The Greek Gods


Eros Greek Mythology

According to Greek mythology, Eros (known as Cupid to the Romans), was created by Chaos. The Greek believed that in the beginning there was only Chaos. Chaos was a dark abyss like nothing with no sound, life form, or shape of any kind. Chaos created Eros (God of Love and Desire), Gaea (also known as Mother earth, Gaea, Ge, Gaia, and the Earth), and Uranus (also known as Father of the Heavens, the Heavens, the Sky, and Ouranos).

Eros is mentioned in the Iliad by Homer, and is a common noun meaning sexual desire. Eros was also considered to be a fertility god. There are several variations which has Eros being born to others. Some of them were, Erebus and Nyx is given credit to giving birth to Eros. Another version sans that Eros belonged to Aphrodite and Aros. Still another version says that Eros was an aid to Aphrodite but was not her son. As much as the story of Uranus and Gaea goes, Uranus came down to lay with Gaea every night and Gaea got tired of it so it makes sense that Eros may have been born at the same time that Uranus and Gaea were. The main story says that Eros was created by Chaos, who was the only being in the beginning. Where else would Uranus have gotten so much desire to lay with Gaea every night? This is just an observation.

Eros is usually depicted as a young winged boy with a bow and arrow. He would shoot his arrows into the hearts of the gods and the mortals to invoke into them love and desire for someone. He had two different types of arrows. One was the golden one with dove feathers which aroused someone to love and the other was made of lead and owl feathers and they made the person indifferent to another. The poet named Sappho said that Eros was bitter sweet and cruel to his victims but he also was charming and beautiful. Eros tried to cause as much trouble as he could so he would wound the hearts of everyone. According to one legend, Eros actually fell in love himself. This story was in the ones which believed that Aphordite was his mother. It seems that Aphordite was jealous of a very beautiful mortal named Psyche, so she asked Eros to go male her fall in love with the ugliest man on earth. When Eros went to carry out the deed, as soon as he saw her and saw how beautiful she was, he fell in love with her himself. He visited her every night but he would not let her turn on any lights, so he kept himself invisible from her. Psyche fell in love with Eros even though she couldn’t see him. One night , out of curiosity, while Eros slept, Psyche lit a lamp and revealed his identity. A drop of oil from the lamp spilt and it awakened the god. Eros was angry and left Psyche and Psyche traveled the earth trying to find her lover. Zeus finally felt sorry for them and reunited them. He also gave them his consent to get married.
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