Case file · Folklore / legend
The Adonis river runs red
Lucian of Samosata wrote about 150 AD that each year the river Adonis near Byblos turned blood-red, which locals said was the blood of Adonis, wounded on Mount Lebanon.
150 CE · 34.05, 35.65 · status: explained
The account
Lucian added that a man of Byblos told him the colour came from red earth washed down by winds. The river is now called Nahr Ibrahim.
The sceptical view
Winter rains carry red soil from the mountains, as Lucian's own informant said.