Adonis

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. Nat. 5.20.; Nonn. Dionys. 3.80, 20.144.)
[W.R]