"Gnostic text ""On the Origin of the World"", possibly dating to the early 4th century, the rose was the first flower to come into being, created from the virgin blood of Psyche (""Soul"") after she united sexually with Eros. In the 4th-century poem ""Cupid Crucified"" by the Gallo-Roman poet Ausonius, the god Cupid (the Roman equivalent of Eros) is tortured in the underworld by goddesses disappointed in love, and the blood from his wounds causes roses to grow. In Egyptian religion, funerary wreaths of laurel, palm, feathers, papyrus, or precious metals represented the ""crown of justification"" that the deceased was"
"identified as cherubim. Another famous example is ""Amor Vincit Omnia"" by Caravaggio. In contemporary popular culture, Cupid is shown drawing his bow to inspire romantic love, often as an icon of Valentine's Day. In Greek mythology, Hebe is the goddess of youth, always depicted as a young girl. In Roman mythology her equivalent is Juventas. She is the daughter of Zeus and Hera. Hebe was the cupbearer for the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus, serving their nectar and ambrosia. She was also worshipped as a goddess of pardons or forgiveness; freed prisoners would hang their chains in the sacred"
"by the Roman god Cupid, known as Eros in Greek mythology. It is even possible that there is a connection between the behavior of the snails and the myth. Malacologist (mollusk expert) Ronald Chase of McGill University said about the garden snail ""Cornu aspersum"", ""I believe the myth of Cupid and his arrows has its basis in this snail species, which is native to Greece"". He added, ""The Greeks probably knew about this behavior because they were pretty good naturalists and observers."" In some languages, the dart that these snails use before mating is known as an ""arrow"". For example,"
"as the son of Venus without reference to a father. Seneca says that Vulcan, as the husband of Venus, is the father of Cupid. Cicero, however, says that there were three Cupids, as well as three Venuses: the first Cupid was the son of Mercury and Diana, the second of Mercury and the second Venus, and the third of Mars and the third Venus. This last Cupid was the equivalent of Anteros, ""Counter-Love,"" one of the Erotes, the gods who embody aspects of love. The multiple Cupids frolicking in art are the decorative manifestation of these proliferating loves and desires."
"is one of the primordial gods involved in the coming into being of the cosmos. But in later sources, Eros is represented as the son of Aphrodite, whose mischievous interventions in the affairs of gods and mortals cause bonds of love to form, often illicitly. Ultimately, in the later satirical poets, he is represented as a blindfolded child, the precursor to the chubby Renaissance Cupid, whereas in early Greek poetry and art, Eros was depicted as an adult male who embodies sexual power, and a profound artist. A cult of Eros existed in pre-classical Greece, but it was much less"
"Cupid. To the Christian mythographer Fulgentius (6th century), Psyche was an Adam figure, driven by sinful curiosity and lust from the paradise of Love's domain. Psyche's sisters are Flesh and Free Will, and her parents are God and Matter. To Boccaccio (14th century), the marriage of Cupid and Psyche symbolized the union of soul and God. Apuleius's novel was among the ancient texts that made the crucial transition from roll to codex form when it was edited at the end of the late 4th century. It was known to Latin writers such as Augustine of Hippo, Macrobius, Sidonius Apollinaris, Martianus"
"Cupid (1998 TV series) Cupid is an American comedy-drama series created by Rob Thomas, which featured Paula Marshall as Dr. Claire Allen, a Chicago psychologist who is given charge of a man named Trevor Hale (Jeremy Piven). Hale believes he is Cupid, sent down from Mount Olympus by Zeus to connect 100 couples without using his powers, as a punishment for his arrogance. Originally broadcast on ABC on Saturday evenings at 10 p.m. EST, the show lasted one season. Trevor Hale is attractive, witty, uncommonly intelligent—and he may be Cupid, the Greco-Roman god of erotic love. Probably not, but he"
"are found on the Greek 2-euro coin and on the United Kingdom identity card for visa holders. Mary Beard, professor of Classics at Cambridge University, has criticised this for its apparent celebration of rape. Zeus Zeus (; , ""Zeús"" ) is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion, who rules as king of the gods of Mount Olympus. His name is cognate with the first element of his Roman equivalent Jupiter. His mythologies and powers are similar, though not identical, to those of Indo-European deities such as Indra, Jupiter, Perkūnas, Perun, Thor, and Odin. Zeus is the child"
