Myths and Legends: Death of Hyacinth

The Death of Hyacinth. To find out more about Hyacinth, the lover of Apollo, see this Wikipedia article: link; for information about the image: image source.

Hyacinth is a hero in Greek mythology who had a cultic shrine at Amyclae in ancient times; in some legends, he is said to be the son of King Amyclas, the ancestor of the Spartan people. Unfortunately, Hyacinth was loved both by the god Apollo and by the god of the West Wind, Zephyr. One day when playing a discus game with Apollo, Zephyr caused the discus to hit Hyacinth in the head, killing him. In this painting by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, there is a tennis racket lying beside Hyacinth; you can read more about the "tennis" version of the myth at the Real Tennis website. Here's the detail:

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