The rating of this story may change to mature. For now, please be aware that I plan for this story to contain sexual innuendos, language, making out, and descriptions / depictions of violence and death.
For this story to make sense, you do not have to read all this.
This page basically just serves as a reference guide for if you come across a term / name / place that you're unfamiliar with. I am assuming that anybody that reads this has at least a basic knowledge of the main Greek gods and myths, though, so names like 'Apollo' aren't going to have an explanation.
...
The myth of Hyacinthus and Apollo has a lot of variations. Many of these details are interchangeable depending on who Hyacinthus' father is (out of either Pierus, Oebalus, or Amyclus), so the choices I've made are listed below:
Welcome to the Family:
In this retelling of the myth, Hyacinthus' father is Amyclas of Sparta (his mother is Clio, the muse of history, in all versions).
His brothers are Argalus ( the oldest ) and Cynortus.
His sisters are Polyboea, Laodamia, Harpalus, and Hegesandra. In this version, Daphne is not related to Hyacinthus.
Lovers (Hyacinthus got around smh true legend behavior):
Gods - Hyacinthus was admired and courted by Apollo, Boreas, and Zephyrus. In this retelling, that will remain the same, although Boreas will only be a minor character.
Mortals - Thamyris was a mortal Thracian man who was exceptionally gifted at singing and playing the lyre. So gifted, in fact, that he was made king of the Scythians when they first heard him perform.
It is unclear as to if he was Hyacinthus' lover before Hyacinthus met Apollo, if the two were vying for Hyacinthus' affections at the same time, or if Hyacinthus and Thamyris had broken up and Thamyris wanted Hyacinthus back while Apollo was also trying to court Hyacinthus at the same time. In this version, Thamyris was Hyacinthus' lover in the past.
Background Knowledge:
Ancient Greek place names are used. The following is a short list of places, as well as other vocabulary, for reference:
Anemoi - wind deity / spirit
Boreas - God of the north wind
Gurğ - The Ancient Greek word for the country of Georgia
Kronia - An important Ancient Greek festival. Basically, everything was flipped upside down- slaves went free, kings answered to their servants, etc (you may be familiar with the more common term Saturnalia, the Roman equivalent)
Lacedaemon - The Ancient Greek word for the whole of the Spartan city-state
Skúthēs - The Ancient Greek word for Scythia
Sparta - The actual capital city within Lacedaemon (In Doric Greek there's a dash over the first 'a', and a line over the second 'a', but I couldn't bring myself to write Sparta like that every time because it looked a bit obnoxious...) Also (just so you know why Apollo is making frequent trips to Sparta), Apollo is the principal god of Sparta and was reputed to travel there a lot in mythology
Sýrioi - The Ancient Greek word for Syria
T'bilisi - The archaic word for the capital of Georgia
Uralic Tribes - The tribal peoples that inhabited the part of the steppes that is in modern day Europe
Zephyrus - God of the west wind
For the Vibes:
Music (linked at the top):
Other Information:
This is a novella. As such, it will be less than 100 pages long with short chapters.
This novella will retell the myth of Hyacinthus and Apollo. Obviously, since the source material I'm working off of is very limited, I'm taking creative liberties. Some parts of the original myth may be changed or omitted in order for me to make this a coherent, kind of modernized story.
Enjoy!
YOU ARE READING
hyacinth
RomanceHyacinthus, the beautiful prince of Sparta, is many things, but a good archer is just not one of them. So, when Kronia rolls around, and Hyacinthus has somehow found himself roped into a public archery competition, he does the only thing he can thi...
