Cupid

Goddess2u

Member
With Valentines Day just around the corner I thought now would be a good time to talk about Cupid.
Cupid was the Roman god of love, derived from the Greek god Eros. Cupid was the son of the goddess Venus, usually depicted as a boy carrying a quiver of arrows. Cupids arrows could draw people together, or pull them apart. I find it really interesting that he could tear a relationship apart as well as put one together.
 

NothingToFear

New Member
I've never familiarised myself with the Cupid story. Was he a cherub of some kind, a young angel? Or was he just depicted as a cute little boy who didn't wear enough clothes? Who was his father?
 

LegendofJoe

Active Member
I forget who his father is.
He sometimes is depicted as Cherub-like, but I don't know if I would use the term angel, since that is a Judeo-Christian term.
He is found in several myths, but his main myth is told in a book called The Golden Ass by Apuleius.
In it he is not a little naked infant but a young man who is one of the gods, and he falls in love with Psyche; the most beautiful woman in the world.
It is a story about jealousy, love and trust. Psyche breaks that trust, and is forced to perform very difficult tasks that Venus gives to her in order for her
to redeem herself.
It is too detailed to go into here, but I'm sure the story is given in full somewhere on the web.
It is also worth reading The Golden Ass itself.
 

Libros

Member
Cupid is the son of Venus and Mars. He is the result of untamed passion and untamed fury uniting, the ability to choose love for oneself.
 

justbelieve

New Member
I did not know that Cupid could pull people apart too. I always heard that when you were shot with an arrow by Cupid you were going to fall in love. This is pretty interesting to me. Cupid is about finding love by yourself? then why did he shoot people with an arrow and put people together?
 

Libros

Member
Cupid has two sets of arrows, gold and lead. The lead arrows cause his target to hate whoever lays eyes on them. In the story of Apollo and Daphne, he shoots Apollo with gold and Daphne with lead, so Apollo's love is permanently spurned by her.

Aphrodite and Ares both represent total loss of control, one over passion, the other over fury. Reason no longer has meaning; you're driven by instincts and desires alone, and that is incredibly dangerous, sometimes fatal. Cupid was given the ability to pass those same effects onto mortals, but he has the control to choose who will feel what, and mortals trusted that his choices would be meaningful and beneficial.

Philosophically, Cupid represents our ability to reason whether falling completely in love or completely in hate is worth the chaos they can cause. He teaches caution; by being the one to shoot the arrow rather than be its target, you have control over your emotions. Your head can reason with your heart.
 

LegendofJoe

Active Member
My head usually has trouble reasoning with my heart. Love sticks!
Happy freakin' Valentines day.

BTW, the hindu god Kama (love), is also depicted as a youth with arrows.
 

Ladyhawk

New Member
Libros, you never fail to have the most enlightening things to say that really makes the mind going. I never would have made that analogy with Cupid, but it makes sense, and is a perfect example of the way that mythology can teach life lessons. In Cupid's case, it is for love.
 

Calliope

New Member
I didn't know that Cupid also had arrows to break people from each other. You learn something new every day. I thought he was just all about love.

Also, I agree with the others. My head has problems with who my heart chooses. I wish that I could get them to agree on something.
 

Isis

Member
I didn't know about the lead arrows either. I always assumed if Cupid wanted to break a couple up, he'd make one partner fall in love with someone else.
 

Helga

New Member
Here is something I found to be interesting about Cupid. I did not realize that he fell in love with a mortal woman, Psyche, and that Cupid's mother Aphrodite was very jealous of Psyche's beauty. It is quite a story, and in the end, Cupid ended up marrying Psyche (Who later changed her name) and they lived in Mount Olympus.
 

LegendofJoe

Active Member
The story is told in full in the book The Golden Ass by Apuleius.
It is a fun read as well as a glimpse of the mystery religion of Isis which was popular in the author's day.
The ending, when the ass finally sees Isis and his travails finally come to an end, is one
of the most beautiful stories I ever read.
 

RLynn

Active Member
The story is told in full in the book The Golden Ass by Apuleius.
It is a fun read as well as a glimpse of the mystery religion of Isis which was popular in the author's day.
The ending, when the ass finally sees Isis and his travails finally come to an end, is one
of the most beautiful stories I ever read.
I agree. The Golden Ass is not only a hilarious read but one of the most beautiful and profound allegories ever written.
 

jerri

Member
Isn't Psyche the origin of the word psychology? Maybe that's why Cupid's arrows gives one the ability to reason, to use their psyche. Before he met her was there reason involved? I thought I heard someplace that Cupid's tale is more bloody than what is usually told.
 

Nora_Rose

New Member
If I remember correctly I also heard that Cupid was quite michivious and always getting into trouble. I guess he would gt into trouble having the ability to make people fall in and out of love!
 

Nadai

Active Member
There is a myth that Eros existed before the creation of the world along with Chaos and Nyx.
According to fifth-century Orphic cosmogony there existed a "Womb of Darkness" in which the Wind lay a "Cosmic Egg". From there, Eros was born and set the rest of the universe in motion. Without Eros, who originally was the god of lust and desire (it was Venus who was the goddess of love and beauty, though she lost the beauty contest to Helen of Troy:rolleyes:...Paris) the other gods would have never been able to come together and so the world would have remaind a void or χάος khaos. It wasn't until later that he was adopted by the newly-formed Venus and became her love-dealer. At times Eros is seen as a mischievous boy (in the story of Daphne by Ovid, Apollo mocks him and calls him a little boy playing with toys that should be left to better men like him) other times he is depicted as a grown man (in the story of Psyche he takes her as his wife then loses her and after she dies turns her into a goddess whos beauty rivals Venus').
 

Artemis

Member
There are so many things about Cupid and the other gods and goddesses mentioned here that I did not know about. I shall be reading the book mentioned: The Golden Ass by Apuleius. I hope I can find a copy online.
 

Pegasis

New Member
Although Cupid is widely known, I suspect the actual mythology that goes with him is not nearly so widely known. I never really related Cupid to "mischief", but I guess that is one side to him.
 
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