God of Love: Cupid

Cupid

Cupid is a creature that many people have come to know and adore as a result of a long-standing holiday with which he has been associated. Cupid and Valentine’s Day are now and will remain intertwined for many years to come. After all, who hasn’t seen a movie character claim to have been struck by Cupid’s arrow or to have been “love-struck”? Perhaps best of all is when the characters claim that their recent infatuation is due to Cupid’s spell. As a result, we at Sir Holiday decided it was past time to learn the true tale behind Cupid and see if he is truly interfering with our love lives as much as many claim.

Let’s start with the basics: Cupid is the ancient Roman god of sensuous love and beauty on the outside. Cupid was usually shown as a plump baby boy flying around naked and shooting arrows into people’s hearts. What effect would these arrows have?

Cupid

To put it another way, after the arrow penetrated their hearts, these people would fall in love with anybody their eyes gazed upon, which I guess may have resulted in some awkward situations. Cupid, on the other hand, had two distinct arrows: one made of gold would induce you to fall in love deeply, while the other made of lead would just cause you to fall into lust. But, before you think Cupid is a fully unique Roman mythology creation, consider this: Cupid is actually a modified form of an ancient Greek deity.

This deity, whom most of civilization has forgotten, is none other than Eros, the Greek god of love affairs, who performed comparable functions and obligations to Cupid. Cupid, on the other hand, is a lot more fun to pronounce than Eros, which, aside from all the other historical aspects, is one of the reasons Cupid is more popular. Cupid is often pictured as a meddling creature ready to make us helpless humans fall in love at the drop of a hat, so you might be wondering what kind of mischief he got himself into. His story is not so smooth-sailing.

 

Cupid & Psyche

Cupid’s mother Venus, or Aphrodite in Greek mythology, was so envious of the beauty of a mortal lady named Psyche that she sent Cupid down to Earth to bewitch her and make her fall in love with a monster, according to folklore. Cupid was now free to go, but something unexpected happened: he fell in love with Psyche. He married her; nonetheless, there was a low moment in the situation; what was the source of sadness? Psyche, on the other hand, was never allowed to look at Cupid’s face. Inevitably, she tried it one day out of pure curiosity, and Cupid fled away. Psyche scoured all known lands for him and eventually found him, and the other gods, witnessing their true love, granted Psyche immortality. And, hopefully, they’re still happily married today.