Eros
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the Greek god Eros. For other topics, including the philosophical and
psychological use of the word "eros", see Eros (disambiguation).
Eros
God of sexual desire and attraction
The Eros Farnese, a Pompeiian marble thought to be a copy of the colossal
Eros ofThespiae by Praxiteles
[1]
Abode Mount Olympus
Symbol Bow, Arrows, Candles, Hearts, Cupids, Wings and Kisses
Consort Psyche
Parents Chaos
Aphrodite and Ares
Aphrodite and Hermes
Iris and Zephyrus
Siblings Harmonia, Anteros,Himeros, Phobos, Adrestiaand Deimos
Children Hedone
Roman equivalent Cupid
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Eros (/rs/ or US /rs/; Ancient Greek: , "Desire"),
[2]
in Greek mythology, was
the Greek god of love. His Roman counterpart was Cupid
[3]
("desire"). Some myths make him
a primordial god, while in other myths, he is the son of Aphrodite.
Contents
[hide]
1 Cult and depiction
2 Primordial god
3 Son of Aphrodite
4 Eros and Psyche
5 Eros in art
6 See also
7 References and sources
8 External links
Cult and depiction[edit]
Eros appears in ancient Greek sources under several different guises. In the earliest sources
(the cosmogonies, the earliest philosophers, and texts referring to the mystery religions), he is
one of the primordial gods involved in the coming into being of the cosmos. But in later
sources, Eros is represented as the son of Aphrodite, whose mischievous interventions in the
affairs of gods and mortals cause bonds of love to form, often illicitly. Ultimately, in the later
satirical poets, he is represented as a blindfolded child, the precursor to the chubby
Renaissance Cupid whereas in early Greek poetry and art, Eros was depicted as an adult
male who embodies sexual power, and a profound artist.
[4][5]
A cult of Eros existed in pre-classical Greece, but it was much less important than that of
Aphrodite. However, in late antiquity, Eros was worshiped by a fertility cult in Thespiae.
In Athens, he shared a very popular cult with Aphrodite, and the fourth day of every month was
sacred to him.
[citation needed]
Primordial god[edit]
According to Hesiod (c. 700 BC), one of the most ancient of all Greek sources, Eros was the
fourth god to come into existence, coming after Chaos, Gaia (the Earth), and Tartarus (the
Abyss or the Underworld).
[6]
Homer does not mention Eros. However, Parmenides (c. 400 BC), one of thepre-
socratic philosophers, makes Eros the first of all the gods to come into existence.
[7]
The Orphic and Eleusinian Mysteries featured Eros as a very original god, but not quite
primordial, since he was the child of Night (Nyx).
[4]
Aristophanes (c. 400 BC), influenced
by Orphism, relates the birth of Eros and then of the entire human race:
At the beginning there was only Chaos, Night (Nyx), Darkness (Erebus), and the Abyss
(Tartarus). Earth, the Air and Heaven had no existence. Firstly, blackwinged Night laid a
germless egg in the bosom of the infinite deeps of Darkness, and from this, after the revolution
of long ages, sprang the graceful Love (Eros) with his glittering golden wings, swift as the
whirlwinds of the tempest. He mated in the deep Abyss with dark Chaos, winged like himself,
and thus hatched forth our race, which was the first to see the light.
[8]
Son of Aphrodite[edit]
This section
requires expansion.(November 2011)
[Hera addresses Athena:] We must have a word with Aphrodite. Let us go together and ask
her to persuade her boy [Eros], if that is possible, to loose an arrow at Aeetes daughter,
Medea of the many spells, and make her fall in love with Jason . . . (Apollonius of
Rhodes,Argonautica 3. 25 ff a Greek epic of the 3rd century B.C.)
