Chapter 2: The Olympians
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♠ Pherekydes 3F120 – Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker 1, p. 92, ed. F. Jacoby. 2d ed. Leiden 1957.
Scholia at Homer, Odyssey 19. 432: Philonis, daughter of Dion, lived in Parnassos where she lay with Apollo 〈and Hermes〉; for she possessed such a lovely beauty that even the gods, despite being rivals, wished to lie with her. And so, from Apollo Philammon was begotten, a wise man who seems to have been the first to put together choruses of maidens, and from Hermes Autolykos was begotten. This one living in Parnassos stole and put away a lot. In fact, he possessed this art from his father, that when he stole something he escaped notice of men, and he changed the animals of his plunder into the shape that he wished, so that he became the master of a very large booty. The story is in Pherekydes. (Transl. E. Bianchelli) Greek Text
♠ Hesiod, Ehoiai fr 10a.20-24 MW (The Catalogue of Women) fr 10a.20-24 MW – Hesiodi Theogonia, Opera et Dies, Scutum, pp. 227-28, ed F. Solmsen. 3rd ed. Oxford 1990.
♠ Hyginus, De Astronomia 2.25.2
Others call her a daughter of Apollo by Chrysothemis, an infant, named Parthenos. Because she died young she was put by Apollo among the constellations. Latin Text
♠ Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.162-219
You also, Hyacinthus, would have been
set in the sky! if Phoebus had been given
time which the cruel fates denied for you.
But in a way you are immortal too.
Though you have died. Always when warm spring
drives winter out, and Aries (the Ram)
succeeds to Pisces (watery Fish), you rise
and blossom on the green turf. And the love
my father had for you was deeper than he felt
for others. Delphi center of the world,
had no presiding guardian, while the God
frequented the Eurotas and the land
of Sparta, never fortified with walls.
His zither and his bow no longer fill
his eager mind and now without a thought
of dignity, he carried nets and held
the dogs in leash, and did not hesitate
to go with Hyacinthus on the rough,
steep mountain ridges; and by all of such
associations, his love was increased. (Continue reading) Latin Text
♠ Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.106-42
In all the throng the cone-shaped cypress came;
a tree now, it was changed from a dear youth
loved by the god who strings the lyre and bow.
For there was at one time, a mighty stag
held sacred by those nymphs who haunt the fields
Carthaean. His great antlers spread so wide,
they gave an ample shade to his own head.
Those antlers shone with gold: from his smooth throat
a necklace, studded with a wealth of gems,
hung down to his strong shoulders—beautiful.
A silver boss, fastened with little thongs,
played on his forehead, worn there from his birth;
and pendants from both ears, of gleaming pearls,
adorned his hollow temples. Free of fear,
and now no longer shy, frequenting homes
of men he knew, he offered his soft neck
even to strangers for their petting hands. (Continue reading) Latin Text
♠ Hesiod, Ehoiai (The Catalogue of Women) fr 171 MW – Fragmenta Hesiodea, p. 83, ed. R. Merkelbach and M. L. West. Oxford 1967.
♠ ApB 3.10.3 – Apollodoros, Bibliotheke (Library)
Amyclas and Diomede, daughter of Lapithus, had sons, Cynortes and Hyacinth. They say that this Hyacinth was beloved of Apollo and killed by him involuntarily with the cast of a quoit. Greek Text
♠ Euripides, Helen 1469-74
the revels of Hyakinthos in night-long joy—Hyakinthos, whom Phoebus killed with the round discus, contesting for the farthest throw—a day of the sacrifice of oxen in the Lakonian land. Greek Text
♠ Palaiphatos 46 – Mythographi Graeci 3, pp. 67-68, ed. N. Festa. Leipzig 1902.
Hyacinthus: Hyacinthus was a beautiful young boy from Amyclae. Apollo saw him, Zephyrus too; and both were caught by his beauty. Each of them was generous in the way he had: Apollo shot arrows and Zephyrus blew. From the former there were songs and sweet pleasure; from the other panic and confusion. The youth inclined toward the god. Zephyrus was jealous and armed himself for combat. At a later time, Hyacinthus was training at the gymnasium, and punishment from Zephyrus. It was a discus which served to slay the youth, let fly by the god, but carried along by Zephyrus. Hyacinthus died. Earth could not leave the disaster without a monument. A flower grew in the youth’s stead and took his name. And people say the beginning of that name is written on the petals. Greek Text
♠ Loukianos Dialogi Deorum (Dialogues of the Gods) 16
APOLLO
He was learning to throw the quoit, and I was throwing with him. I had just sent my quoit up into the air as usual, when jealous Zephyr (damned be he above all winds! he had long been in love with Hyacinth, though Hyacinth would have nothing to say to him)—Zephyr came blustering down from Taygetus, and dashed the quoit upon the child’s head; blood flowed from the wound in streams, and in one moment all was over. My first thought was of revenge; I lodged an arrow in Zephyr, and pursued his flight to the mountain. As for the child, I buried him at Amyclae, on the fatal spot; and from his blood I have caused a flower to spring up, sweetest, fairest of flowers, inscribed with letters of woe.—Is my grief unreasonable?
HERMES
It is, Apollo. You knew that you had set your heart upon a mortal: grieve not then for his mortality. Greek Text
♦ Throne of Apollo at Amyklai (known through Pausanias’ description and modern reconstructions)
♠ Pausanias Description of Greece 3.19.4
On the altar are also Demeter, the Maid, Pluto, next to them Fates and Seasons, and with them Aphrodite, Athena and Artemis. They are carrying to heaven Hyacinthus and Polyboea, the sister, they say, of Hyacinthus, who died a maid. Now this statue of Hyacinthus represents him as bearded. Greek Text
Reconstruction of whole throne by A. Furtwängler, from J.G. Frazer, Pausanias’s Description of Greece, vol. III, Commentary (2nd ed. 1913), p. 352
♦ New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art 50.11.7: Lakonian black-figure cup with Herakles and Athena, or Hyakinthos and Polyboia going to Olympos (i.e. Zeus enthroned)
♦ Athens, National Museum (no #): Attic red-figure plate fragment with boy (Hyakinthos?) on swan
Beazley Archive Pottery Database
♦ Boston, Museum of Fine Arts 95.31: Attic red-figure cup with Zephyros and Hyakinthos?
Beazley Archive Pottery Database
♠ Antoninus Liberalis 23 – Mythography Graeci 2.1, pp. 101-2, ed. E. Martini. Leipzig 1896.
Homer, Odyssey (Nekuia) 11.576-81
“And I saw Tityos, son of glorious Gaea, lying on the ground. Over nine roods he stretched, and two vultures sat, one on either side, and tore his liver, plunging their beaks into his bowels, nor could he beat them off with his hands. For he had offered violence to Leto, the glorious wife of Zeus, as she went toward Pytho through Panopeus with its lovely lawns.” Greek Text
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Tags:
#Athena, #Herakles, #Hyakinthos, #Polyboia, #Zephyros, #Zeus
Artistic sources edited by Frances Van Keuren, Prof. Emerita, Lamar Dodd School of Art, Univ. of Georgia, June 2019.
Literary sources edited by Elena Bianchelli, Retired Senior Lecturer of Classical Languages and Culture, Univ. of Georgia, February 2021
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