The name and image of Cupid is known to almost everyone. Many people know that Cupid is the god of love, but this is often the end of our acquaintance with an angelic boy, armed with a bow and arrow.
In fact, Cupid's story is far from simple. It is worth mentioning only that in different historical periods the god of love not only looked different, but was a completely different being.
Metamorphoses of Cupid
In ancient Greek sources, from where we first learned about him, Cupid was called Eros or Eros (depending on the translation).
In the earliest sources (cosmogonies, the earliest philosophical texts), he is one of the primordial four gods who created the cosmos. Among them, besides Eros, there are also Chaos, Gaia and Tartarus.
Later sources speak of Eros as the son of Aphrodite, either from Uranus or from Ares. In the Roman tradition, Cupid or Cupid passed on as the son of Venus (Aphrodite) and Mars (Ares).
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Ultimately, in later, almost medieval poets and troubadours, Cupid is presented as a child with a bow and arrow, often blinded. In early Greek art, Eros was portrayed as a young man - the embodiment of passion and sexual power.
Ancient Greece and Rome
In ancient Rome, the god of love had two names, as it does today. Both meanings of these names are directly related to love. Cupid comes from the Latin word Cupido, which means desire. Another Latin name for Cupid - Cupid - comes from the Latin word "love".
What Cupid looked like among the Greeks, we described above. However, after the Hellenistic period, which ended around 31 BC, when Rome conquered Greece, this god began to be portrayed as a little chubby boy who is familiar to every modern person, especially on the eve of Valentine's Day.
Impermanence of love
The inconstancy of love began to be depicted as Cupid's two-pointed arrow. One end - golden, will fill the heart with sincere and passionate love, the other - copper, will cool the heart in love.
It is worth noting that the dual nature of love was also reflected in ancient Greek mythology, where Eros had a twin brother, Anteros. Anteros was the god of mutual "reciprocal" love, he was not passionate, on the contrary, he was cold-blooded and took revenge on those who do not respond to sincere feelings, and especially those who mock them.
Middle Ages
Cupid also had bows and arrows during the period of classicism, but great attention was paid to them during the early Middle Ages. At the same time, they began to blind Cupid, thereby symbolizing the unpredictable nature of love - everyone is subject to it, regardless of age, gender and position in society.
Blinded by a blindfold, Cupid can be found in Shakespeare's plays.
After Christianity became virtually the only form of culture in Europe in the Middle Ages, they tried to portray the god of love as a demon rather than an angel. He was a "demon of extramarital affairs", a seductive, evil figure who led people astray. His quiver became a symbol of a depraved mind, a bow a symbol of deceit, an arrow a poison, and a torch a hot vicious passion.
Cupid and Psyche
One of the most popular classical myths was the story of the love between Eros and Psyche - a beautiful mortal girl. This myth was immortalized in his novel by the Roman writer and poet Apuleius.
Psyche was so beautiful that Aphrodite herself began to envy her beauty. The jealous goddess sent to the girl Eros to make her heart flare with passion for the ugliest creature on earth. The girl was left at the edge of a cliff, where a monster was to meet her and take her as his wife. However, Eros, seeing Psyche humbly awaiting her cruel fate, took pity on the girl and carried her off the cliff.
Eros began to come to the girl, but only under the cover of darkness, since he did not want her to find out who he was. He made a promise from the girl not to try to find out who he was. The jealous sisters of Psyche found out about her salvation and love for the mysterious savior and decided to outwit her sister. They told Psyche that her secret lover was a terrible monster and convinced her to look at him while he was sleeping.
Psyche lit an oil lamp and looked at Eros. He turned out to be so beautiful that the girl admired him so much that she did not notice how the oil from the lamp flowed onto the shoulder of the god of love. Eros, seeing that Psyche betrayed him, left her and disappeared.
A frustrated Psyche rushed after her lover, searched for him for a long time, wandering around the world, until she decided to turn to Aphrodite for help.
The angry goddess wanted to mock the girl, giving her one impossible task after another. However, Psyche did not give up and coped with all the tasks, not without the help of supernatural forces, who took pity on her.
Eros, learning that his beloved had been looking for him for so long and endured so much torment and suffering, even descended to hell, went to Zeus to ask that Psyche be given immortal status. Zeus listened to him, and Psyche went to live on Olympus with Eros. They had a daughter, Gedonia (in the Roman tradition Volupia) from the word "lust".
Cupid in art
Cupid has always been one of the favorite subjects of poets, artists, musicians and sculptors.
With a renewed interest in the humanism of classical art, Renaissance artists portrayed Cupid as a completely realistic child. However, he was inexorably getting younger and younger. In some paintings by masters of the Italian and Northern Renaissance, Cupid was depicted not just as a baby, but even as an infant.
During the development of the Italian Renaissance, many artists began to depict several Cupids in one painting. This technique became known as amorini, or cupids. Sometimes cupids (who were also called putti - angels) even fell on biblical images, for example, on Raphael's "Sistine Madonna".
Cupid in modern culture
With curly hair, red lips, tiny wings, and a heart-tipped arrow, Cupid is an iconic and recognizable figure in modern popular culture. Most often it can be seen on valentines, boxes of chocolates and stuffed animals, but don't forget about the deep artistic legacy of this historic symbol.
Cupid remains relevant in contemporary art as well. For example, the popular pop art duo husband and wife Claes Oldenburg and Cossier van Bruggen installed the popular sculpture in San Francisco. The sculpture is called "Cupid's Span", which is very symbolic, because objects and works of art inspired by Cupid have been and are still being created for thousands of years, thus proving that the god of love and art have always been a perfect match.
Hope Chikanchi