"odds with Apollo, the archer-brother of Diana and patron of poetic inspiration whose love affairs almost always end disastrously. Ovid blames Cupid for causing him to write love poetry instead of the more respectable epic. The story of Cupid and Psyche appears in Greek art as early as the 4th century BC, but the most extended literary source of the tale is the Latin novel ""Metamorphoses"", also known as ""The Golden Ass"", by Apuleius (2nd century AD). It concerns the overcoming of obstacles to the love between Psyche (""Soul"" or ""Breath of Life"") and Cupid, and their ultimate union in"
"Aphrodite Aphrodite is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation. She is identified with the planet Venus, which is named after the Roman goddess , with whom Aphrodite was extensively syncretized. Aphrodite's major symbols include myrtles, roses, doves, sparrows, and swans. The cult of Aphrodite was largely derived from that of the Phoenician goddess Astarte, a cognate of the East Semitic goddess Ishtar, whose cult was based on the Sumerian cult of Inanna. Aphrodite's main cult centers were Cythera, Cyprus, Corinth, and Athens. Her main festival was the Aphrodisia, which was celebrated annually in midsummer. In"
"arrows of lead. Originally, Eros was the god of love and intercourse; he was also worshiped as a fertility deity. His Roman counterpart was Cupid (desire). 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 associated with athleticism, with statues erected in ""gymnasia"", and ""was often regarded as the protector of homosexual love between men."" Eros was depicted as often carrying a lyre or bow and arrow. He was also depicted accompanied by dolphins, flutes, roosters, roses, and torches. Hedylogos"
"A sacrifice was annually dedicated to her on the latter date. In neo-classical art, her epithet as Victrix is often used in the sense of 'Venus Victorious over men's hearts' or in the context of the Judgement of Paris (e.g. Canova's ""Venus Victrix"", a half-nude reclining portrait of Pauline Bonaparte). As with most major gods and goddesses in Roman mythology, the literary concept of Venus is mantled in whole-cloth borrowings from the literary Greek mythology of her counterpart, Aphrodite. In some Latin mythology, Cupid was the son of Venus and Mars, the god of war. At other times, or in"
"Roman poet Ovid does a retelling of this Greek legend, which appears in his work Metamorphoses. The pursuit of a local nymph by an Olympian god, part of the archaic adjustment of religious cult in Greece, was given an arch anecdotal turn in the ""Metamorphoses"" by the Roman poet Ovid (died AD 17). According to this version Apollo's infatuation was caused by a golden-tipped arrow shot at him by Cupid, son of Venus, who wanted to punish Apollo for having insulted his archery skills by commenting ""What hast thou to do with the arms of men, thou wanton boy?"", and"
"sorts to the protagonists. His Roman form is described as laid-back, disinterested in mortal affairs, and stormy; while his Greek form is quick to anger, more in-touch with the human world, and wears a wreath of barley. Favonius/Zephyros also appears in that novel, described as a deeply tanned man with wings the colors of a sunset and holding a basket of unripe fruit. He takes two of the protagonists to meet his master, Cupid, whom he serves as punishment for accidentally killing a man he and Apollo loved during a game of quoits. Eurus was the name of Sherlock Holmes's"
"Their name, ""Kewpie"", derives from Cupid, the Roman god of love. According to O'Neill, she became obsessed with the idea of the cherubic characters, to the point that she had dreams about them: ""I thought about the Kewpies so much that I had a dream about them where they were all doing acrobatic pranks on the coverlet of my bed. One sat in my hand."" She described them as ""a sort of little round fairy whose one idea is to teach people to be merry and kind at the same time"". The Kewpie characters made their debut in comic strip"
"mated to a god, they themselves were not necessarily immortal. As such, they could be beholden to death in various forms. Other nymphs, always in the shape of young maidens, were part of the retinue of a god, such as Dionysus, Hermes, or Pan, or a goddess, generally the huntress Artemis. They are frequently associated with the huntress Artemis; the beautiful Apollo; and the god of wine, Dionysus. The story of Cupid and Psyche, depicted as young lovers, is an allegory of immortal love. Immortality is granted to the soul of Psyche as a reward for commitment to sexual love."
