Jacinth is a red transparent variety of zircon

Zircon

Zircon is a mineral belonging to the group of nesosilicates. Its chemical name is zirconium silicate and its corresponding chemical formula is ZrSiO4. A common empirical formula showing some of the range of substitution in zircon is 1–x4x–y...

 used as a gemstone. Jacinth is also a flower of a reddish blue or deep purple (hyacinth), and hence a precious stone of that colour (Revelation

Revelation

In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing, through active or passive communication with a supernatural or a divine entity...

 21:20).

It has been supposed to designate the same stone as the ligure (Hebrew leshem) mentioned in Exodus 28:19 as the first stone of the third row in the high priest's breast-plate, the Hoshen

Hoshen

The priestly breastplate was a sacred breastplate worn by the High Priest for the Israelites, according to the Book of Exodus...

. In Revelation

Revelation

In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing, through active or passive communication with a supernatural or a divine entity...

 9:17 the word is simply descriptive of colour.

Use in literature

Jacinths are mentioned as decorating the city of Iram

Iram

Iram or IRAM may refer to:*Iram of the Pillars , a lost city located on the Arabian Peninsula*Institut de Radio Astronomie Millimétrique, or IRAM, the Institut de Radio Astronomie Millimétrique cofunded by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique , Max Planck Gesellschaft , and Instituto...

 in Richard Francis Burton

Richard Francis Burton

Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMG FRGS was a British geographer, explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer and diplomat. He was known for his travels and explorations within Asia, Africa and the Americas as well as his...

's translation of the Arabian Nights.

Alfred Lord Tennyson's vision of Excalibur

Excalibur

Excalibur is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Great Britain. Sometimes Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone are said to be the same weapon, but in most versions they are considered separate. The sword was...

 in his epic poem "The Passing of Arthur," from the Idylls of the King

Idylls of the King

Idylls of the King, published between 1856 and 1885, is a cycle of twelve narrative poems by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson which retells the legend of King Arthur, his knights, his love for Guinevere and her tragic betrayal of him, and the rise and fall of Arthur's kingdom...

, describes its hilt as studded with jacinths:

"There drew he forth the brand Excalibur

Excalibur

Excalibur is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Great Britain. Sometimes Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone are said to be the same weapon, but in most versions they are considered separate. The sword was...

,

And o'er him, drawing it, the winter moon,

Brightening the skirts of a long cloud, ran forth

And sparkled keen with frost against the hilt:

For all the haft twinkled with diamond

Diamond

In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...

 sparks,

Myriads of topaz

Topaz

Topaz is a silicate mineral of aluminium and fluorine with the chemical formula Al2SiO42. Topaz crystallizes in the orthorhombic system and its crystals are mostly prismatic terminated by pyramidal and other faces.-Color and varieties:...

-lights, and jacinth-work

Of subtlest jewellery."

J.R.R. Tolkien used jacinths to describe the deep-blue wall of space in his poem, The Happy Mariners:

"Past sunless lands to fairy leas

Where stars upon the jacinth wall of space

Do tangle burst and interlace"

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...

's novel Dorian Gray

Dorian Gray

Dorian Gray is the main character of Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray.It may also refer to:* Dorian Gray , an Italian film starring Helmut Berger...

, speaks of Edward II giving armorial vestments made with Jacinths to his lover Piers Gaveston

Piers Gaveston

Piers Gaveston, 1st Earl of Cornwall was an English nobleman of Gascon origin, and the favourite of King Edward II of England. At a young age he made a good impression on King Edward I of England, and was assigned to the household of the King's son, Edward of Carnarvon...

, 1st Earl of Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

.

Jacinth is also mentioned in the apocryphal Book of Enoch

Book of Enoch

The Book of Enoch is an ancient Jewish religious work, traditionally ascribed to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah. It is not part of the biblical canon as used by Jews, apart from Beta Israel...

, where in Enoch's first journey through earth and Sheol, he enounters a enormous mountain of jacinth, or jacinth-like in appearance:

"And I proceeded and saw a place...where there are seven mountains of magnificent stones....

"And as for those towards the east (one) was of coloured stone, and one of pearl, and one of jacinth,

"and those towards the south of red stone." I Enoch XVIII: 6-7.

Two gold necklaces inlaid with jacinths and amethysts are given to Ganelon as a gift for his wife in The Song of Roland

The Song of Roland

The Song of Roland is the oldest surviving major work of French literature. It exists in various manuscript versions which testify to its enormous and enduring popularity in the 12th to 14th centuries...

(stanza 50).

And then there came the Queen, Bramimunde;

said to the Count: "Lord, I love you well,

for my lord and all his men esteem you so.

I wish to send your wife two necklaces,

they are all gold, jacinths, and amethysts,

they are worth more than all the wealth of Rome.

Your Emperor has never seen their like."

He has taken them, thrusts them into his boot. AOI.

Jacinth was also used by e.e. cummings in the poem "You Are Tired (I Think)" (last stanza).

Ah, come with me!

I’ll blow you that wonderful bubble, the moon,

That floats forever and a day;

I’ll sing you the jacinth song

Of the probable stars;

I will attempt the unstartled steppes of dream,

Until I find the Only Flower,

Which shall keep (I think) your little heart

While the moon comes out of the sea.