“Who mourns for Adonis?” asks Percy Bysshe Shelley in his 1821 poem Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats, Author of Endymion, Hyperion, etc. The obvious answer to the question, looking at this DVD cover for François-René Martin's 2013 French production of English baroque composer John Blow’s 1683 opera Venus and Adonis, would be the goddess of love herself. Stung by the arrows of her own son Cupid, Venus falls in love with the mortal hunter Adonis, only to lose him in a fatal boar hunt. By the final act, mighty Venus, whose powers could enslave the gods themselves, is pitiable in her sorrow. Yet for Shelley, we the readers mourn not for Adonis or his divine lover, but for every young man, like Keats, cut down in the prime of life. We mourn for them and also for ourselves, all human beings destined to follow Adonis down the road to death sooner or later. Love herself mourns for lost youth. Like Adonis, Atys, son of Croesus, will lose his life in a boar hunt recounted by Herodotus in The Histories. However, unlike Adonis, Atys will fall victim not to the tusks of a boar, but to the spear of a hunter.
Shortly after the departure of
Solon from Lydia, Croesus experiences a prophetic dream that Atys, his favorite son, will be killed by an iron spear. Dreams and visions are another recurring motif throughout
The Histories. Croesus moves to forbid Atys from further military campaigns, moves all the spears from the men's quarters, and arranges for his son's marriage. The last of these measures is perhaps in order to ensure another heir in case the dream comes true. Croesus does have another son who is a deaf-mute, who will come into play later on in a different section. Meanwhile, Croesus takes in a new guest at court, a Phrygian exile named Adrastus, who had to leave his home after killing his own brother in an accident. Adrastus is seeking purification for blood guilt, similar to Orestes in Aeschylus's
The Eumenides and many other works from the period.
Around this time, a wild boar is wreaking havoc in the country, so a group of hunters assemble to deal with the situation. Atys, chafing at the lack of action since his father's dream, begs to be allowed to participate. Croesus agrees, but sends Adrastus along as a personal bodyguard for Atys. Choosing a bodyguard prone to accidental killing may not have been the most prudent choice on the part of Croesus, as Adrastus aims a spear at the boar and strikes Atys instead. Croesus's worst nightmare has come to pass.
Atys is dead and, with him, the promise of youth. The guilt ridden Adrastus commits suicide on Atys's grave. Croesus sits paralyzed with grief for two years, until the rise of the Persian Empire in the east stirs him forth to action once again and sets him on the path to his ultimate downfall.
Next, Book 1.46-55: The Oracle of Delphi
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