54 Larkspur
飛燕草
Consolida ajacis (其他名稱: Consolida ambigua, Delphinium ajacis, Delphinium ambiguum, doubtful knight's spur, rocket larkspur)
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Larkspur
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飛燕草
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Delphinium ajacis
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毛莨科
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Ranunculaceae
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和風信子同一希臘文
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ὑάκινθος
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54
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Greek : Hyakinthos
Species : Delphinium ajacis
Description : A late spring, early summer
flowering perennial with tall stems of blue flowers.
Sacred to : Apollon (the plant was probably used
in the god's Hyakinthia festival held near Sparta in early summer)
Myth 1 : Metamorphosis Hyakinthos. Hyakinthos
was a handsome, young Spartan prince loved by the gods Apollon and Zephyros.
Zephyros grew jealous and one day when Apollon was playing quoits with the
boy he caught up the disc with his windy breath and struck him in the head.
As Hyakinthos lay dying, Apollon caused the larkspur or iris flower to spring
forth from his blood, inscribing it with the Greek words "ai ai",
alas, alas. (Sources: Ovid, Philostratus, Pausanias, et al)
Myth 2 : Death of Aias. Aias (or Ajax) was a Greek
hero of the Trojan war. After the armour of Akhilleus was awarded to Odysseus
he went mad and threw himself upon his own sword. The larkspur flower sprang
from his blood, its petals inscribed with the "ai" of his name.
(Source: Ovid)
Myth 3 : Bouquet of Persephone. The goddess
Persephone and her companion Nymphs were gathering rose, crocus, violet,
iris, lily and larkspur blooms in a springtime meadow when she was abducted
by the god Haides. (Source: Homeric Hymns)
(NB The flower now called the hyacinth is not
the same as the Greek hyakinthos. Rather it is identified with the larkspur.
In the image right - click on thumbnail - , the letters AI are typed beside
the letter shapes on the central petal.)
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Ajax 出場了(Odyssey 11. 553-565)，仍然忿忿不平，因為，當初希臘第一英雄是Achilles，第二是Ajax，當Achilles死後，Ajax認為自己可以繼承Achilles的戰袍，繼承他的位子。可惜，他和Odysseus演講比賽，輸了，不甘心，生氣，甚至瘋了，跳海自殺，沒想到，氣到死，到了陰間還是生氣，那口氣真的很難嚥下吧?
從Ajax的角度看，這一切都是Athena搞鬼，讓他輸了，讓他瘋了，神話故事也是這麼記載。從Odysseus的觀點，他不該參加那場無意義的競賽，他終究把Achilles的戰袍給Achilles的兒子Neoptolemus。因為爭這戰袍失去好友，失去一位英勇的戰士，真的很可惜。
我們讀者卻有自由詮釋的空間，Achilles是《伊里亞特》的主角，以英勇著稱，另一部史詩《奧德賽》不需要相同類型的主角，所以Odysseus繼承是有意義的，不是武功高超就能當武林盟主，而現實人生中，不是力氣大，不是能力強就能獲勝。
Ovid 加一點故事，Ajax死後，有花從他流出的血中冒出，上面有ai，他名字的縮寫，這花就是: 飛燕草 Delphinium ajacis
