EROS

By Malina

FAMILY
Eros is the considered the god of love,
but another source says that he is the god
of attraction and desire. His name,
though indicates that he is the god of
sexual desire and attraction, though his
name Eros comes from the word Erotic,
meaning erotic love. There are two
different myths about his parents. The
more common one is that Eros is the son
of Ares and Aphrodite, and that is why he
has his two, personalities. He is the god of
love, yes but he is also very cruel, often
making two unfit people fall in love.
Another myth about his birth is that he
wasn't the child of any gods, but a
primordial god. Personally, I like that myth
better, but that's just my opinion.

POPULAR MYTHS FEATURING EROS

There are several myths featuring Eros but I am going to show two. The
first one shows his crueler side, but the other one shows his softer side.
Myth 1: There was once a daughter of a king and queen of an unknown
city-state. There were 3 daughters, but Psyche was the most beautiful.
People thought she was a goddess, even more beautiful than Aphrodite, so
they stopped worshipping Aphrodite, and started worshipping Psyche.
Some myths say that Eros, under orders from, Aphrodite cast a curse so
that nobody would fall in love with Psyche. After 10 years, Aphrodite
looked down Mt. Olympus, saw that everyone was worshiping Psyche, got
mad, and ordered Eros to make her fall in love with someone ugly.
Accidentally, he scratches himself with his own arrow and falls in love
with her. Around the same time, her father learns from an oracle that only
a terrible beast will fall in love with Psyche. He leads her to a cliff, where
the good of the west wind takes her to the palace of Eros. He tells her not
to look at him, but when her sisters come, they make her suspicious. She
looks at Eros, and spills hot wax on to him and he flees. She goes to
Aphrodite, and she tortures her making her do impossible tasks, one of
which was to sort grains into separate piles. For each task, she gets help
from the gods. Eros, now fully healed from the wound, leaves Aphrodies
palace, and finds say he, and makes her immortal, and they get marred.
Psyche was made the goddess of the soul.

POPULAR MYTHS FEATURING EROS

This is the second myth featuring Eros. This one

shows his crueler side.

Myth 2: One day, Apollo was on Mt. Olympus. In

some legends, he had just killed the mighty Python,
and was feeling cocky. What every the reason, he saw
Eros, with his mighty arrows, and started mocking
him. He said that Eros was unfit to use the mighty
arrows, and that only he, Apollo, was fit to use such
fine weaponry. Then he walked away. Eros got mad,
and prepared two arrows. One was made to make
Apollo fall in love with Daphne, but the other would
make Daphne resent Apollo.. He struck them with
the arrows. Apollo started chasing Daphne, and when
she reached a cliff, she prayed to her father, who then
turned her into a laurel tree. Apollo, broken-hearted,
turned the laurel tree into an evergreen so the tree
will never wither and die. I included this myth
because it shows how Eros can be cruel, even though
he is the god of love. Also, as a pastime he likes to
make two people fall in love that don't belong
together.

CUPID VS EROS
After the Greek reign came to
end, the Roman Empire come
into existence. They worshipped
the same goods, but changed the
depiction of them, some
drastically, some not. Eros is
now depicted as a two to three
year old pudgy child. That
depiction of him has carried
itself to the 21st century. Now, he
is hung in many windows on
Valentine's Day, and is shown to
shoot heart shaped darts. In
modern film, he is also shown
that way.