Eros and Psyche – The Greatest Love Story in Ancient Greece

 

 

The path to true love can be a rough and rocky road, more often than not it will be scattered with obstacles along the way; your lover’s family hate you, your best friend is jealous and will do all they can to turn you against your chosen one or the love of your life is already taken.

Be thankful for small mercies, the ancient Greeks had much more to contend with when Eros’ arrow hit its mark!

Ancient Greek lovers had to cope with not only a host of malevolent sorceresses and seductresses; there was worse; the goddess Aphrodite’s entourage; the Erotes, led by Eros, an unpredictable flock of winged gods associated with love and passion, who could either help or hinder the true course of love.

 

The Erotes

 

 

Anteros:  God of requited love, vindicator of unrequited love

Hedylogos: God of Sweet-talk and flattery

Hermaphroditus: God of hermaphrodites, effeminacy and androgyny

 Himeros: Son of the goddess Aphrodite and the god Ares, the God of uncontrollable desire

Hymenaeus or Hymen: God of weddings and marriage

Pothos: God of yearning

 

Whatever will be will be

 

However, whatever is meant to be will be, fate and destiny play a leading role when it comes to affairs of the heart in Greek mythology, the thread connecting love and hate is a fine one.

After having to battle against all of the above, you can now understand why there are so many sad ancient Greek love stories

The myth of Eros (Cupid), from whom derives the word erotic, son of Aphrodite (Venus) goddess of love and Psyche, a princess, a story of a loss of trust and betrayal, one of the best-loved and the greatest love story of Greek mythology, is just one example; the ultimate twin flame journey!

 

Eros and Psyche

 

 

Psyche, known for her unrivaled beauty, was the youngest of three daughters of a King of ancient Greece.

So startling was Psyche’s beauty, it stopped people in their tracks, so much so, they soon began to compare her with Aphrodite (Venus in Roman mythology), the goddess of love and beauty.

Upon hearing this, the green-eyed monster of Jealousy awoke within the real Aphrodite and in a fit of rage; she at once sent her son, Eros, In Greek mythology the god of love and desire, to secretly administer a magic potion to Psyche, which would make sure no man, would ever fall in love with her.

Eros, being the good son that he was, carried out his mother’s orders, however, whist performing his task, he accidently shot Psyche with one of his arrows.

 

The arrows of Eros

 

 

Now Eros had two types of arrows, one with a sharp golden point and the other with a blunt lead tip.

Whoever was hit by a golden arrow was filled with uncontrollable desire but if they were unlucky enough to be pierced by the lead arrow, they were filled only with revulsion and the desire to get away as quickly as possible.

Yes, you guessed it; Psyche was hit by one of Eros’ golden arrows, an arrow of love.

Realizing his blunder, in a state of panic, Eros let fly another golden arrow, this time shooting himself; instant, undying love ensued, Eros and Psyche were hooked; or were they?

 

The course of true love never runs smoothly

 

 

 

Before the golden arrow of love had hit its target, the potion, secretly administered to Psyche by Eros, had worked its magic; any man who now set eyes on Psyche was repulsed by her.

Confused, as she had no knowledge of why this was happening, Psyche watched as her two sisters, not half as attractive as she herself was, find suitors and marry, what affliction had befallen her, she wondered, why were men were now immune to her famed beauty?

Psyche’s predicament caused her father the king much distress, as he had no solution to the problem, he decided to consult the Oracle at Delphi.

Psyche’s father was devastated by the instructions he received from Apollo, who was at that time, the Priest of Delphi.

Apollo ordered Psyche’s father that she must be dressed in black, taken to the top of a far away mountain, where she would remain, alone, until a designated husband would be delivered to her.

No one dare defy the oracle and so, Psyche was sent on her way to an isolated mountain top.

 

Psyche finds a husband

 

 

Unbeknown to Psyche, Eros was planning her escape; with the help of Zephyrus, god of the west wind, the forsaken Psyche was spirited away to Eros’ palace, where she was to be attended to by an army of servants; her every wish would be their command.

