In honor of Valentine’s Day, I thought it would be fun to explore Eros, the Greek version of the Roman god, Cupid. He’s depicted as a cute little cherub with an arrow that makes people fall in love, but he’s not so innocent. This is the story of Eros (Cupid) and Psyche.
Eros is a primordial god in some accounts, hatching out of a silver egg from the Goddess Nyx (Night) and Aither (Wind). In others, he’s the son of Aphrodite (Love) and Ares (War). Either way, he’s a Greek god of love and a bit of a trickster, sometimes fun and playful and other times cruel. His passion for Psyche is often described as one of the first great love stories but to me, it’s a bit creepy. It has shades of some famous fairy tales. The source for this one is Ovid’s Metamorphosis.
Psyche was a beautiful princess, renowned for her great beauty. Some said it rivaled that of a goddess, and it was so out of control that people neglected Aphrodite’s temples because they were fawning all over this mortal girl. When Aphrodite caught wind of that, she wasn’t very pleased. She likes to be the most beautiful woman in any room. So, she complains to Eros and asks him to use his fancy arrows and make Psyche fall in love with the most vile person in the world. Eros was all for it, but then he accidentally shot himself with one of his own arrows and fell in love with her himself. Oops.
Meanwhile, Psyche was lonely because although people liked to look at her, nobody got to know her. Frustrated that she hadn’t yet found a husband, her father went to the oracle at Delphi to get some advice from Apollo. His advice was terrible. He basically said she was destined to marry a horrible dragon-like serpent, one feared by even Zeus and Poseidon. He told her father to take her to a mountain and leave her here to die. Her dad wanted to wash his hands of that terrible prophesy. So, off she went to the mountain.
Eros was still feeling the effects of his misplaced arrow and didn’t want to tell Aphrodite that he’d failed. He also really loved Psyche. So, he engaged his friend, Zephyr, the Greek god of the west wind. As she waited on the mountain for her horrible new husband, a soft breeze carried her away. Zephyr dropped her in a beautiful meadow, full of flowers and sunshine, and left her to fall asleep. When she woke up, she was in front of an opulent castle worthy of a fairy tale. Here’s where it starts to get a bit creepy.
The castle seemed like it was made just for her. It took care of her, kind of like a Beauty and the Beast situation with delicious food, warm baths, and beautiful music. A disembodied voice told her to make herself at home, and it sang beautiful songs to her. At night, she knew her new husband would come. And he did, except unbeknownst to her, it was Eros. He had some rules though.
She could hear him and feel him, but she could never see him. Still, they were happy together, and she thought they’re married. After a while, Psyche started to miss her family and asked him if she could see her sisters. Apparently, she wasn’t upset that they left her on a mountain to die. Anyway, Eros agreed to let them visit.
Her sisters came, and they were having a grand time until her sisters started asking her questions about her mysterious husband. Psyche tried to change the subject, but they wouldn’t let up. They were jealous of the luxury she was living in, and they planted seeds of doubt. Her sisters knew that the owner of such a beautiful castle couldn’t be just a simple man. He had to be a god or a prince, and if he wouldn’t let her see him, there must be something wrong with him. They said he was probably the horrible serpent from Apollo’s prophesy.
They left, but Psyche kept thinking about it. Did she really never wonder about that prophesy? Anyway, it ate away at her until she’d gone through every worst-case scenario in her mind. She had to know what was up with him. So, she decided to light a candle when he was sleeping to look at him and make sure he wasn’t a horrible serpent. She even brought a dagger so she could kill him if he was a monster. When she shined the light on him, she saw he was a beautiful man and not some horrible monster and she was so happy that she somehow managed to scratch herself with one of his arrows. It went downhill from there. Then, she accidentally spilled wax from the candle on him. He woke up furious that she didn’t trust him and stormed off.
She got depressed because she had the god of love, and she lost him because she didn’t have faith. So, where does she go when she can’t find him? To Aphrodite, the goddess who tried to ruin her life in the beginning. Aphrodite is still not over it and gave Psyche three impossible tasks to prove her love for Eros. First, she set Psyche down in front of a giant mound of wheat, barley, poppy seeds, chickpeas, lentils, and beans and told her to sort them into separate piles. She worried it would take forever, but then ants took pity on her and helped her sort the grain.
Next, Aphrodite took her to a river and made her get golden wool from the violent sheep who graze on the other side. I’ve never seen a violent sheep, but apparently, that was a thing in ancient Greece. She intended to drown herself in the river, but a magic reed helped her get the wool.
For the last one, Aphrodite sent Psyche to get black water from the River Styx, a task that was dangerous and impossible if you didn’t have wings. This time Zeus sent one of his eagles to help her. After all of that, Aphrodite was still not done tormenting her. She sent Psyche into the underworld with a box to ask Persephone for a grain of her beauty. I’m not sure about the logistics of that or how you put a grain of beauty in a box, but that’s what she did. Persephone gave her what she asked for, but Psyche was curious about what was in the box. On the way back, she opened it, and it wasn’t a grain of beauty. It was “infernal and Stygian sleep.” She fell into a deep sleep.
You might be wondering where Eros is in all of this. He was off sulking or possibly imprisoned by Aphrodite, maybe both. Hermes found him and told him what was going on. He was so happy that Psyche proved her love for him and found her in Aphrodite’s garden. Eros pricked her with another arrow and woke her up. He carried her away to Zeus, who gave them permission to get married for real this time. They lived happily ever after. Zeus made her immortal, and she went to live at Olympus, which made Aphrodite happy because it meant Psyche was no longer on Earth distracting everyone with her beauty.
Psyche means “soul” in Greek, and the child she has with Eros (love) is named Voluptas (Pleasure). I’ll leave you to sort that out.
Thanks for reading! Want some more Greek stories? Check out this one about Pasiphae and the Great Bull or this one about that time Helios got into a fight with the Furies.