Eros, (Cupid or Amor) was the god of love. According to Hesiod he is fairest of the deathless gods that had a double character. First he was found described taking part at the creation of the world out of Chaos. Secondly, he was the son of Aphrodite and Zeus or Ares, or even of Uranus. Another example of this difference in character can be observed in the translatin of the word for "love." Among the Greeks it is feminine while its Roman equivalent was masculine. In the early stories, he is most often a beautiful serious youth who gives good gifts to men. In the later poets he was almost invariably a mischievous, naughty boy, or worse. His heart was evil but his tongue was honey sweet. The archer could be cruel in his play. His golden-tipped arrows could make even gods fall in love but his lead-tipped arrows would cause the wounded to be immune to a lover's pleas. The love story of Daphne and Apollo best illustrates Cupid's trick with the different arrows.

      He was often represented as blindfolded, because love is often blind. In attendance upon him was Anteros, said sometimes to be the avenger of slighted love, sometimes the one who opposes love; also Himeros or Longing, and Hymen, the God of the Wedding Feast.

     The best know myth of Eros was that of his love for Psyche.

ACTIVITIES:
Eros activity

KEY TEST WORDS:
Eros (Cupid) god of love. Symbols: gold and lead arrows.

The Lesser Deities

The Underworld

Footnotes:
The word Psyche, signifying the soul, came afterwards to mean also a butterfly, a likeness being observed between the manner in which a soul and a butterfly, freed from the body or chrysalis, rise on wing, and waft themselves in the light. The flame of love which often scorched the soul was compared with the torch which attracts the butterfly to its doom.

SOURCES:
Jane Smith
Edith Hamilton's Mythology
Edward Tripp's "Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology"
"Manual of Mythology" by Alexander S. Murray.