“This is the life”, thought Psyche, “my father did the right thing in consulting the oracle; I’m living the life of luxury with a husband who is an excellent lover, I only wish he would let me see his face, why all the mystery, why does he only come to me at night?”

The reason for all this cloak and dagger carry on, was that little did Psyche know; her husband was none other than Eros!

Time passed peacefully for Psyche her nights were exciting, however, her days were empty and so she asked her husband’s permission for her sisters to visit, he agreed, in hindsight, he wished he hadn’t.

 

The truth is revealed

 

 

Presently, the sisters arrived and on witnessing  Psyches’ luxurious lifestyle, were filled with envy; they began to fill Psyches head with nonsense, telling her they know something she didn’t and that her husband was really a monstrous hairy beast and that was the reason he never allowed her to see him in daylight.

They suggested to her, that when her husband is sleeping, she should take an oil lamp and have a look for herself and being the beast they know he is, she had better take a knife as well, just in case things turn nasty.

Psyche wondered why she had never thought of this herself and does as her sisters suggested.

The truth is indeed revealed and is not what she expected; her husband is no hairy beast but Eros, the god of love.

Shocked and trembling at this revelation, a drop of oil from the lamp falls upon Eros’ shoulder, burning him, he is awakened  by the pain, only to find Psyche towering over him, wielding a knife.

 

Eros rejects Psyche

 

 

In fear for his life, Eros flees the scene with a distraught Psyche running after him, shouting her apologies for not trusting him.

Feeling betrayed, Eros rejects her apologies and swears she will never see him again.

Mortified after being abandoned by Eros, Psyche attempts to drown herself but the river nymphs take pity on her and she is washed ashore, where she comes to her senses and sets off to find Eros, to see if they can’t resolve things.

All this time, Aphrodite, who has been watching from the side lines, aware of her son’s defiance towards her, orders a servant to find Psyche and bring her before the goddess.

 

Aphrodite intervenes

 

 

Aphrodite gives Psyche an ultimatum, to atone for her actions and to save her life she is to complete three tasks.

The first is to sort a mountain of poppy seeds, chickpeas and lentils into separate piles, which, with help from some nearby ants, Psyche manages to complete quickly.

Secondly, Psyche is to skin the fleece from a ferocious, man-eating golden sheep, this task worried Psyche a little until a passing river nymph, suggested she wait until the sheep falls asleep and then carefully remove loose bits of fleece and gather other bits which may have fallen to the ground around it or have become caught in trees the sheep has brushed against.

In this way, Psyche successfully completes task number two.

 

 

The third task set by Aphrodite, which was also a trap, nearly defeated Psyche.

She was to visit the Underworld (Hades) and bring back Persephone’s box which contained the elixir of beauty.

Aphrodite warned her (knowing all the time her curiosity would get the better of her) that under no circumstances was she to open the box.

Aphrodite knew that the potion inside the box was no beauty elixir but instead a curse of eternal sleep.

Astonishingly, Psyche actually manages to retrieve the box and feeling pleased with herself, thinks a little magical beauty potion can only help her to win back the love of Eros and opens the box, whereupon, she collapses instantly into a deep sleep.

 

Psyche is transformed into the goddess of human souls

 

 

As Psyche has been busy with her tasks, Eros, whom Aphrodite had imprisoned in her mansion, to prevent him rushing to the aid of Psyche, manages to escape and searching for his true love, comes upon her, flat on her back sleeping the sleep of the dead.

Thinking quickly, he uses his magical arrows to bring Psyche out of her trance-like sleep.

Reunited with his love, Eros begs Zeus, to deem their marriage, which was conducted in secret, as legitimate.

Zeus not only grants his wish but grants Psyche immortality and declares her “Goddess of the Human Soul”.

 

All’s well that ends well

 

 

True love triumphs, if you desire something enough, you get it; never give up.

I do suspect though, the ancient Greek fates did have a say in things.

And that my loves, is what you call a real love story; Greek – style!