Greek Mythology: “Eros, God of Love and Son of Goddess Aphrodite”.-

“Red-Figure Plate with Eros” by Ascoli Satriano (Dated 340-320 BC). Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.

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Eros was the Greek God of Love. His roman equivalent was Cupid.

In Hesiod’ s “Theogony” he is represented as a cosmic force which emerged self-born at the beginning of time to spur procreation.

Hesiod was making reference to the Protogenos (primordial deity) of procreation who emerged self-formed at the beginning of time. He was the driving force behind the generation of new life in the early cosmos.

According to Hesiod, Eros was the fourth god to come into existence, coming after Chaos, Gaia and Tartarus  (the Abyss or the Underworld).

The Orphic and Eleusinian Mysteries featured Eros as an original God, but not quite primordial, since he was one of the sons of Nyx.

The Orphics knew him as Phanes, a primal being hatched from the World Egg at creation. 

Hesiod also describes two love-gods, Eros and Himeros (Desire), accompanying Aphrodite at her birth from the sea-foam.

This second and later sense is related to Younger Eros, a boy-god armed with bow and arrows.

A minion who, according to Ovid, was son of Aphrodite, the Greek Goddess of Beauty and Ares, the Greek God of War, whose love affair represented an allegory of Love and War.

Anteros was also the son of Ares and Aphrodite and therefore Eros’ brother.

Eros and Anteros were related to the notion of “Love returned”. But, originally, Anteros was a being opposed to Eros, and fighting against him. This conflict, however, was also conceived as the rivalry existing between two lovers, and Anteros accordingly punished those who did not return the love of others

Anteros, with Eros, was one of a host of winged love gods called Erotes, the ever-youthful winged gods of love, usually depicted as winged boys in the company of Aphrodite or her attendant goddesses.

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“Venus and Cupid” by Lambert Sustris (1560). In this painting, Venus (Aphrodite) is stroking some doves (her attributes) in the presence of her son Cupid (Eros) as she awaits his lover Mars (or Ares in the background, right) who is on his way to join her.

“Allegory with Venus, Mars, Cupid and Time”. by Guercino (1625). In this painting, winged Time points an accusing finger at baby Cupid, (Eros) held in a net that evokes the snare in which Venus (Aphrodite) and Mars (Ares) were caught by her betrayed husband Vulcan (hephasitos)

“Eros et Anteros” (ou “Deux Amours qui se battent”) by Alessandro Algardi. 17th century.

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►Eros, Greek God of Love: Attributes and Themes:

•Eros (Or Cupid), The Honey Thief: In “Idylls” of Theocritus (3rd century BC), the poet tells the tale of Cupid the honey thief, the child-god is stung by bees when he steals honey from their hive. He cries and runs to his mother, who laughs, and tells him that he also delivers the sting of love.

•Eros and the Dolphin: In later art, Eros is often shown riding a dolphin. This may be a symbol representing how swiftly love moves.

•Eros, the Blinfolded Minion: In the later satirical poets, he is represented as a blindfolded child, and this is a symbol of Love being blinkered and arbitrary.

•Eros, the winged boy: He is also described a winged boy. This may suggest that lovers are flighty and likely to change their minds. He is just a boy, because love is irrational.

•Eros’ symbols: The Arrow and the Torch: His symbols are the arrow and torch, because love is said to wound and inflame the heart”. 

According to Ovid, Cupid carries two kinds of arrows, one with a sharp golden point, and the other with a blunt tip of lead.

A person wounded by the golden arrow is filled with uncontrollable desire, but the one struck by the lead feels aversion and desires only to flee.

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“Cupid, the Honey Thief” by Albrecht Dürer (1514).

“Cupid (Eros) complaining to Venus (Aphrodite)” by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1525).

“Cupid riding a Dolphin” by Peter Paul Rubens (1636).

Mosaic: “Eros riding a dolphin”. Imperial Roman. (1st- 2nd Century). Eros rides across the sea on the back of a dolphin. He holds a whip in one hand, and a pair of reins in the other.

“Blindfolded, armed Cupid” by Piero della Francesca (1452/66).

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►Links Post:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_primordial_deities 

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/e/eros.html 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eros

 http://www.wga.hu/html_m/r/rubens/7graphic/14sketch.html

 http://gogreece.about.com/od/greekmythology/a/eros.htm 

http://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/Eros.html

http://mythologie-laverite.jimdo.com/ant%C3%A9ros/

http://hubpages.com/hub/Aphrodite-Goddess-of-Love

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