Thamʹmuz

The Syrian and Phœnician name of Adoʹnis. His death happened on the banks of the river Adonis, and in summer-time the waters always become reddened with the hunter’s blood. (See Ezekiel viii. 14.)

“Thammuz came next behind,

Whose annual wound on Lebanon allured

The Syrian damsels to lament his fate

In amorous ditties all a summer’s day,

While smooth Adonis from his native rock

Ran purple to the sea, supposed with blood

Of Thammuz yearly wounded.”

Milton: Paradise Lost, bk. iii. 446–452.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

Thamʹmuz

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