Eros/Cupid

**Eros** is the Greek god of erotic love, affection, and desire. He is the lieutenant of his mother, Aphrodite/Venus. He is the frequent playmate of Hymenaios and Ganymede. His Roman counterpart is **Cupid**.

## Basic Info

### Alias

God of Erotic Love, Affection and Desire, Dad (By his children), My Love (By Psyche)

## Family Info

### Siblings

Phobos, Deimos, and Anteros (Brothers)Harmonia (Sister)

### Offspring

Hedone (By Psyche)Karina Willows (By Nayeli)

## History

### As a Primordial

According to Hesiod's *Theogony* (c. 700 BC), one of the most ancient of Greek sources, Eros (Love) was the fourth god to come into existence, coming after Chaos, Gaia (Earth), and Tartarus. Homer does not mention Eros. However, Parmenides (c. 400 BC), one of the pre-Socratic philosophers, makes Eros the first of all the gods to come into existence. Aristophanes, in his comedy *The Birds* (414 BC), presents a parody of a cosmogony which has been considered Orphic, in which Eros is born from a egg laid by Night (Nyx).

### Son of Aphrodite and Ares

In later myths, he was the son of the deities Aphrodite and Ares: it is the Eros of these later myths who is one of the erotes. Eros was depicted as often carrying a lyre or bow and arrow. He was also depicted accompanied by dolphins, flutes, roosters, roses, and torches.

### Eros and Psyche

The story of Eros and Psyche has a longstanding tradition as a folktale of the ancient Greco-Roman world long before it was committed to literature in Apuleius' Latin novel, *The Golden Ass*. The novel itself is written in a picaresque Roman style, yet Psyche retains her Greek name even though Eros and Aphrodite are called by their Latin names (Cupid and Venus). Also, Cupid is depicted as a young adult, rather than a fat winged child (*putto amorino*). The story tells of the quest for love and trust between Eros and Psyche. Aphrodite was jealous of the beauty of mortal princess Psyche, as men were leaving her altars barren to worship a mere human woman instead, and so she commanded her son Eros, the god of love, to cause Psyche to fall in love with the ugliest creature on earth. But instead, Eros falls in love with Psyche himself and spirits her away to his home. Their fragile peace is ruined by a visit from Psyche's jealous sisters, who cause Psyche to betray the trust of her husband. Wounded, Eros leaves his wife, and Psyche wanders the Earth, looking for her lost love. Eventually, she approaches Aphrodite and asks for her help. Aphrodite imposes a series of difficult tasks on Psyche, which she is able to achieve by means of supernatural assistance.

After successfully completing these tasks, Aphrodite relents and Psyche becomes immortal to live alongside her husband Eros. Together they had a daughter, Voluptas or Hedone (meaning physical pleasure, bliss). In Greek mythology, Psyche was the deification of the human soul. She was portrayed in ancient mosaics as a goddess with butterfly wings (because *psyche* was also the Ancient Greek word for "butterfly"). The Greek word *psyche* literally means "soul, spirit, breath, life, or animating force". In the Gnostic narrative found in *On the Origin of the World*, Eros, during the universe's creation, is scattered in all the creatures of Chaos, existing between the midpoint of light and darkness as well as the angels and people. Later, Psyche pours her blood upon him, causing the first rose to sprout up on the Earth, followed by every flower and herb.

### *Dionysiaca*

Eros features in two Dionysus-related myths. In the first, Eros made Hymnus, a young shepherd, to fall in love with the beautiful Naiad Nicaea. Nicaea never reciprocated Hymnus' affection, and he in desperation asked her to kill him. She fulfilled his wish, but Eros, disgusted with Nicaea's actions, made Dionysus fall in love with her by hitting him with a love arrow. Nicaea rejected Dionysus, so he filled the spring she used to drink from with wine. Intoxicated, Nicaea lay to rest as Dionysus forced himself on her. Afterwards, she sought to find him seeking revenge, but never found him. In the other, one of Artemis' maiden nymphs Aura boasted of being better than her mistress, due to having a virgin's body, as opposed to Artemis' sensuous and lush figure, thereby bringing into question Artemis' virginity. Artemis, angered, asked Nemesis, the goddess of vengeance and retribution, to avenge her, and Nemesis ordered Eros to make Dionysus fall in love with Aura. The tale then continues in the same manner as Nicaea's myth; Dionysus gets Aura drunk and then rapes her.

### Other myths

Eros made two chaste hunting companions of Artemis, Rhodopis and Euthynicus, to fall in love with each other at the behest of his mother Aphrodite, who took offence at them rejecting her domain of love and marriage. Artemis then punished Rhodopis by turning her into a fountain. In another myth, Eros and Aphrodite played in a meadow, and had a light competition about which would gather the most flowers. Eros was in the lead thanks to his swift wings, but then a nymph named Peristera ("dove") gathered some flowers herself and handed them over to Aphrodite, making her victorious. Eros turned Peristera into a dove.

