Eros

Eros was the Greek god of love. Some myths make him a primordial god, while in other myths, he is the son of Aphrodite. His Roman counterpart is Cupid.

Cult and Depiction
In the earliest sources, Eros 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.

A cult of Eros existed in pre-classical Greece, but it was much less important than that of Aphrodite. However, in late antiquity, Eros was worshipped by a fertility cult in Thespiae. In Athens, he shared a very popular cult with Aphrodite and the fourth day of every month was sacred times.

Primordial God
According to Hesiod, one of the most ancient of all Greek sources, Eros was the fourth god to come into existence, coming after Chaos, Gaia, and Tartarus.

Parmenides, one of the pre-socratic philosophers, makes Eros the first of all the gods to come into existence.

The Orphic and Eleusinian Mysteries featured Eros as a very original god, but not quite primordial, since he was the chil dof Nyx.

Eros and Psyche
Psyche was the most beautiful of her two sisters and received lots of attention from many people. All of this attention that Psyche received made Aphrodite, the goddess of love, jealous. Aphrodite commanded Eros to put a spell on Psyche.

Eros, who always did what Aphrodite told him to, flew down to earth with two potions. He slipped one potion that made men avoid marrying her to Psyche. However, Eros accidentally pricked himself with one of his arrows which made people fall in love. Eros, feeling guilty for what he had done to Psyche, gave her the other potion, which would bring joy to her life.

After Psyche was not married, her parents consulted an oracle to find out who Psyche's husband would be. The oracle revealed that no man would marry her, but a creature on top of a mountain would.

When Psyche reached the top of the mountain, she found a palace that was very beautiful. Her husband was Eros and he didn't allow her to see him. After a while of staying on top of the mountain, Psyche began to miss her family. Psyche's sisters came to visit but were jealous of her home. Her sisters planted the idea in her mind that her husband might be a monster, so they told her to try and look upon him while he was sleeping.

After Psyche saw Eros, he flew out the window. Psyche tried to follow him but fell out of the window and was knocked unconscious. When she awoke, she was in a field near her home. She went to Aphrodite's temple to pray for help. Aphrodite gave Psyche several tasks to do that she thought would be impossible.

First, Psyche had to sort out a large pile of grain. Psyche couldn't sort out the grains so Eros had some ants sort out the grains for her.

Next, Psyche had to get the golden fleece from a sheep herd that lived across a river. The god of the river told Psyche to wait until the sheep were sleeping in the shade, so they wouldn't attack her.

Then, Psyche had to receive a cup of water from the River Styx. An eagle helped Psyche with this task.

All the while, Aphrodite had suspicions that Psyche couldn't do all of these tasks alone, and now she knew full well that Psyche had help.

Lastly, Psyche had to go to the Underworld and get a box of Persephone's ointment. Psyche was going to kill herself because she knew she couldn't do that task, but a voice helped her and told her what to do but warned her to not look in the box.

Psyche made it to Persephone and received the box. However, she looked inside the box and found nothing but darkness which made her fall asleep. Eros woke her up and told her to bring Aphrodite the box.

Eros asked Zeus to intervene because he loved Psyche. Zeus agreed to help and they gave Psyche a cup of ambrosia which made Psyche immortal.