In Greek mythology, hyacinth flowers were said to have risen from the blood of Hyakinthos, a youth killed while practicing throwing the discus. The story has its roots in ancient Mycenaean times from Amyclae, southwest of Sparta most likely as an ancient summer festival celebrated in the Spartan moth of Hyacinthius.
While there are numerous variations, the tale is told something like this: Hyakinthos and his friend Apollo were taking turns to throw the discus. When Apollo threw Hyakinthis, seeking to impress him, ran to fetch it. Boreas, in a fit of jealousy for their friendship, caused the discus to be deflected, striking Hyakinthos on the head and killing him. Apollo, devastated at the loss of his friend, would not allow Hades to claim him but created the flowers called hyacinthos grew from his spilled blood. The flower's petals bore markings,
al,
al, alas, alas.
This hyacinthos has been identified with a number of plants, none of them the hyacinth,
H. orientale, we know today. Possibly it was a fritillary,
Scilla bifolia, or even an iris. The modern genus of some 50 species was acknowledged by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 as having been named by Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, who credited Homer's úάκvθoς
hyakinthos, with the plant.
