Interpretation
The name of Hyacinth is of pre-Hellenic origin, as indicated by the suffix -nth. According to classical interpretations, his myth, where Apollo is a Dorian god, is a classical metaphor of the death and rebirth of nature, much as in the myth of Adonis. It has likewise been suggested that Hyacinthus was a pre-Hellenic divinity supplanted by Apollo through the "accident" of his death, to whom he remains associated in the epithet of Apollon Hyakinthios.
Apollo teaches Hyacinthus to become an accomplished adult. Indeed, according to Philostratus, Hyacinthus learns not only to throw the discus, but all the other exercises of the Palaestra as well, to shoot with a bow, music, the art of divination, and also to play the lyre. Pausanias also mentions his apotheosis, represented on the pedestal of the ritual statue of the boy at Amyclae, his place of worship. The poet Nonnus of Panopolis mentions the resurrection of the boy by Apollo. Sergent finds that the death and resurrection as well as the apotheosis, represent the transition to adult life.
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