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Thursday, March 20, 2014

Eros-the Greek God of love and Fertiliy

Eros- Greek God of love and fertility-

I am continuing my journey on the many different Gods & Goddess
of the World. Today I am exploring the life of the God Eros- God of love and fertility. I thought he might be an interesting Greek God to

Eros

do Since in Roman times they later called him Cupid.
Eros- was the Greek God of love and fertility or sex as some would call it.
He had a long history, of dating in Ancient Greece and that doesn't surprise me,
being that he was the god of love & sex.
Eros was one of the most important Gods in Ancient Greece. You may ask why?
Well its because he was one of the three deities who created the world according to:
Hesiod's Theogony: which describes the origins of the Gods-
'In the beginning there was Chaos' Said Hesiod, but there was three elements that coexisted; These
three elements that coexisted were that of- Chaos, Gaia and Eros. It is truly amazing in my opinion that
these elements were able to coexisted but, then again these were the Gods of Greece so they had away
of doing things that know one else would everything of. So back to the three elements of that coexisted between Chaos, Gaia and Eros.
Eros-
Did not give birth to other gods, but did encouraged and facilitate the birth and creation of birth. From the Chaos, were born Erebus and the Night and their children were Aether and Day.
Particular attention was given to the God Eros from the Ancient Tragedians. You may wonder why? Well The God Euripides especially would separated Eros into the positive & negative forces/ as it can lead to both virtue and the misery in Ancient Tragedians times.

Eros as Cupid

In later times, Eros was depicted as an overweight winged baby, if you can believe that! carrying a bow which he would use to shoot off arrows randomly, causing people and even the Gods to fall in love. Some would call him cupid at that time. Again according to the myth, Eros had two kinds of arrows;
1. The golden winged pigeons and the feathered owls. - These arrows with the wings of pigeons were those that would cast in the hearts of mortals and immortals, to stimulate erotic feelings.
2. Eros two weapons were that of darts or arrows. And the tips have been magically treated to produce either with an uncontrollable love or insurmountable disinterested for the person that Eros sees fit to be the
victim after he shoots his arrow or dart at them. And the result being the wound of one of either I have described.

Eros-
Was, the Greek god of love and sexual desire. He was also worshiped as a fertility god and was believed to be a contemporary of the primeval Chaos, which makes Eros one of the oldest Greek Gods.
In the Dionysian Period, Eros is referred to as "protagonus', the first born., but there are many variations
to whom Eros parents might have really been and where. According to Aristophanes Eros was born to

Eros as Cupid

Erebus and Nyx [Night]. In later Mythology Eros is the offspring of Aphrodite and Ares.
There is another legend that says that he was the son of Iris and Zephyrus. From the earliest legends of The God Eros it said that he is responsible for the embrace of Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Mother Earth) and from
their union were born many offspring. As I have written in one of my posts the Titian Kronos. It was also written that Eros hatched our race and made it appear fist into the light. Since Eros was one of the oldest Gods, he was a latecomer to the Greek religion. He was also worshiped in many different regions in Greece,

at Thespiae where they had a ancient fertility cult and in Athens Eros and Aphrodite had a joint cult too.

Eros

It seems that In the time of ancient Greece, Athens would Celebrate with Eros every fourth day of the month. As to Eros each 4th day of each month was sacred to the greed god Eros. Sometimes he was worshiped by the name Erotes. He used this name to personified his attractions that would evoke love, desire, sex and this also included both heterosexual and homosexual allurements too.
Anteros - Known as the Returner of Love and also as the God of Mutual Love - was the brother of Eros. It kinda gets a little more confusing after I get into some legends on who the mother is of the two Gods of Love, desire, and it seems to me lotsss of sex! It seems to me the Gods love SEX! AND it seemed to get them into a lot! of trouble too. In many of the legends of the Gods, Goddesses and even before them The Giant Titian's. So back to the two brothers Anteros and Eros God of Mutual Love / God of love, desire, and Sex. Well it seems that in

Eros

one of the legends which Aphrodite and Ares are said to be the mother and father of Eros, but it doesn't say anything about Anteros. But that isn't uncommon in the Greek Gods - they have many children from many different Fathers/Gods Mothers/Goddesses. Nymphs/water, wood, river etc. and even sometimes half/god human ... or all human .. They were a very active group when it came to getting around if you know what I mean Eh! hheheheh! Well after all Eros is the God of love and sex!

Eros is usually depicted as a young winged boy, with a bow and arrow at the ready, to either shoot into the
hearts of Gods or mortals which would rouse them to desire. I have said before earlier about his arrow types

Young Eros

Young Eros with his mother Aphrodite

but its always good to go over details on the gods tools that they are known for and of course Eros is known for the bow and his very special type of arrows and darts as some have said too. His arrows came in two kinds: 1the golden arrow with dove feathers which aroused love: 2and the leaden arrows which had owl feathers that caused indifference.

The poet Sappho summarized Eros as being bitter sweet and cruel to his victims with his two different types of arrows and his personality too. He was charming and very beautiful, but he could be very unscrupulous

Aphrodite Eros Mother

Eros and Psyche lovers

and a danger to those around him. Eros would make as much mischief as he could possibly could by wounding the hearts of all, but according to one legend he himself fell in love. Humm can you believe that!

How the question you all are wondering Who did Eros the god of love, desire, fertility and sex fall for? Well I will tell you! It is said that.

Psyche and Eros as Children

In legend, it seems that Eros was always at his mothers side assisting her in all her conniving and godly affairs. As the young Eros gets older while always assisting his mother is seems that Aphrodite became jealous of the beauty of a mortal, a beautiful young woman named Psyche. In her fit of jealousy, Aphrodite (his mother) asked Eros to shoot his arrow into the heart of Psyche and make her fall in love with the ugliest man on earth. Eros agreed to carry out his mothers wishes, but on seeing Psyche beauty Eros fell deeply in love with Psyche himself. So now you know two things you didn't know before Eh! Eros love of his life and his mother was Aphrodite who wanted him to kill the one woman that he fell in love with. Oh what a tackled web they got themselves into. Well Eros of course didn't carry out the promise to his mother Aphrodite and

Psyche and Eros as Cupid

with Eros even though she could not see him, until one night curiosity overcame her. She concealed a lamp and while Eros slept she lit the lamp, revealing the identity of Eros. But a drop of the hot oil spilt from the lamp awakening the God. Angered she had seen him Eros fled and the distraught Psyche roamed the earth in vain to find her lover.
To End this foulness Zeus took pity on the two lovers and reunited them, he also gave his consent for them to marry. There are variation of this legend but is seems that all come out the same.