Tales of Cupid and his mother are intertwined throughout history, so it is impossible to do justice to a history of one without the other. The story of Cupid is therefore necessarily also the story of his mother. Each has a counterpart in Hellenistic Greek mythology, where Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty, and her son, the youngest god in the pantheon, is Eros. The title and image of the Queen of Heaven persist in popular religious tradition.
Ancient pagan images took on new connotations as traditions were assimilated. Venus and Aphrodite are generally thought of as the same goddess in different guises. They share the symbols of white doves and red roses and are usually portrayed as the Queen of Heaven, with an aureole or nimbus—a halo—and a crescent moon. They often appear with an infant son—an early Madonna figure.
As for Eros, one of the earliest recorded references is found in the Theogeny of Hesiod B. Hesiod depicts Eros as one of the primeval gods, the god of fertility and sensual love, and responsible for the creation of all living things. But Cupid existed in still earlier incarnations.
Traveling back through antiquity, we find that his previous personas were also far from helpless babes with tiny wings. In Greek literature his cruelty to his victims is emphasized, also his omnipotence. When it comes to ancient pagan mythology, stories often intersect and overlap as the gods twist their way through cultures and through history as a whole. The story of Cupid and his mother is no exception. According to some ancient tales, Venus, goddess of love, was besotted with Adonis, who shares a number of commonalities with Cupid and Eros.
Like Adonis, and later Eros and Cupid, Tammuz was a youthful god and was associated with a female deity whose symbols included white doves, red roses, a crescent moon and a sun-disc or nimbus. Such a confused, incestuous relationship was not unusual among the ancient mythological deities. Extant liturgies and poems to the two are often explicit and overtly sexual in nature.
The late Assyriologist Stephen H. Langdon included a translation of a telling liturgy to Tammuz in his book, Tammuz and Ishtar: A Monograph Upon Babylonian Religion and Theology, to illustrate the relationship between the two:. I am thy sister. Long before the Romans adopted and renamed him—and way before his association with Valentine's Day —Cupid was known to the Greeks as Eros, the handsome god of love.
One of the first authors to mention Eros circa B. But later accounts of the lineage of Eros vary, describing him as the son of Nyx and Erebus; or Aphrodite and Ares; or Iris and Zephyrus; or even Aphrodite and Zeus—who would have been both his father and grandfather. Armed with a bow and a quiver filled with both golden arrows to arouse desire and leaden arrows to ignite aversion, Eros struck at the hearts of gods and mortals and played with their emotions.
In one story from ancient Greek mythology , which was later retold by Roman authors, Cupid Eros shot a golden arrow at Apollo, who fell madly in love with the nymph Daphne, but then launched a leaden arrow at Daphne so she would be repulsed by him.
Instead, Cupid became so enamored with Psyche that he married her—with the condition that she could never see his face. He is often portrayed as a charming, chubby little boy, but this mischievous youth can wreak havoc.
When mortals are struck by his arrows they fall instantly in love, wanted or not. Cupid has wings and carries his quiver and arrows. The cave-like landscape at left depicts the Forge of Vulcan. In Roman mythology Vulcan is the god of fire and blacksmith to the gods. He is shown forging a wing for Cupid. Mercury stands next to Vulcan in a red cloak with a winged-cap and caduceus. The lush landscape is complemented by many animals.
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