In today's world when we think about the range of emotions that humans/animals express we can think of many but the main topic of this myth would be the emotion of love. There lived a goddess of love by the name of Aphrodite in the mortal realm, who gave birth to two baby boys whose names were Eros and Anteros. Eros was born with a special power bestowed upon him by the gods. He had the ability to manipulate the love in the hearts of both mortals and gods, with a golden arrow, bow, and quiver, he could manipulate the love in the heart of anyone he so desires. While growing up Eros noticed that the love that both mortals and gods had towards each other was gated by their own laws and superstitions, where men only sought out women and vice versa. Down at the tavern there lived a mortal princess by the name of Psyche, born with stunning beauty all men across the land loved and worshiped her. Eros’s mother disgusted by this sends her son Eros to shoot his dart at her that would have her fall in love with the ugliest mortal in the realm. When Eros approached the princess however, he was astounded by her beauty, and chose to protect her and to invite her to his own home. Later that night the princess talked to Eros about love in the world and of the boundaries that have been set where she couldn’t love who she wanted to love out of fear of judgment. “Who is it that you wish to be with? I will make it happen.” said Eros. “I’m deeply in love with the maiden that works in the shire.” said Psyche. Eros then pulled back on his arrow and shot it at this maiden, and later came to realize that there was a purpose for him that brought him to this life. Destined to break the boundaries of love that these mortals have bestowed upon themselves he set out to change them by uniting those that belong together with his arrows. The mortals later were brightened by his actions and gave him the name of Cupid, the bringer of love. Cupid’s journey to break the boundaries of love spread across the land and people have become aware of his actions and took faith in what they believed to be true love, without boundaries. Through the years however, there were mortals that rejected these progressions and fought to keep things the way they were. With Eros’s power however, these mortals have come to break through the oppression and come to agree that love is sacred and to be shared by everyone regardless of roles and genders.
The Decipher of the Myth:
In this myth, there are many characters involved with its development. Eros who is the god of love along with his mother Aphrodite the goddess of love and his father Ares who was the god of war. He also had many siblings but in this myth I’ll mention the main one who is Anteros the god of requited love. This myth takes place in mount Olympus where Eros trained with his arrows and his wings alongside his brother Anteros. I got this part of my story from this text: “As Psyche trained her gaze insatiably and with no little curiosity on these her husband's weapons, in the course of handling and admiring them she drew out an arrow from the quiver, and tested its point on the tip of her thumb.”(“PSYCHE (Psykhe) - Greek Goddess of the Soul”). When I chose the topic of sexual orientation the first Greek myth that came to my mind to write this essay about would be the god Eros who is relatively known now but his roman name Cupid. Cupid as we know him today is a baby-like figure with wings, a quiver, and a bow and arrow, who shoots the arrows at people and these people were said to have fallen in love once the arrow hit them.
Of course, like all myths there’s always a story behind them. In this myth Eros had one purpose and that is to shoot his love and resentment arrows at both mortals and gods alike to preserve the balance of love across all of these individuals. His bow and arrows have a magical force to them: “His arms, consisting of arrows, which he carries in a golden quiver, and of torches, no one can touch with impunity. (Mosch. Idyll. vi.; Theocrit. xxiii. 4; Ov. Trist. v. 1, 22.) His arrows are of different power: some are golden, and kindle love in the heart they wound; others are blunt and heavy with lead, and produce aversion to a lover.” (Ov. Met. i. 468; Eurip. Iphig. Aul. 548.) (“EROS - Greek God of Love (Roman Cupid, Amor)”). Eros also had golden wings and has covers for his eyes as he acts blindly: His eyes are sometimes covered, so that he acts blindly. (Theocrit. x. 20.) (“EROS - Greek God of Love (Roman Cupid, Amor)”). This part of the myth just goes to show that love is truly blind, I chose this myth because it symbolizes how sexual orientation should be perceived. Not by looks or gender but what attracts you to another person without limits created by a corrupt society. Eros also rode upon a crab in the myth which also represented the zodiac sign cancer which tells us that love can be a choice or a matter of destiny. “Eros (Roman Cupid), the winged god of love, rides on the back of a harnessed crab. The crab perhaps represents the zodiac constellation Cancer.” (“Eros Riding Crab - Ancient Greco-Roman Fresco”).
