Similarities Between Adonis And Hyacinthus

To the right of Flora are two male figures, Hyacinthus and Adonis. Hyacinthus is identified with golden locks and yellow drapery, but also of the slew of Hyacinths that pour from his head and onto his hands. Hyacinthus was a mortal lover of Apollo, even stated to be one of Apollo’s favorite. However, due to the jealousy of Zephyrus – the west wind – Hyacinthus was killed as Zephyrus altered the trajectory of a discus when Apollo and Hyacinthus were playing. The discus struck Hyacinthus in the head, which Poussin indicates by painting Hyacinths pouring from Hyacinthus’s head like blood, dripping to his hand below. Due to the portrayal of Hyacinthus, Poussin actively altered the image of the hyacinth of Ajax. Adonis is most likely portrayed with Hyacinthus due to their paralleling tales. Adonis was a mortal man who became the lover of Aphrodite, they were said to be inseparable. One day, while hunting, Adonis is mauled by a boar and harmed on his thigh and bleeds to death in Aphrodite’s arms, it is uncertain if the boar was simply and accident or sent out of wrath from a fellow god. Aphrodite, torn by grief, cried over the body of Adonis and when her tears mixed with the blood of Adonis, anemone flowers were created. This is shown by the string of anemone flowers that trail down Adonis’s leg in the painting, acting similarly as a stand in for blood as the hyacinths do for Hyacinthus’s head injury. Two hunting dogs

Smilax and Crocus’s mythology cannot be clearly traced, but the basic concept is that Smilax was a nymph that Crocus, a mortal man, fell in love with. Overtime their love for each other waned or one spurned the other causing Crocus to be transformed in saffron and Smilax to be transformed into rough bindweed aka Smilax aspera. Crocus is presented holding saffron in his extended hand while Similax hands Crocus a flower, indicating her love, while bindweed – a flowering vine – is shown sprouting from under Crocus’s