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====Male lovers====
==Male lovers==
===[[Hyacinth (mythology)|Hyacinth]]===
[[File:Hyacinthus.jpg|thumb|200 px|''Apollo and Hyacinthus'', 16th-century Italian engraving by Jacopo Caraglio]]
[[File:Hyacinthus.jpg|thumb|200 px|''Apollo and Hyacinthus'', 16th-century Italian engraving by Jacopo Caraglio]]
[[Hyacinth (mythology)|Hyacinth]] or Hyacinthus was one of Apollo's male lovers. He was a [[Sparta]]n prince, beautiful and athletic. The pair was practicing throwing the [[Discus throw|discus]] when a discus thrown by Apollo was blown off course by the jealous [[Zephyrus]] and struck Hyacinthus in the head, killing him instantly. Apollo is said to be filled with grief: out of Hyacinthus' blood, Apollo created a [[hyacinth (plant)|flower]] named after him as a memorial to his death, and his tears stained the flower petals with the interjection {{lang|grc|αἰαῖ}}, meaning ''alas''.<ref>{{LSJ|ai)ai{{=}}|αἰαῖ}}, {{LSJ|ai)/2|αἴ|shortref}}.</ref> The Festival of Hyacinthus was a celebration of Sparta.
[[Hyacinth (mythology)|Hyacinth]] or Hyacinthus was one of Apollo's male lovers. He was a [[Sparta]]n prince, beautiful and athletic. The pair was practicing throwing the [[Discus throw|discus]] when a discus thrown by Apollo was blown off course by the jealous [[Zephyrus]] and struck Hyacinthus in the head, killing him instantly. Apollo is said to be filled with grief: out of Hyacinthus' blood, Apollo created a [[hyacinth (plant)|flower]] named after him as a memorial to his death, and his tears stained the flower petals with the interjection {{lang|grc|αἰαῖ}}, meaning ''alas''.<ref>{{LSJ|ai)ai{{=}}|αἰαῖ}}, {{LSJ|ai)/2|αἴ|shortref}}.</ref> The Festival of Hyacinthus was a celebration of Sparta.
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===Cyparissus===
[[File:Cyparissus mg 0159.jpg|thumb|300px|''Cyparissus'' (1670s) by [[Jacopo Vignali]]: the boy mourns his pet deer ([[Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg]])]]
In [[Greek mythology]], '''Cyparissus''' or '''Kyparissos''' ([[Greek language|Greek]]: Κυπάρισσος, "cypress") was a boy beloved by [[Apollo]], or in some versions by other deities. In the best-known version of the story, the favorite companion of Cyparissus was a tamed stag, which he accidentally killed with his hunting javelin as it lay sleeping in the woods. The boy's grief was such that it transformed him into a cypress tree, a [[classical mythology|classical symbol]] of mourning. The myth is thus [[aition|aetiological]] in explaining the relation of the tree to its cultural significance.


Another male lover was [[Cyparissus]], a descendant of [[Heracles]]. Apollo gave him a tame deer as a companion but Cyparissus accidentally killed it with a [[Pilum|javelin]] as it lay asleep in the undergrowth. Cyparissus asked Apollo to let his tears fall forever. Apollo granted the request by turning him into the [[Cupressaceae|Cypress]] named after him, which was said to be a sad tree because the sap forms droplets like tears on the trunk.
Cyparissus was the son of Telephus, and his story is set in [[Chios]]. The subject is mainly known from [[Hellenization|Hellenized]] [[Latin literature]] and [[fresco]]es from [[Pompeii]].<ref>Cedric G. Boulter and Julie L. Bentz, "Fifth-Century Attic Red Figure at Corinth," ''Hesperia'' '''49'''.4 (October 1980), pp. 295-308. The authors present a possible identification of Cyparissus on a fragment of a [[Pottery of ancient Greece|Corinthian pot]], No. 36, p. 306. The frescoes in the Pompeiian Fourth Style are discussed by Andreas Rumpf, "Kyparissos", ''Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts'' '''63/64''' (1948–49), pp. 83–90.</ref> No [[Greek hero cult]] devoted to Cyparissus has been identified.


Other male lovers of Apollo include:
Other male lovers of Apollo include:

Revision as of 13:24, 8 September 2014

Apollo (Attic, Ionic, and Homeric Greek: Ἀπόλλων, Apollōn (GEN Ἀπόλλωνος); Doric: Ἀπέλλων, Apellōn; Arcadocypriot: Ἀπείλων, Apeilōn; Aeolic: Ἄπλουν, Aploun; Latin: Apollō) is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in classical Greek and Roman religion and Greek and Roman mythology.


Male lovers

Hyacinth

File:Hyacinthus.jpg
Apollo and Hyacinthus, 16th-century Italian engraving by Jacopo Caraglio

Hyacinth or Hyacinthus was one of Apollo's male lovers. He was a Spartan prince, beautiful and athletic. The pair was practicing throwing the discus when a discus thrown by Apollo was blown off course by the jealous Zephyrus and struck Hyacinthus in the head, killing him instantly. Apollo is said to be filled with grief: out of Hyacinthus' blood, Apollo created a flower named after him as a memorial to his death, and his tears stained the flower petals with the interjection Template:Lang, meaning alas.[1] The Festival of Hyacinthus was a celebration of Sparta.

Cyparissus

File:Cyparissus mg 0159.jpg
Cyparissus (1670s) by Jacopo Vignali: the boy mourns his pet deer (Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg)

In Greek mythology, Cyparissus or Kyparissos (Greek: Κυπάρισσος, "cypress") was a boy beloved by Apollo, or in some versions by other deities. In the best-known version of the story, the favorite companion of Cyparissus was a tamed stag, which he accidentally killed with his hunting javelin as it lay sleeping in the woods. The boy's grief was such that it transformed him into a cypress tree, a classical symbol of mourning. The myth is thus aetiological in explaining the relation of the tree to its cultural significance.

Cyparissus was the son of Telephus, and his story is set in Chios. The subject is mainly known from Hellenized Latin literature and frescoes from Pompeii.[2] No Greek hero cult devoted to Cyparissus has been identified.

Other male lovers of Apollo include:

References

  1. Template:LSJ, Template:LSJ.
  2. Cedric G. Boulter and Julie L. Bentz, "Fifth-Century Attic Red Figure at Corinth," Hesperia 49.4 (October 1980), pp. 295-308. The authors present a possible identification of Cyparissus on a fragment of a Corinthian pot, No. 36, p. 306. The frescoes in the Pompeiian Fourth Style are discussed by Andreas Rumpf, "Kyparissos", Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 63/64 (1948–49), pp. 83–90.
  3. Callimachus, Hymn to Apollo, 49.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Plutarch, Life of Numa, 4. 5.
  5. Nonnus, Dionysiaca, 11. 258; 19. 181.
  6. Philostratus, Letters, 5. 3.
  7. Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses, 23.
  8. Servius on Aeneid, 3. 279.
  9. Plutarch, Life of Numa, 4. 5, cf. also Hyginus, Poetical Astronomy, 2. 14.
  10. Clement of Rome, Homilia, 5. 15.