Adonis River

Adonis River,

a stream of Palestine running from the base of Lebanon to the Mediterranean (Strabo, 16:2, 19, 755; Pliny, Hist. Nat. v, 17, 20), celebrated as the scene of the fable of the death of Adonis (q. v,), whose blood at certain seasons was said to .tinge the stream-evidently referring to the reddish hue of the earth washed down by the freshets-has been identified since the Middle Ages with the modern: Nahr Abrahim, a romantic stream which gushes out from a cave and falls in cascades down the declivity. SEE APHEK.