According to Porphyrius, Themis, the goddess of justice, played a role in Eros growing up. His mother Aphrodite once complained to Themis that Eros did not grow and remained a perpetual child, so Themis advised her to give him a brother. Aphrodite then gave birth to Anteros (meaning "counter-love"), and whenever he was near him, Eros grew. But if Anteros was away, Eros shrank back to his previous, smaller size. Another time, when Eros had assumed his child-like appearance and tried bending his bow, the god Apollo, who was similarly an archer god as well, mocked him by saying that he should leave the weapons to the older gods, and bragged about his slaying of Python. Eros was angered, so he immediately struck Apollo with a love arrow, making him fall in love with Daphne, a virginal nymph of the woods. In the same fashion he struck Daphne with a lead arrow, which had the opposite effect, and made the nymph be repulsed by Apollo and his ardent wooing. In the end, Daphne would be transformed into a tree in order to escape the god's advances

## Personality

In both of his forms, Eros enjoys and knows how unpredictable his domain is. He can be quite vengeful if someone offends him, as was shown by how he shot Apollo after he made fun of his archery skills and appearance in the myth of Daphne. However, Eros shows pity for others and admires endurance, a trait his beloved wife Psyche possesses. He can be quite vengeful if someone offends him, as was shown by how he shot Apollo after he made fun of his archery skills and appearance in the myth of Daphne. Eros is genuinely sweet and caring but has a mischievous streak as well. Like his mother Aphrodite, he has a refined taste when it comes to necessities and clothing. Unlike his mother, he has more empathy for others, and dislikes doing anything mean-spirited. He tries to be there to help out his friends, even if it means putting himself at risk. Eros loves gossip and hearing about relationships, even if it's not his business. While he enjoys teasing others, especially over crushes, he does take relationships seriously. He frequently gives Persephone sound advice and was there for her when she revealed the details of her assault. He is protective over those he cares about, which can often reveal a darker side of his personality.

## Appearance

Eros is described as "devilishly handsome". His appearance changes in the way his mother's does: It changes to appeal to each person who gazes upon him. Karina often describes him with black hair and red eyes, similar to that of a ruby

## Powers and Abilities

### God Powers

As a son of Aphrodite and Ares, Eros is very powerful. In spite of the fact that he is a minor god, his omnipotent romantic allure makes most of the gods, like Demeter, Hera and even Zeus himself actually fear him. The only known deities who have at least a partial immunity to him are the Virgin Goddesses.

* **Amokinesis**: As the God of Erotic Love, Affection, and Desire, Eros has absolute control and divine authority over love, lust, and desire, but not quite as much as Aphrodite/Venus. He cannot create love from nothing.
	+ **Arrows of Romance**: Eros's power over love is usually exercised and enforced through his romantic golden bow and arrows. Anyone struck with his arrow will instantly be filled with uncontrollable desire and love for another, which he can choose. In *Caspian's Miscellaneous Myths (Hero Edition),* he forced Apollo to fall in love with the nymph Daphne.
	+ **Arrows of Coerced Romantic Confession**: Eros can force anyone to confess their true romantic feelings by shooting them through his arrows. He can always tell if the person is lying. The only known one Cupid did this to was Theodosius Trojan, with the latter being forced to admit his secret love was for Adrian Peleus.
	+ **Romantic Omniscience**: Eros always knows who a person is actually in love with.
* **Beauty and Omnipotent Allure**: As the God of Eros, Eros can change his appearance at will, depending on the perception of beauty of the person he is in the presence of.
* **Archery**: Which not quite as skilled in archery as Apollo and Artemis, Eros is quite an impressive archer on account of his long experience at striking others' hearts with his arrows.
	+ **Magical Arrows**: Apart from his love power, Eros's arrows possess magical powers. If his arrows miss a target, they will glow white-hot and explode in a "geyser of flame". When his arrows hit a target, the arrow dissolves, leaving no blood or visible wounds.
* **French**: As the God of Love, Eros is fluent in French due to it being the "language of love".
* **Invisibility**: Eros can render himself invisible in order to assault others unexpectedly. He cannot, however, will himself to become invisible while sleeping. This ability is first shown in *Caspian's Miscellaneous Myth (Hero Edition)* when he lived in a villa with Psyche.
* **Disembodied Spirit**: As seen in *Caspian's Miscellaneous Myth (Hero Edition)*, Eros can send his spirit to other locations. He sent his spirit out after Psyche and briefly communicated with her as a disembodied voice since his physical body was far too weak for him to travel.

## Attributes

Eros's main and most infamous attributes are his romantic golden bow and arrows.

## Trivia

1. Among the Greek gods, he is the only one who is just as shrewd as his Roman side when appearing.
2. His Hindu equivalent is Kamadeva.