This illuminating study of the early modern revival of the Adonis myth combines careful analysis of important works by Pontano, Marino and other authors with a nuanced understanding of the intellectual milieux through which their texts circulated, in Italy and beyond. Grounded on close knowledge of ancient sources and their transmission, Adonis is an exemplary demonstration of the importance of the history of scholarship for both Latin and vernacular literature from the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries, highlighting the remarkable extent of interconnection between the arts, sciences and humanist philology in the Italian Renaissance. -- Andrew Laird, University of Warwick, UK Like a prism that splits a single ray of light into a whole spectrum, this book sheds new light on a wide range of issues in the arts, sciences and humanist thought in the Italian Renaissance. An outstanding book. -- Clifford Cunningham Sun News Miami