HULAGPOS

Hyacinth was a hero, the son of Clio and Pierus, King of Macedonia, or of king Oebalus of Sparta, or of king Amyclas, also a Spartan. His cult at Amyclae, where his tomb was located, at the feet of Apollo’s statue, dates from the Mycenean era. He is the tutelary deity of one of the principal Spartan festivals, the Hyacinthia, held every summer. The festival lasted three days, one day of mourning for the death of the divine hero and the last two celebrating his rebirth to immortality.

In the myth, Hyacinth was a beautiful youth loved by the god Apollo. The boy’s beauty caused a feud between Zephyrus, the Wind God, and Apollo. The two took turns throwing the discus, until Apollo, to impress him, threw it with all his might. Hyacinth ran to catch it, to impress Apollo in turn. Jealous that Hyacinth preferred the radiant archery god Apollo, Zephyrus blew Apollo’s discus off course, so as to injure and kill Hyacinth. When he died, Apollo didn’t allow Hades to claim the boy; rather, he made a flower, the hyacinth, from his spilled blood.