(g.)Eros, root of "erotic", "erotica, etc.
(l.) Cupid
Domain: Athens.
Genealogy: Considered either a conceptual element to procreation, or the illegitimate love child of Ares and Aphrodite.
Claim to Fame: God of raw sexual energy, desire, and passion. Later became known as the god of homosexuality.
Iconography: Cupid's Bow, winged figures, arrows.
Literature: Hesiod's Theogony, Plato's Symposium, Speech of Socrates, Ovid's Metamorphosis
Myth
I. Birth: two traditions of his birth.1. Hesiod's Theogony: born from Chaos, one of the original elements to create life is lust.
2. Eventually became known as the son of Aphrodite and Ares
II. Speech of Aristophanes (comedian): At Plato's Symposium, Aristophanes theorized there was originally 3 genders of humans (male, female, androgynous), and all were round in figure (ie. four hands, four legs, attached at the spine, etc.). The species grew so strong that they hubristically began to challenge the gods, so to weaken them Zeus cut them in two. From that day forward, each half-human walked the earth, longing for their other half. Those of androgynous sex became heterosexual, and those of a bisected same-sex became homosexual
III. Speech of Socrates: Socrates quotes a wise woman from Mantinea named Diotema, who claims that Eros, though he is not beautiful himself, is resourceful enough to obtain what he longs for but doesn't possess (ie. beauty, wisdom, goodness). He is an intermediary between human and divine, and though remarkably unremarkable, his pursuit of conceptual merit is what adds an intellectual aspect to love.
It is this example that inspires individuals to move beyond the appreciation of the physical realm of beauty, and more towards the beautiful soul, or beautiful concept, behind the outward representation.
Called "Platonic Love", this attraction may have its roots in sexuality, but is perpetuated by the desires of the mind and the soul to enrich the spirit.
IV. Psyche ("soul"): Once upon a time, Venus became envious of a Greek princess, named Psyche, and ordered Cupid to make her fall in love with the vilest of creatures. When he went to do his bidding, Cupid himself fell in love with her (ironic?). He abducted her and placed her in his palace, where the lovers visited each night but he departed before sunrise each morning. When her sisters came to visit, they tricked Psyche into thinking she was sleeping with a monster, so one fateful night she took a knife to bed along with her anonymous lover.
Before she was to slay the monster, Psyche lit a lamp to take one look at her lovers face. Upon realizing that it was Cupid Psyche starts, and a drop of wax spills on the sleeping God, waking him up.
Enraged, he takes flight, but not before Psyche grabs hold of his ankle. She ends up plummeting to the earth. In short, the only way Psyche could win back Cupid's love was to complete 4 impossible tasks set forth by Aphrodite, which she manages to complete with divine assistance.
