Flower Myths: The Creation Of Hyacinthus

In Greece, there are the loveliest of wild flowers. They would be beautiful anywhere, but Greece is not a rich and fertile country of wide meadows and fruitful fields where flowers seem at home.

Another flower that came into being through the death of a beautiful youth was hyacinth, again, not like the flower we call by that name, but lily-shaped and a deep purple, or, some say, a splendid crimson. That was a tragic death, and each year it was commemorated by

and struck Hyacinthus on the forehead, causing a terrible wound. He had been Apollo's dearest companion. There was no rivalry between them. The god was horror-struck to see the blood gush forth and the lad, deathly pale, fell to the ground. He turned as pale himself as he caught him up in his arms and tried to staunch the wound. But it was too late. He was dead and Apollo, kneeling beside him, wept for him, as he died so young, so beautiful.

Where his blood fell, there bloomed a wondrous flower which was to be called Hyacinth.

Such charming tales of lovely young people who, dying in the springtime of life and fittingly changed into spring flowers, probably have a dark background. What more natural then, if a beautiful boy thus been killed, than to think when later the ground bloomed with narcissus or hyacinths that the flowers were his very self, changed and yet living again? So they would tell each other it had happened, a lovely miracle which made the cruel death seem less cruel.