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HYACINTHUS ,' in See also:Greek See also:mythology, the youngest son of the Spartan See also: Out of his See also:blood there See also:grew the See also:flower known as the See also:hyacinth, the petals of which were marked with the mournful exclamation Al, Al, " alas " (cf. " that sanguine flower inscribed with woe "). This Greek hyacinth cannot have been the flower which now bears the name: it has been identified with a See also:species of See also:iris and with the See also:larkspur (delphinium Aiacis), which appear to have the markings described. The Greek hyacinth was also said to have sprung from the blood of See also:Ajax. Evidently the Greek authorities confused both the See also:flowers and the traditions. The See also:death of Hyacinthus was celebrated at Amyclae by the second most important of Spartan festivals, the Hyacinthia, which took See also:place in the Spartan See also:month Hecatombeus. What month this was is not certain. Arguing from See also:Xenophon (See also:Hell. iv. 5) we get May; assuming that the Spartan Hecatombeus is the See also:Attic Hecatombaion, we get See also:July; or again it may be the Attic Scirophorion, See also:June. At all events the Hyacinthia was an See also:early summer festival. It lasted three days, and the See also:rites gradually passed from See also:mourning for Hyacinthus to rejoicings ' The word is probably derived from an Indo-See also:European See also:root, meaning " youthful," found in Latin, Greek, See also:English and See also:Sanskrit. Some have suggested that the first two letters are from becv, to See also:rain, (cf. See also:Hyades). in the See also:majesty of Apollo, the See also:god of See also:light and warmth, and giver of the ripe fruits of the See also:earth (see a passage from See also:Polycrates, Laconica, quoted by See also:Athenaeus 139 D; criticized by L. R. Farnell, Cults of the Greek States, iv. 266 See also:foil.). This festival is dearly connected with vegetation, and marks the passage from the youthful verdure of See also:spring to the dry See also:heat of summer and the ripening of the See also:corn. The precise relation which Apollo bears to Hyacinthus is obscure. The fact that at See also:Tarentum a Hyacinthus tomb is ascribed by See also:Polybius to Apollo Hyacinthus (not Hyacinthius) has led some to think that the personalities are one, and that the See also:hero is merely an See also:emanation from the god; See also:confirmation is sought in the Apolline appellation rerph ap, alleged by See also:Hesychius to have been used in See also:Laconia, and assumed to describe a composite figure of Apollo-Hyacinthus. Against this theory is the essential difference between the two figures. Hyacinthus is a chthonian vegetation god whose worshippers are afflicted and sorrowful; Apollo, though interested in vegetation, is never regarded as inhabiting the See also:lower See also:world, his death is not celebrated in any See also:ritual, his See also:worship is joyous and triumphant, and finally the Amyclean Apollo is specifically the god of See also:war and See also:song. Moreover, Pausanias describes the See also:monument at Amyclae as consisting of a See also:rude figure of Apollo See also:standing on an See also:altar-shaped See also:base which formed the tomb of Hyacinthus. Into the latter bfferings were put for the hero before gifts were made to the god. On the whole it is probable that Hyacinthus belongs originally to the pre-Dorian See also:period, and that his story was appropriated and See also:woven into their own Apollo myth by the conquering See also:Dorians. Possibly he may be the See also:apotheosis of a pre-Dorian king of Amyclae. J. G. Frazer further suggests that he may have been regarded as spending the See also:winter months in the under-world and returning to earth in the spring when the " hyacinth " blooms. In this See also:case his festival represents perhaps both the Dorian See also:conquest of Amyclae and the death of spring before the ardent heat of the summer See also:sun, typified as usual by the discus (quoit) with which Apollo is said to have slain him. With the growth of the hyacinth from his blood should be compared the See also:oriental stories of .violets springing from the blood of See also:Attis, and See also:roses and anemones from that of See also:Adonis. As a youthful vegetation god, Hyacinthus may be compared with See also:Linus and Scephrus, both of whom are connected with Apollo Agyieus. See L. R. Farnell, Cults of the Greek States, vol. iv. (19o7), pp. 125 foil., 264 foil.; J. G. Frazer, Adonis, Attis, See also:Osiris (1906), bk. ii. ch. 7; S. Wide, Lakonische Kulte, p. 290; E. Rhode, See also:Psyche, 3rd ed. i. 137 foil. ; See also:Roscher, Lexikon d. griech. u. See also:rein. Myth., s.v. " Hyakinthos " (Greve) ; L. See also:Preller, Griechische Mythol. 4th ed. i. 248 foil. (J. M. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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