The blood of Adonis

In April, the blood-red anenome, or poppy, flowers across Syria. Officially, Anenome Coronaria; in Arabic Shaqa'iq Noaman, or the sisters of Noaman.

According to legend still told in Syria, the flowers first sprang from the blood of Adonis, the Greek god with Semetic origins. After his death on Mount Lebanon at the tusks of a wild boar, Aphrodite sprinkled nectar on his body and each drop of his blood turned into a red poppy.

Every spring, the blood of Adonis infuses the landscape of Greater Syria.