Cupid is one of the symbols of Valentine's Day, he is known as a winged child armed with a bow and arrows that are shot at gods and humans, causing them to fall deeply in love. Sometimes he is also blindfolded, to show that love is blind. His own love story appears narrated in its most complete form in the Latin novel "The Golden Ass" or "The Metamorphoses" by Apuleyo.
History[]
In ancient Greece Cupid was known as Eros, the young son of Aphrodite the goddess of love, beauty and fertility. For the Romans Cupid is the god of love son of Venus and Mars, god of war. Cupid was her mother's assistant, her Venus, he directed the primordial force of love and led it to mortals. He was mischievous and charismatic, but sometimes cruel to his victims, as he had no scruples.
On his back he carried two kinds of arrows:[]
- Some gold with dove feathers that caused an instant love.
- And another one made of lead with owl feathers that caused indifference.
Aware of the power he had, he sometimes rejected the requests of his mother and the other gods to interfere in the course of the lives of some mortals so he caused frequent problems for the gods. One day he got angry with Apollo when he joked about his skills as an archer, so Cupid made Apollo fall in love with the nymph Daphne and shot her with a lead-tipped arrow. Daphne prayed to the river god Peneo for help and she was transformed into a laurel tree, which she consecrated to Apollo. Thus, between rebellion and mischief, Cupid fulfilled his mission, as time passed Venus began to worry because her son was not growing, so in search of an answer she went to the Oracle of Themis, who told her: " Love does not it can grow without passion. " Venus did not understand the answer until her son Anteros, god of passion, was born. When she was with him, Cupid grew into a beautiful young man, but when they separated, he was a child again. On the other hand, in the Land of the Mortals there lived a princess named Psyche ("Soul"), who despite being so beautiful, could not find a husband because the men who idolized her did not feel worthy of her. Her father tried to find a good husband for Psyche through the Delphic oracle, but Psyche predicted that she would find love on a cliff. The husband who would be destined for her, a winged serpent, terrible and powerful, would come to her and make her her wife. Venus jealous for the great beauty of Psyche asked Cupid to make her fall madly in love with the ugliest, vile and despicable man in the world. Aware that he was on the edge of her abyss, he sent her son to shoot her arrows but when he saw her, he fell deeply in love with her and grew to become a handsome young man. Against Venus's wishes, Cupid magically took Psyche to an isolated castle and married her, on the condition that as a mere mortal, he was forbidden to look at her. The princess when she felt him close to her and heard her sweet voice did not feel fear, she was sure that she was not a monster, but the loving husband that she had wanted for so long. He visited her every night, always begging her not to see her face. They were very happy until convinced by her envious sisters, Psyche broke the prohibition imposed by the gods and looked at her husband. That earned her the punishment of being abandoned by Cupid, who sadly said goodbye to her saying: "Love cannot live without trust." Expelled from the castle, the repentant princess traveled the world in search of her lover, overcoming a series of increasingly difficult and dangerous challenges imposed by Venus. As a last instruction she gave him a small box instructing him to take her to the underworld. She had to bring a little beauty to Proserpina, Pluto's wife. She was also warned that for no reason should she open the box. Psyche got ready for the trip and during it she faced several dangers that were overcome thanks to the advice given, however the curiosity to open the box overcame her so she did and immediately fell into a deep sleep that seemed like death.
Cupid upon finding her, removed the mortal dream from her body and put it back in the box. He finally forgave her as did Venus. It was so much she fought that finally the gods, moved by Psyche's love for Cupid, turned her into a goddess so that she could reunite with hers who loved her. Happily Cupid and Psyche: Love and Soul, came together after tough trials. From this union was born a daughter named Voluptas whose name means "Pleasure", from which words like voluptuousness derive. From the story of these two characters, love has been symbolized by two hearts pierced by an arrow: Cupid's arrow.
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