Do You Know The Myth Of Eros And Psyche?

The myth of Eros and Psyche is about one of the three daughters of a king. According to the story, she was not only the most beautiful woman in Anatolia (today part of Turkey), but also the most beautiful in the world.

In the story, everyone fell for her after seeing how beautiful she was. It was for this reason that Venus, the goddess of love, began to get jealous. She couldn’t bear that a mere mortal could be more beautiful than her.

This was because the men beheld the beauty of Psyche instead of worshiping Venus in her temple. So the goddess could bear it no longer and ordered Eros, her son, to find her and shoot her with one of his arrows, so that she would fall in love with the most terrible creature there was.

Eros, who was quite obedient, did exactly as his mother instructed. However, he accidentally pricked himself with the arrow to use for Psyche and fell madly in love with her.

Ironically, the god of love himself had no experience of love and did not know what to do with it. Therefore, he had no choice but to enlist the help of Apollo, the god of light and truth.

A strange fate

The myth of Eros and Psyche tells us that the god Apollo also did not know what to do. In his opinion it seemed that, at least in principle, it would be best to eliminate all the worshipers of Psyche.

So, by his strength, men began to admire Psyche, but did not fall in love with her. Therefore, everyone praised her beauty, but no one wanted to marry her.

For example, Psyche’s two sisters were already married and she was not yet married. It was then that her father, struck by so much bad luck, asked the help of the gods. Apollo knew that Eros’s love had to be kept secret or Venus would get angry. So he advised the king to take her to a distant mountain and leave her there.

Though her father was very sad, he obeyed Apollo’s instructions, for he was a wise god and his daughter would surely be happy. The myth of Eros and Psyche says that the girl wept inconsolably when she reached the hill and then fell asleep.

When she awoke, she found herself in a beautiful garden, next to a beautiful castle. A voice then invited her to go inside and put on the pretty dresses and eat all the good food.

The Myth of Eros and Psyche

The same voice that had guided her told her that her husband would visit her at night. But the encounters took place in the dark and it was impossible to see his face.

If she did, then the two would have to split up forever. That’s why she had to trust him, because if there was no trust, there was no possibility of love.

The story says that the girl was flattered by so much attention. Then she began to fall more and more in love with her husband after spending every night with him.

However, there was something that still hurt her, which was that she hadn’t seen her sisters in a while. She missed them terribly. Her husband tried to convince her not to invite them, but she was determined to do so anyway. He finally agreed, but warned her not to talk about him.

The sisters went to the palace and were quite jealous of everything their sister had and the love that made her eyes light up. Therefore, they began to intrigue her heart with mistrust. They insinuated that her husband might be a terrible monster.

The price of love

The myth of Eros and Psyche goes on to say that the girl followed the advice of her sisters. So when she turned on the light, she saw a beautiful Eros lying next to her.

While she was watching him, he accidentally injured himself with the oil lamp. Then, visibly hurt and upset, he turned away from her and went in search of his mother. He swore that he would never return to Psyche.

Regretting her mistrust, Psyche went in search of Venus and asked her to help save her marriage. Venus subjected her to all kinds of severe, inhumane tests.

But some ants, a rosebush and an eagle helped her overcome it. Finally, Venus asked her to go to the underworld and bring her some of the beauty of Persephone, lady and master of that place.

Persephone, moved by the girl’s story, gave her part of her beauty in a chest. After many inconsistencies, Psyche managed to return. Before arriving, however, she made the decision to take a piece of that beauty for herself.

So she opened the box and fell asleep with the anesthetic vapor quickly spurting out. When that happened, Eros had already forgiven her and followed her everywhere without her knowledge. That’s how he woke her up from the magical dream.

How the myth of Eros and Psyche ends

Then Eros begged the gods to agree to his marriage to Psyche. They agreed and gave ambrosia to Psyche so that she would become immortal. In light of this new situation, Venus also relented and agreed to the marriage. In the end they lived happily ever after.