In the myth there was a princess by the name of Psyche who was known to be the mortal princess that had beauty that took all the men away from the goddess of love Aphrodite. “She was once a mortal princess whose extraordinary beauty earned the ire of Aphrodite when men began turning their worship away from the goddess towards the girl. (“PSYCHE (Psykhe) - Greek Goddess of the Soul”). Troubled by this princess that was stealing these men from her, Aphrodite commanded her son Eros to shoot an arrow at her that would attract her to the ugliest being on earth. However, when he approached this princess his heart began to sing and felt the need to protect her. So he took her to his hidden palace where he looked after her. “Aphrodite commanded Eros make Psykhe fall in love with the most hideous of men but the god instead fell in love and carried her off to his hidden palace.” (“PSYCHE (Psykhe) - Greek Goddess of the Soul”). While staying with him the princess grew close and comfortable with the god and took the time to tell him of her forbidden love towards a maiden that worked for her in the shire.
Eros astounded that such a princess could not love who she pleases chose to act by taking his arrow and binding the two together to live a loving and happy life. What inspired this part of my story is the fact that they are married in myth. “(Psyche) was the goddess of the soul and the wife of Eros (Roman Cupid) god of love.”. (“(Psykhe) - Greek Goddess of the Soul”). It is then when Eros knew his purpose in the mortal realm was; to spread the true meaning of love across the lands and have these mortals create loving and strong bonds between one another regardless of the rules and boundaries set by those who carry hatred towards the free. So Eros went out and started to spread his message across the land, that love is something that all creatures of the earth should have towards each other regardless of the nature of the world that they lived in. Love knows no boundaries and all should seek out love and be proud of who and what they love and to cherish that love. In a time where people of the same sex having loving connections towards each other were hated and resented Eros became a guardian to these people and their ideals which then gave him his Roman name of Cupid. In my composed myth Eros heads off to war to fight alongside mankind, I got this idea from the Trojan War. “The war has been raging for almost 9 years” (ancientadmin).
The people even made a special day to celebrate that love and named it Valentines Day with Cupid as their symbol to love and care for one another. For decades human beings have been narrow minded as to how they should behave and show emotion towards one another by rules made from other humans that do not think of other’s freedom, and what fascinates me about myths is that they can create movements and empower the powerless. In this myth Eros is shown to spread the message of what love is all about, to care for those you are attracted to regardless of the sexualities' of the partners in question. All of this can be shown today by the people that go out to celebrate the love that they share together in holidays like valentines day which is known for love and the main mascot for this holiday is Cupid, or other events like pride month where every person from every race, gender, culture, gather together to celebrate the love that they have for each other and the freedom that they have to express that love without being ridiculed by the public. The movement that freed those of certain sexual orientation from exile or prison isn’t one that is talked about much but it is a movement that has saved many lives and I like to think that myths like Eros’s had somewhat of an impact on those movements.
Bibliography:
“Eros Riding Crab - Ancient Greco-Roman Fresco.” Theoi.com, 2017, www.theoi.com/Gallery/F31.2.html . Accessed 10 Mar. 2021.
“PSYCHE (Psykhe) - Greek Goddess of the Soul.” Theoi.com, 2017, www.theoi.com/Ouranios/Psykhe.html . Accessed 10 Mar. 2021.
“APHRODITE FAMILY - Greek Mythology.” Theoi.com, 2017, www.theoi.com/Olympios/AphroditeFamily.html . Accessed 11 Mar. 2021.
“EROS - Greek Primordial God of Procreation.” Theoi.com, 2017, www.theoi.com/Protogenos/Eros.html . Accessed 12 Mar. 2021.
“EROS - Greek God of Love (Roman Cupid, Amor).” Theoi.com, 2017, www.theoi.com/Ouranios/Eros.html . Accessed 13 Mar. 2021
“How Did Aphrodite in the Iliad Act as the Catalyst in the War? www.ancient-literature.com/aphrodite-in-the-iliad/. Accessed 2 Apr. 2021.