- Hyacinthus the Lacedaemonian
Hyacinthus (Ancient Greek: polytonic|Υάκινθος) was a
Lacedaemon ian who is said to have gone toAthens , and in compliance with anoracle , to have causedAegleis and his other daughters to be sacrificed on the tomb of theCyclops Geraestus, for the purpose of delivering the city fromfamine and the plague, under which it was suffering during the war withMinos . His daughters, who were sacrificed either toAthena orPersephone , were known in the Attic legends by the name of the "Hyacinthides", which they derived from their father. [Apollodorus , iii. 15. § 8.] [Hyginus, "Fabulae" 238.] Some traditions make them the daughters ofErechtheus and relate that they received their name from the village of Hyacinthus, where they were sacrificed at the time when Athens was attacked by the Eleusinians and Thracians, or Thebans. [Suda , "s.v." polytonic|Παρθένοι.] [Demosth. "Epitaph," p. 1397.] [Lycurg. "c. Leocrat." 24.] [Cicero , "p. Sext." 48.] [Hyginus, "Fabulae" 46.]The names and numbers of the Hyacinthides differ in the different writers. The account of
Apollodorus is confused: he mentions four, and represents them as married, although they were sacrificed as maidens, whence they are sometimes called simply polytonic|αι παρθένοι. Those traditions in which they are described as the daughters of Erechtheus confound them withAgraulos ,Herse , andPandrosus , [Schol. "ad Apollon. Rhod." i. 211.] or with the Hyades. [Servius, "ad Aen." i. 748.] [Citation
last = Schmitz
first = Leonhard
author-link =
contribution = Hyacinthus (2)
editor-last = Smith
editor-first = William
title =Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
volume = 2
pages = 532-533
publisher =
place = Boston
year = 1867
contribution-url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/1640.html ]References
ources
*SmithDGRBM
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