"He [Eros] smites maids breasts with unknown heat, and bids the very gods leave heaven and
dwell on earth in borrowed forms." (Seneca, Phaedra 290 ff)
"Once, when Venus son [Eros] was kissing her, his quiver dangling down, a jutting arrow,
unbeknown, had grazed her breast. She pushed him away. In fact the wound was deeper than
it seemed, though unperceived at first. [And she became] enraptured by the beauty of a man
named Adonis." (Ovid, Metamorphoses 10. 525 ff)
"Eros drove Dionysos mad for the goddess Aura with the delicious wound of his arrow, then
curving his wings flew lightly to Olympus. And the god roamed over the hills scourged with a
greater fire. (Nonnus, Dionysiaca 48. 470 ff a Greek epic of the 5th century AD)
Eros and Psyche[edit]
Main article: Cupid and Psyche
The story of Eros and Psyche has a longstanding tradition as a folktale of the ancient Greco-
Roman world long before it was committed to literature in Apuleius' Latin novel, The Golden
Ass. The novel itself is written in a picaresque Roman style, yet Psyche retains her Greek
name. Eros and Aphrodite are called by their Latin names (Cupid and Venus), and Cupid is
depicted as a young adult, rather than a child.
[9]
The story tells of the struggle for love and trust between Eros and Psyche. Aphrodite was
jealous of the beauty of mortal princess Psyche, as men were leaving her altars barren to
worship a mere human woman instead, and so she commanded her son Eros, the god of love,
to cause Psyche to fall in love with the ugliest creature on earth. But instead, Eros falls in love
with Psyche himself and spirits her away to his home. Their fragile peace is ruined by a visit
from Psyche's jealous sisters, who cause Psyche to betray the trust of her husband. Wounded,
Eros leaves his wife, and Psyche wanders the Earth, looking for her lost love. Eventually she
approaches Aphrodite and asks for her help. Aphrodite imposes a series of difficult tasks on
Psyche, which she is able to achieve by means of supernatural assistance.
After successfully completing these tasks, Aphrodite relents and Psyche becomes immortal to
live alongside her husband Eros. Together they had a daughter, Voluptas or Hedone (meaning
physical pleasure, bliss).
In Greek mythology, Psyche was the deification of the human soul. She was portrayed in
ancient mosaics as a goddess with butterfly wings (because psyche was also the Ancient
Greek word for 'butterfly'). The Greek word psyche literally means "soul, spirit, breath, life or
animating force".
Eros in art[edit]
A Red-Figure Plate with Eros as a youth making an offering. (c. 340-320 BC) Walters Art
Museum, Baltimore.
Eros depicted as an adult male, Attic red-figure bobbin (c. 470450 BC).
This Roman Eros once rode a dolphin, a common convention for 1st century CE depictions of the
deity.Walters Art Museum,Baltimore.
A Roman copy of Eros Stringing his Bow from the Capitoline Museum.
Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss (17871793) by Antonio Canova.
See also[edit]
Greek mythology portal
Hellenismos portal
Ares
Eros (concept)
Erotes
Greek words for love
Hermaphroditus
Kamadeva
Love at first sight
References and sources[edit]
References
1. Jump up^ A. Corso, Concerning the catalogue of Praxiteles exhibition held in the
Louvre. Conference paper presented at
11 June 2007; p. 159
2. Jump up^ From "to desire, love", of uncertain etymology, possibly Pre-Greek; R. S.
P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin (Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill, 2009,
p. 449).
3. Jump up^ Larousse Desk Reference Encyclopedia, The Book People, Haydock, 1995, p.
215.
4. ^ Jump up to:
a
b
See the article Eros at the Theoi Project.
5. Jump up^ "Eros", in S. Hornblower and A. Spawforth, eds., The Oxford Classical
Dictionary.
6. Jump up^ Hesiod, Theogony 116122 in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an
English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press;
London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914.
7. Jump up^ "First of all the gods she devised Ers." (Parmenides, fragment 13.) (The
identity of the "she" is unclear, as Parmenides' work has survived only in fragments.
8. Jump up^ Aristophanes, Birds, lines 690699. (Translation by Eugene O'Neill, Jr.,
Perseus Digital Library; translation modified.)
9. Jump up^ Apuleius, The Golden Ass (Penguin Classics).
