witnessed the death of her lover Adonis with her own eyes.
The punishment of the gods was so harsh as Adonis was killed and his body was thrown into the river. The river turned red with the blood that oozed from Adonis’ wound. But the love of Adonis didn’t die in Ishtar’s heart as she stayed faithful to him until the end.
Since that time, the Phoenicians living in that region believed that when the winter is over and the water of the river had become muddier and redder because of the mud and the strong current, that it was the renewed blood of Adonis. The Phoenicians also considered that the red anemone flowers that grew on the banks of the river are the blossoming blood of Adonis.