Eros

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Eros
God o desire an attraction
The Eros Farnese, a Pompeiian marble thocht
tae be a copy o the colossal Eros o Thespiae bi Praxiteles[1]
AbodeMunt Olympus
SymbolBowe, Arraes, Caunles,
Herts, Cupids, Weengs
an Kisses
Personal Information
ConsortPsyche
ChilderHedone
ParentsChaos or Aphrodite an Ares
or Aphrodite an Hermes,
or Iris and Zephyrus
SiblinsHarmonia, Anteros, Himeros,
Phobos, Adrestia an Deimos
Roman equivalentCupid

Eros (/ˈɪərɒs/, US Inglis: /ˈɛrɒs/; Ancient Greek: Ἔρως, "Desire"), in Greek meethologie, is the Greek god o luve. His Roman coonterpairt wis Cupid ("desire"). Some meeths mak him a primordial god, while in ither meeths, he is the son o Aphrodite.

Evolution o the cult an depiction o Eros[eedit | eedit soorce]

Eros appears in auncient Greek sources unner several different guises. In the earliest sources (the cosmogonies, the earliest filosofers, an texts referrin tae the mystery releegions), he is ane o the primordial gods involvit in the comin intae bein o the cosmos. But in later sources, Eros is representit as the son o Aphrodite, whose mischievous interventions in the affairs o gods an mortals cause bonds o love tae form, aften illicitly. Ultimately, in the later satirical poets, he is representit as a blindfauldit bairn, the precursor tae the chubby Renaissance Cupid – whareas in early Greek poetry an airt, Eros wis depictit as an adult male who embodies sexual pouer.[2][3]

Primordial god[eedit | eedit soorce]

Accordin tae Hesiod (c. 700 BC), ane o the maist auncient o aw Greek sources, Eros wis a primordial god, that is, he haed nae parents. He wis the fowert god tae come intae existence, comin efter Chaos, Gaia (the Yird), an Tartarus (the Abyss or the Unnerwarld).[4]

Homer does no mention Eros. However, Parmenides (c. 400 BC), ane o the pre-socratic filosofers, makes Eros the first o aw the gods tae come intae existence.[5]

The Orphic an Eleusinian Mysteries featured Eros as a vera oreeginal god, but no quite primordial, syne he wis the bairn o Nicht (Nyx).[2] Aristophanes (c. 400 BC), influencit bi Orphism, relates the birth o Eros an then o the entire human race:

At the beginnin thare wis anerlie Chaos, Nicht (Nyx), Darkness (Erebus), an the Abyss (Tartarus). Yird, the Air an Heiven haed nae existence. Firstly, blackwinged Nicht laid a germless egg in the bosom o the infinite deeps o Darkness, an frae this, efter the revolution o lang ages, sprang the graceful Luve (Eros) wi his glitterin gowden wings, swift as the whirlwinds o the tempest. He matit in the deep Abyss wi dark Chaos, winged like hissel, an thus hatched fort oor race, which wis the first tae see the licht.[6]

Notes[eedit | eedit soorce]

  1. A. Corso, Concerning the catalogue of Praxiteles’ exhibition held in the Louvre. Conference paper presented at ИНДОЕВРОПЕЙСКОЕ ЯЗЫКОЗНАНИЕ И КЛАССИЧЕСКАЯ ФИЛОЛОГИЯ – 11 June 2007; p. 159
  2. a b See the article Eros at the Theoi Project.
  3. "Eros", in S. Hornblower and A. Spawforth, eds., The Oxford Classical Dictionary.
  4. Hesiod, Theogony 116–122.
  5. "First of all the gods she devised Erōs." (Parmenides, fragment 13.) (The identity of the "she" is unclear, as Parmenides' work has survived only in fragments.
  6. Aristophanes, Birds, lines 690–699. (Translation by Eugene O'Neill, Jr., Perseus Digital Library; translation modified.)

Freemit airtins[eedit | eedit soorce]

  • Media relatit tae Eros at Wikimedia Commons

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