Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography/Ado'nis

​ADO'NIS (Ἄδωνις: Nahr el Ibrahim), a small river of Syria, which rising in Mount Libanus enters the Mediterranean a few miles to the S. of Byblus. Maundrell records the fact which he himself witnessed, that after a sudden fall of rain, the river descending in floods is tinged of a deep red by the soil of the hills in which it takes its rise, and imparts this colour to the sea for a considerable distance. Hence some have sought to explain the legend of the beautiful Adonis, who was killed by a wild boar on Mount Libanus (Strab. p. 755; Lucian, de Dea Syr. 6; Plin. v. 20.; Nonn. Dionys. iii. 80, xx. 144.) [ W. R. ]

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