Gods, Myths and Heroes - Part 50

 Eros

When you think of Cupid, is this what you picture – a little boy with wings shooting the arrows of love?

Cupid was the Roman name for the Greek god Eros.  Yes, he had wings and a bow and arrows, but he was originally far from being a little boy.  He was a gorgeous hunky young man, and he was the god of love and sex.  He was also known by the name Amor (love).

(Above: Clement Daguin as the god Eros in the 2019 Dieux du Stade calendar.)

The most famous myth about Eros/Cupid is the story of Cupid and Psyche.  Psyche was a girl so beautiful that people said she was more beautiful than Venus, the goddess of love.  Venus, displeased, tells her son Cupid to make Psyche fall in love with someone low and ugly.  Instead, Cupid accidentally scratches himself with his own arrow and falls in love with Psyche.  Psyche is taken to a remote place where, every night in the dark, Cupid makes love to her, but she doesn't know who he is, and he tells her she must never see him in the light.

(Above: Cupid and Psyche by François-Édouard Picot, c. 1817)

Of course, Psyche wants to see who her lover is.  One night, after Cupid falls asleep, Psyche lights an oil lamp.  She sees the gorgeous winged god, but accidentally spills a drop of hot oil on Cupid.  He wakes up and flies away, and he doesn't come back.

(Above: Amor and Psyche by Jacopo_Zucchi, 1589.)

In a quandary, Psyche goes to the goddess Venus for help – not a good idea, because Venus is the one who hated Psyche in the first place.  Venus says Psyche must perform three difficult tasks.  The first task is to sort a huge mass of mixed seeds in a single night.  The ants take pity on Psyche and sort the seeds for her.

The second task is to cross a river and fetch the golden wool of the sheep of Helios.

The painting above of the second task by Guilio Romano, c. 1526, shows the river god in the foreground.  What caught my eye is that the source of the river is (1) the river god's beard, which turns into water,(2) the jar that he's holding, and (3) something white that's flowing out of his penis.

Psyche's third task is to go down to the underworld and bring back a box containing the beauty of Persephone, the goddess of the underworld, but not to open the box.  On the way back, Psyche opens the box, and it contains not beauty but magic that plunges Psyche into endless sleep.

Cupid finds Psyche asleep and awakens her with a kiss (above), which breaks the spell.

(Above, Eros and Psyche by Antonio Canova, 1793, in the Louvre).

Above is a copy of the Canova sculpture in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.  Some of the the details have been changed.  In particular, Cupid's balls are much bigger in this version.   

Psyche is then brought to Mt. Olympus, where the gods live.  Jupiter/Zeus, the king of the gods, makes Psyche into a goddess, and Cupid and Psyche live happily ever after.

(Above: Mercury brings Psyche to Olympus by Raphael, 1518)

However, there are other stories about Eros/Cupid, and Eros was the god of homosexual love as well as heterosexual love.  Above is the statue Cupid Kindling the Torch of Hymen by George Rennie, 1831.  Hymen was the god of marriage, but this statue of two naked gods cuddling has a gay vibe.  

Artist Felix d'Eon used Cupid to promote same-sex love in the photo above from a party when he opened his gallery.

As the god of love, Eros has certainly been used for commercial products.  Above, an ad for Eros perfume for men by Planet Yum.

Here's a clip from a commercial for Eros fragrance by Versace, with a distinct gay appeal.

We end with a clip promoting a San Francisco bathhouse called Eros.  Why is this video appropriate, besides the name of the bathhouse?  Because Eros was not just the god of romantic love, he was the god of physical love: sex.  The word erotic comes from the god Eros.