a lot in the myths, Gods or Goddesses would get angry with anyone who attracts or ( at least try to) get with their spouses. Hades was even furious with Pirithous when he tried to take Persephone so I kinda wondered why Hades doesn't react in the Adonis myth especially when the kid grew up in the underworld, he's bound to know. So I personally believe that either Persephone saw Adonis as her kid or Hades was fine with his wife having a boy toy or they share him.
Hi! Recently I bought and read a book called "Adonis, his representations in South Italian Vase-painting". From what I've seen, apparently, the Adonis myth is not Greek, but "imported" from other cultures. That said, the sources we've got left are not very clear. What is known for sure is that Adonis and Aphrodite were lovers, but the relationship with Persephone is pretty ambiguous.
From the vase paintings in the book, at least, to me, it doesn't seem that Adonis reciprocates Persephone's affection (like, he doesn't stare at her but looks the other way, or looks towards Aphrodite if she is present in the painting too).
A second problem is that Persephone's gestures are ambiguous too. Like, in one vase she places her hand on Adonis's knee, but: ¿is that gesture meant to be seen as romantic? ¿Or it could be a mom-son affection? There is a vase painting where Persephone places her hand on Zeus'** shoulder, and they don't have a romantic relationship, but there are also sculptures where Persephone touches Hades' shoulder gently and he is her husband. (**now, the book says it's Zeus but I think it's Hades). Touching knees could be seen as a "begging" gesture too.
Vase paintings sometimes can be hard to read without a text telling the story because: 1) some vases were not created for main Greece but as an export product for Greek colonies or other cultures overseas, 2) not all the vases have the name of the characters on them (usually when the names were written it could be because the audience was not Greek or familiar with the myths), 3) it depends on who bought the vase (like from IV B.C women could buy and customize vases stories), 4) some times modern scholars or archaeologists make mistakes when identifying the characters, like in some vases not even scholars are sure if the god depicted is Zeus or Hades because, if there is no name written, and they share traits (throne, scepter, etc.) there might be no way to differentiate them.
Also, the religious ceremonies or rituals were always about celebrating or mourning the Aphrodite-Adonis relationship. As far as I know, no Ancient Greek woman celebrated Adonis being together with Persephone because Persephone was equal to "death", while Aphrodite was life and romance.
I've been always confused about this myth, and again, I don't think there is a 100% clear answer because the sources we've got left are confusing.
Another difficult aspect is that, in some versions and vase paintings, it's Hades himself the one who plays the judge and rules in favor of both goddesses, dividing Adonis' time with them.
This makes everything confusing because NO Ancient Greek man would allow his wife to cheat on him, not even the myths (that are "fantasy" and not always following real-life traditions) allowed wives to cheat. When Aphrodite cheats on Hephaestus that is a ground for divorce. So, it would be REALLY weird and "impossible" for the ancient Greek mindset that Adonis and Persephone were lovers, and Hades allowed that in his own house.
My thoughts to solve this situation are:
Maybe this myth was "non-canon" at all since it was mainly celebrated by women and was a foreign "cultural import". Maybe that's why Persephone has a lover and Hades allows it, but STILL, it doesn't feel like a satisfactory answer, since I've never seen any other myth or tale in Ancient Greece where a husband is ok with such a situation. It feels incredibly odd and foreign. If the relationship was secret, it could be understandable that Hades doesn't do anything, but if he knew and he was the one allowing Persephone to stay with Adonis, it's absolutely weird for Adonis to be Persephone's sexual lover. Average ancient Greek men would divorce or punish the man who touched his wife. And even if he forgave his wife (like Menelaus with Helen) he wouldn't allow the lover to live with them and have a sexual relationship.
Another answer, which is my most comfortable answer, is that Persephone doesn't have a romantic-sexual relationship with Adonis, but she wants him as his son or loves him in a "platonic" way, like, Adonis was way TOO beautiful, so maybe Persephone wants him as "something beautiful to treasure" rather a "partner". From the vase paintings, most of the time, the dynamic between Adonis and Persephone doesn't feel so romantic at all compared to Adonis-Aphrodite. Like, you can see in vases that Adonis and Aphrodite touch each other, stare at each others' eyes, are about to kiss and etc. In written texts or vase paintings, Adonis always wants to stay with Aphrodite and never with Persephone (so it would be an unreciprocated love, or it's a mom-son relationship where the son doesn't want to stay with her mom -Persephone- and prefers love before his "family").
Also, another weird thing from the myth, which I don't understand at all and doesn't feel very Greek, is that Adonis is meant to be a BABY. So, Aphrodite leaves the baby Adonis with Persephone (we know it's a baby because he was put in a basket and he is depicted as a little kid in some paintings, and the basket is shown too). So, this kind of incest feels very odd for Greek mythology. The only mother-son "allowed" incest was Gaia-Ouranos. The fact that Persephone raises this baby and then wants to make him her lover?? There is no other myth like this anywhere. Even the mother and step-son myths had tragic endings (like Phaedra). That's why I believe Adonis could be something like Persephone's stepson and she fights for him to stay (as Demeter asked Persephone to remain by her side).
Also, we don't know much about kisses and affection in Ancient Greece, like maybe a gesture like touching a knee or shoulder is not romantic per see. Maybe in a vase Persephone and Adonis are not necessarily shown as lovers, now, this is complicated too because, in the vases where Persephone and Adonis are together, there are some sex-romatic hints (like Erotes flying or Persephone's dress showing her shoulders or her breasts more visible,etc.).
The last comment is that I think the story's logic would depend on WHO told this myth and for WHAT kind of audience. Was this myth meant for Aphrodite's worshippers and it was a tale about a goddess losing her beloved partner to the terrible power of death (Persephone)? Or was this myth about life-death together, and Adonis was meant to love both goddesses? It's difficult to say.
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