Adonis, in Greek mythology, a beautiful youth beloved by Venus. According to the account received from the cyclic poet Panyasis, he was the son of Theias, king of Assyria, and his daughter Smyrna. Venus, discovering the beauty of the child, hid him in a chest, which she intrusted to Proserpine. Hence resulted the dispute between these goddesses as to which of them Adonis should belong to, which was settled by the judgment of Jupiter that he should remain with each of them an equal part of each year. Adonis died of a wound received from a wild boar in the Idalian woods, and the sorrow of Venus for his loss was so great that the gods allowed his return to earth for six months of every year to console her.