Hyakinthos was a Spartan, the youngest son of the Spartan king Amyclas and his wife Diomede. He was said to be very athletic and handsome.

Sparta is a city of Laconia in the Peloponessus. Laconia is a part of a vaster region, Lacedaemon, a name which has also been used to denote the city of Sparta. After Eurotas, Lacedaemon became king and had by Sparta a son Amyclas, and a daughter Eurydice. According to some, this daughter married King Acrisius of Argos, and gave birth to Danae, mother of Perseus, the founder of Mycenae. Lacedaemon called the inhabitants Lacedaemonians after himself, and having founded a city, he called it Sparta after his wife.