"Roman god of the underworld's traditional Latin name, Dis. Venus, in order to bring love to Pluto, sent her son Amor (also known as Cupid) to hit Pluto with one of his arrows. Proserpina was in Sicily, at the Pergusa Lake near Enna, where she was playing with some nymphs and collecting flowers, when Pluto came out from the volcano Etna with four black horses named Orphnaeus, Aethon, Nycteus and Alastor. He abducted her in order to marry her and live with her in the underworld of which he was the ruler. Her mother Ceres, also known as Demeter, the"
"Erotes The Erotes () are a collective of winged gods associated with love and sexual intercourse in Greek mythology. They are part of Aphrodite's retinue. ""Erotes"" (Greek ) is the plural of ""Eros"" (""Love, Desire""), who as a singular deity has a more complex mythology. Other named Erotes are Anteros (""Love Returned""), Himeros (""Impetuous Love"" or ""Pressing Desire""), Hedylogos (""Sweet-talk""), Hymenaios (""Bridal-Hymn""), Hermaphroditus (""Hermaphrodite"" or ""Effeminate""), and Pothos (""Desire, Longing,"" especially for one who is absent). The Erotes became a motif of Hellenistic art, and may appear in Roman art in the alternate form of multiple Cupids or Cupids and"
"central figure of Venus. Particularly in ancient Roman art, cupids may also carry or be surrounded by fruits, animals, or attributes of the Seasons or the wine-god Dionysus, symbolizing the earth's generative capacity. Cupid carries two kinds of arrows, or darts, 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. The use of these arrows is described by the Latin poet Ovid in the first book of his"
"two figures are Gaius Octavius, father of the future emperor, and Atia Balba Caesonia, his mother (hence Cupid with the arrow) who had a dream of being impregnated by Apollo in the form of a sea serpent (ketos), note the snake's prominent teeth. The onlooker with his staff, could be Aeneas, a hero of the Trojan Wars who saved his father by carrying over his back (hence his hunched position, and his Trojan beard) and who is believed to have founded Rome, and from whom the Julian gens, including Julius Caesar and Attia, claimed descent, witnessing the conception of Rome's"
"Neptune (mythology) Neptune ( ) was the god of freshwater and the sea in Roman religion. He is the counterpart of the Greek god Poseidon. In the Greek-influenced tradition, Neptune was the brother of Jupiter and Pluto; the brothers presided over the realms of Heaven, the earthly world, and the Underworld. Salacia was his wife. Depictions of Neptune in Roman mosaics, especially those of North Africa, are influenced by Hellenistic conventions. Neptune was likely associated with fresh water springs before the sea. Like Poseidon, Neptune was worshipped by the Romans also as a god of horses, under the name ""Neptunus"
"art history, the equivalent of the Greek erotes. Cupids are a frequent motif of both Roman art and later Western art of the classical tradition. In the 15th century, the iconography of Cupid starts to become indistinguishable from the putto. Cupid continued to be a popular figure in the Middle Ages, when under Christian influence he often had a dual nature as Heavenly and Earthly love. In the Renaissance, a renewed interest in classical philosophy endowed him with complex allegorical meanings. In contemporary popular culture, Cupid is shown drawing his bow to inspire romantic love, often as an icon of"
"shared some characteristics with the goddess ""Victoria"". On coinage issued by Sulla the dictator, Cupid bears the palm branch, the most common attribute of Victory. ""Desire"" in Roman culture was often attached to power as well as to erotic attraction. Roman historians criticize ""cupido gloriae"", ""desire for glory,"" and ""cupido imperii"", ""desire for ruling power"". In Latin philosophical discourse, ""cupido"" is the equivalent of Greek ""pothos"", a focus of reflections on the meaning and burden of desire. In depicting the ""pious love"" ""(amor pius)"" of Nisus and Euryalus in the ""Aeneid,"" Vergil has Nisus wonder:Is it the gods who put"
"Roman culture, appearing on everything from jewelry to bells and wind chimes to lamps, including as an amulet to protect children and triumphing generals. Cupid inspired desire; the imported god Priapus represented gross or humorous lust; Mutunus Tutunus promoted marital sex. The god Liber (understood as the ""Free One"") oversaw physiological responses during sexual intercourse. When a male assumed the ""toga virilis"", ""toga of manhood,"" Liber became his patron; according to the love poets, he left behind the innocent modesty ""(pudor)"" of childhood and acquired the sexual freedom ""(libertas)"" to begin his course of love. A host of deities oversaw"
"Aphrodite (DC Comics) Aphrodite is a character in DC Comics. She is based on the Greek deity of the same name. Aphrodite first appeared in ""All-Star Comics"" #8 and was adapted by William Moulton Marston and Harry G. Peter. Aphrodite is the Greek Olympian Goddess of Love, Beauty, Pleasure, and Sex. While fair, loving and at times mischievous, the goddess' interest in the desires of the heart, the spirit and the flesh lead her to be promiscuous, tumultuous, fickle and impulsive. In the Pre-Crisis, Aphrodite is one of the patron goddesses who gave life to the Amazons of Themyscira. She"
