Hyacinthus
Hyacinthus was a Spartan prince of extraordinary beauty loved by both Apollo and Zephyrus — his accidental death gave birth to the hyacinth flower.
The Legend of Hyacinthus
A beautiful Spartan prince, Hyacinthus was beloved by Apollo, and their companionship made even Zephyrus, the west wind, jealous. While Apollo and Hyacinthus threw a discus together, Zephyrus blew it off course, striking the boy's head and killing him. Apollo, grief-stricken, could not save him despite his healing arts. From Hyacinthus's blood the hyacinth flower sprang, its petals marked with Apollo's cry of grief. The tale echoes the losses of Orpheus and Adonis — beautiful mortals destroyed at the intersection of divine love and divine jealousy.
Parents
Amyclas and Diomede
Symbols
Fun Fact
The hyacinth flower preserves Hyacinthus's memory in every garden — though the ancient hyakinthos may have been a different plant entirely.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Narcissus
🗡 heroYouth who fell in love with his own reflection
A beautiful youth who rejected all lovers and fell in love with his own reflection in a pool. Unable to embrace the image, he wasted away and became a flower.
Cephalus and Procris
🗡 heroLovers destroyed by jealousy
Cephalus and Procris were devoted spouses whose mutual jealousy — tested by Eos and by a magic gift — led to Procris's accidental death.
Anchises
🗡 heroLove, royalty, Troy
Trojan prince beloved by Aphrodite and father of Aeneas, the legendary founder of Rome
Amyclas
🗡 heroKingship, Laconia
Legendary king of Sparta and founder of the ancient city of Amyclae near Sparta
Tithonus
🗡 herotragedy
Trojan prince beloved by Eos who was granted immortality but not eternal youth, aging endlessly into a withered husk.
Iphis of Argos
🗡 heroUnrequited Love, Class, Suicide
Poor Argive youth who died of unrequited love for Anaxarete, who was then turned to stone.
Paris
🗡 heroPrince who caused the Trojan War
Paris was the Trojan prince whose judgement of three goddesses and abduction of Helen ignited the Trojan War — the most consequential act of desire in Western mythology.
Bellerophon
🗡 heroThe hero who tamed Pegasus
The Corinthian hero who tamed the winged horse Pegasus and slew the Chimera, but fell from heaven when he tried to reach Olympus.
Psyche
🗡 heroMortal whose love conquered a god
Psyche was a princess so beautiful that Aphrodite was jealous — she married Eros in darkness and lost him when she looked, then won him back through impossible labours.
Deianeira
🗡 herolove, destruction
The wife of Heracles whose love inadvertently killed the greatest hero in Greek mythology when she used the poisoned shirt of Nessus.
Troilus
🗡 herotragedy
Young Trojan prince killed by Achilles at the temple of Apollo, whose death was prophesied to seal Troy's doom.
Glaucus
🗡 heroNone recorded
A young prince of Crete who drowned in a jar of honey and was restored to life by the seer Polyidus using a magical herb revealed by a serpent