Hyacinthus
(
Ὑάκινθος).
1.
Son of King Amyclas, of Amyclae in Laconia, and of Diomedes. He was beloved for his beauty
by Apollo and Zephyrus. As Apollo was one day teaching the boy how to play at quoits, on the
banks of the river Eurotas, the wind-god in his jealousy drove the quoit with such violence
against the head of Hyacinthus that the blow killed him. From his blood Apollo caused a
flower of the same name to spring up, with the exclamation of woe, AI, AI, marked upon its
petals. (See
Aiax.) Hyacinthus, like Adonis, is a
personification of vegetation, which flourishes in the spring-time, but is scorched and
killed by the glowing heat of the summer sun, which is symbolized by the quoit or discus.
2.
The flower sprung from the blood of Hyacinthus, described in the older poets as dark but
later as rather light; so that several flowers have been included under the name.
3.
The jacinth, or perhaps the sapphire.