"abducted the goddess Chloris, and gave her the domain of flowers. With Chloris, he fathered Karpos (""Fruit""). He is said to have vied for Chloris's love with his brother Boreas, eventually winning her devotion. Additionally, with yet another sister and lover, the harpy Podarge (also known as Celaeno), Zephyrus was said to be the father of Balius and Xanthus, Achilles' horses. In the story of Cupid and Psyche, Zephyrus served Eros (or Cupid) by transporting Psyche to his abode. Zephyrus' Roman equivalent was Favonius (the 'favouring') who held dominion over plants and flowers. The Roman poet Horace writes: <poem>""quid fles,"
"Apollo Apollo (Attic, Ionic, and Homeric Greek: , ""Apollōn"" ( ) is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in classical Greek and Roman religion and Greek and Roman mythology. The national divinity of the Greeks, Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of music, truth and prophecy, healing, the sun and light, plague, poetry, and more. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, and has a twin sister, the chaste huntress Artemis. Seen as the most beautiful god and the ideal of the ""kouros"" (a beardless, athletic youth), Apollo is considered to be"
"Ganymede (mythology) In Greek mythology, Ganymede or Ganymedes (; ; Ancient Greek: Γανυμήδης ""Ganymēdēs"") is a divine hero whose homeland was Troy. Homer describes Ganymede as the most beautiful of mortals, and in one version of the myth Zeus falls in love with his beauty and abducts him in the form of an eagle to serve as cup-bearer in Olympus. The myth was a model for the Greek social custom of ""paiderastía"", the socially acceptable romantic relationship between an adult male and an adolescent male. The Latin form of the name was Catamitus (and also ""Ganymedes""), from which the English"
"and received religious veneration jointly with Hercules. An inscription from Cártama in Roman Spain records statues of Mars and Cupid among the public works of a wealthy female priest ""(sacerdos perpetua)"", and another list of benefactions by a procurator of Baetica includes statues of Venus and Cupid. Cupid became more common in Roman art from the time of Augustus, the first Roman emperor. After the Battle of Actium, when Antony and Cleopatra were defeated, Cupid transferring the weapons of Mars to his mother Venus became a motif of Augustan imagery. In the ""Aeneid"", the national epic of Rome by the"
"and the pre-Christian Roman Empire. Herodotus was one of the earliest authors to engage in this form of interpretation. In his observations regarding the Egyptians, he establishes Greco-Egyptian equivalents that endured into the Hellenistic era, including Amon/Zeus, Osiris/Dionysus, and Ptah/Hephaestus. In his observations regarding the Scythians, he equates their queen of the gods, Tabiti, to Hestia, Papaios and Api to Zeus and Gaia respectively, and Argimpasa to Aphrodite Urania, whilst also claiming that the Scythians worshipped equivalents to Herakles and Ares, but which he doesn't name. Some pairs of Greek and Roman gods, such as Zeus and Jupiter, are thought"
"about Hercules. Hercules Hercules () is a Roman hero and god. He was the equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, who was the son of Zeus (Roman equivalent Jupiter) and the mortal Alcmene. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Greek hero's iconography and myths for their literature and art under the name ""Hercules"". In later Western art and literature and in popular culture, ""Hercules"" is more commonly used than ""Heracles"" as the name of the hero. Hercules was a multifaceted figure with contradictory characteristics, which enabled"
"Venus and Amor Venus and Amor (also known as Venus and Cupid) is a c. 1524 painting by the German painter and printmaker Hans Holbein the Younger, conserved in the Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland. Although the work is Holbein's earliest mythological painting, depicting the Roman goddess of love, Venus, with her son Amor (Cupid), the model is believed to be his friend Magdalena Offenburg. They are shown in front of a large hanging green curtain and behind a low parapet. Venus is depicted with an open gesture and sincere gaze. Cupid is seen climbing onto the parapet while holding love's arrow"
"and goddesses found in distant cultures are mythologically comparable and are cognates. Eos, the Greek goddess of the dawn, for instance, is cognate to Indic ""Ushas"", Roman ""Aurora"" and Latvian ""Auseklis"". Zeus, the Greek king of gods, is cognate to Latin ""Iūpiter"", Old German ""Ziu"", and Indic ""Dyaus"", with whom he shares similar mythologies. Other deities, such as Aphrodite, originated from the Near East. Greek deities varied locally, but many shared panhellenic themes, celebrated similar festivals, rites, and ritual grammar. The most important deities in the Greek pantheon were the Twelve Olympians: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite, Hermes,"