Armed with a powerful bow and a collection of threatening arrows, Cupid was the Roman god of love who was constantly affecting the emotions of his many fellow gods. Originally the mythology associated with Cupid was from the Greeks. “The god the Romans knew as Cupid was adapted from the Greek god, Eros.”1 On any occasion, whenever one was struck with one of Cupid’s golden arrows one would fall in love with whomever Cupid wanted. However, if one were struck by an arrow made out of lead, one would be repulsed by whoever Cupid decided.
One of the most acknowledged myths about Cupid, written by Apuleius in his Metamorphoses, involved the mortal princess Psyche. There are many other versions of this story, and in most of these Cupid is portrayed to be a passionate lover. “Cupid and Psyche, is … a tale of the quest for divine knowledge and the failings of the human spirit.”2 When Venus, Cupid’s mother, first met Psyche, who was a beautiful young woman, she realized how jealous she was of Psyche, and ordered Cupid to use his arrows to ruin her love life. Venus demanded that Cupid shoot Psyche with an arrow, so that when he strikes Psyche she must be looking “toward a creature so hideous that mortals will be filled with loathing.”3 While Cupid was getting ready to strike her, he became fascinated by her elegance; he lost hold of his arrow and ended up hitting his leg. From this moment forward he did whatever he could to make sure that she would be his forever. Zephyrus, god of the west winds, came as an accomplice to help Cupid. They took her to a grove of trees, which she saw as a superior palace. After entering this lavish but skimpy palace, a voice invited her to eat in what was said to be her new home.4 She received noticed that her supposed morbid lover would be there to meet her at nightfall. The voice declared “I am your husband. I will visit with you every evening but, unfortunately, I must leave before the first sign of morning. Never, ever ask or try to see me!”5
For a while Psyche was satisfied with this platonic love with Cupid, not knowing who he was, but simply believing he was her destined lover.6 Although she became accustomed to this new lifestyle, she found herself missing her family. Cupid, her after-dark lover, granted her permission to have her sisters join her.7 Unfortunately, rather than being grateful to see their sister, they were overly jealous and planted ideas in Psyche’s head to trick her unknown lover.8 “They suggest that her lover is a serpent who changes into the form of a youth at night, a monster who will at last devour her.”9 They told her to have a knife and lamp with her while she was sleeping so that when he came for his nightly visit she would be able to slay him as he sleeps.
Naively, Psyche prepared herself to see a man who she had fallen hopeless for. Ready to strike him, she brought the lamp close enough to see him.10 When she looked at this beautiful young man, she became defenseless. He awoke to see her paralyzed by what she had seen. “With the warning that love cannot live with suspicion, he leaves the palace.”11 Psyche woke up to find that the palace had been dispersed, and she went to search for her forbidden lover. Cupid decided to take his anger out on her sisters by leading them to “the arms of Death to welcome them.”12 While Psyche searched for some answers, she was turned away by everyone, finding herself confronted by Venus. Instead of Venus killing Psyche, she decided that the best thing to do would be to keep her as a slave.13
In order for Venus not to kill Psyche, she decided to let her live only by having her complete a new task for her everyday. “Psyche’s first task is to sort a huge pile of mixed seeds and grain into separate heaps, with the warning that if there is so much as one seed in the wrong pile she will be punished.”14 Psyche took forever to complete this tedious task; so Cupid decided to intervene, and he demanded a myriad of ants to finish it off for her. For whatever odd reason, she was asked to put together a golden fleece for Venus from all of her sheep. Psyche was frighten to attempt this in the daylight, so she stayed up until all had fallen asleep.15 After having succeeded at that task, Psyche was then challenged to go the river that flowed around the mischievous underworld, to fill up a jug with black water. Cleverly, Cupid came to rescue his mortal princess, and had an eagle fly to get and bring back the water for her. Venus accepted the water but planned that her next task would be to kill Psyche by having her travel to the land of the dead. She was told that she needed to acquire a bit of the dazzling goddess Proserpine in a golden box. Venus made a compromise that if she completed this task, already knowing Psyche would not survive it, she would treat her better in the future. Psyche realized that this task was an impossible one, and despairing, she decided to commit suicide. Before doing this, a voice told her that there was a way for her to complete this unattainable task.16
Believing this voice that had guided her in the past, she attempted to accomplish the task. She followed all the steps she was given.17 Thinking she would be able to obtain whatever remained in the box, she decided to open it. Needless to say, she ended up falling into an unconscious sleep brimming with nightmares.18 Without Cupid coming to her rescue, she could have been trapped in her sleep, tormented, forever.
After having sent Psyche with the box to his mother, Cupid then began to beg with Jupiter for Psyche to be made immortal.19 Jupiter decided to let Psyche join them in this immortal world, once hearing Cupid’s petition. There she drank a cup of ambrosia that Jupiter handed her, and became an immortal goddess.20
It was only then that Cupid and Psyche were able to remain unified for an eternal life together.
- Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2016, s.v. “Cupid (Mythology),” by Janine Ungvarsky. ↵
- Salem Press Encyclopedia of Literature, 2015, s.v. “Cupid and Psyche,” by T. Fleischmann Mfa. ↵
- E. N. Genovese, “Cupid and Psyche,” Masterplots, Fourth Edition, November 2010, 2. ↵
- Salem Press Encyclopedia of Literature, 2015, s.v. “Cupid and Psyche,” by T. Fleischmann Mfa. ↵
- Rosalie F. Baker “What if the Goddess of Love was your mother-in-law?,” Calliope vol. 23 no. 3 (Nov/Dec 2012): 19. ↵
- S. Parker and P. Murgatroyd, “Love Poetry and Apuleius’ ‘Cupid and Psyche,’” The Classical Quarterly 52, no. 1 (2002): 402. ↵
- E. N. Genovese, “Cupid and Psyche,” Masterplots, Fourth Edition, November 2010, 2. ↵
- Rosalie F. Baker “What if the Goddess of Love was your mother-in-law?,” Calliope vol. 23 no. 3 (Nov/Dec 2012): 20. ↵
- E. N. Genovese, “Cupid and Psyche,” Masterplots, Fourth Edition, November 2010, 2. ↵
- Salem Press Encyclopedia of Literature, 2015, s.v. “Cupid and Psyche,” by T. Fleischmann Mfa. ↵
- E. N. Genovese, “Cupid and Psyche,” Masterplots, Fourth Edition, November 2010, 2. ↵
- E. N. Genovese, “Cupid and Psyche,” Masterplots, Fourth Edition, November 2010, 2. ↵
- Rosalie F. Baker “What if the Goddess of Love was your mother-in-law?,” Calliope vol. 23 no. 3 (Nov/Dec 2012): 22. ↵
- E. N. Genovese, “Cupid and Psyche,” Masterplots, Fourth Edition, November 2010, 2. ↵
- Salem Press Encyclopedia of Literature, 2015, s.v. “Cupid and Psyche,” by T. Fleischmann Mfa . ↵
- E. N. Genovese, “Cupid and Psyche,” Masterplots, Fourth Edition, November 2010, 2. ↵
- E. N. Genovese, “Cupid and Psyche,” Masterplots, Fourth Edition, November 2010, 2. ↵
- Salem Press Encyclopedia of Literature, 2015, s.v. “Cupid and Psyche,” by T. Fleischmann Mfa . ↵
- Kirsten Hall, “‘It Is All One’: Hetty Sorrel and the Myth of Cupid and Psyche,” Renascence: Essays on Values in Literature 67, no. 4 (Fall 2015): 289. ↵
- Salem Press Encyclopedia of Literature, 2015 “Cupid and Psyche,” by T. Fleischmann Mfa. ↵
122 comments
Nicole Ortiz
I have always loved greek and roman mythology ever since i was younger. I was always so fascinated by the myths and stories of the Gods interacting with one another or them interacting with mortals and how these stories ended. They always left me with wanting to know more about them and seeing why they did the things that they did and how. It has always interested me and it was nice reading this article as like a refresher of this interesting myth about Cupid and Psyche.
Christopher Metta Bexar
It was great to read the story of Cupid and Psyche. If I remember mythology Venus herself had been forced into marrying a less than handsome god herself. Being the goddess of love she must have resented that.
Mothers always want nothing but the best for their sons . And the story of the vain queen can segue into the story of the vain goddess or vice versa.We need only see this story for possible inspiration for the story of Snow White.
But like many others I enjoyed Cupid finding love himself. And the illustrations are works of art themselves.
Antonio Coffee
I have read a lot about mythology but this is a story I have never heard. I see this story less about Cupid but more about a jealous mom who tries to get her son to do her bidding with little regard for her own son. The fact that Psyche did not just quit is inspiring to me. It serves as a reminder that even though times may be tough that we have to keep marching on.
Eric Ortega Rodriguez
Great title! We always hear about Cupid and how he shoots his arrows to make people fall in love but no one never thinks about Cupid’s love life. This is the first time that I hear about Cupid and Psyche. I found it surprising to find out how Cupid’s mother but her own jealousy over her son’s happiness, hence the hilarious title. I find it sweet that Cupid went to Jupiter so he could make Psyche immortal. Which one the only way they could their eternal life together. Overall, great article. It is definitely something I would love to continue reading on. Great work.
Yazmin Garza
I am glad to read that this story had a happy ending, considering the fact that most Greek myths end in sorrow and tragedy. I had no idea that Cupid came from Greek mythology, and I did not know that he was not a chubby little baby with a bow and arrow that only came around on Valentine’s Day. I am curious to know how the connection between Valentine’s Day and Cupid came to be, and also why Psyche was not included in Valentine’s Day’s traditions along with Cupid.
Tala Owens
Im used to reading Greek mythology so reading about Roman this time was very interesting. I did not know the story of Cupid and Pysche. I only knew Cupid had a bow and arrow and whoever he shot his arrow with would fall in love with whoever he wanted. Reading this story, I was very surprised by how jealous Venus was of Pysche. She went to such great lengths to make her miserable just to fail every time.
Noah Bolhuis
I have always found these ancient gods, and their behaviors, interesting. It seemed like the Romans, as well as many other polytheistic cultures, used godly actions to justify their actions. For example, the idea of being shot by one of cupid’s arrows would justify their love or hatred and disgust with another. I haven’t read the story of cupid, and all the people and gods that he effected, and I found it quite interesting. I did enjoy reading this, and learning about how they viewed how the gods changed or decided their livelihood.
Janelle Larios
It’s different reading about Roman Mythology since I have read more on Greek Mythology. The tale itself was very pleasant to read and I was very happy to hear that Cupid and Psyche could spend their lives together as immortals. I guess fr what little I knew about this story was that Psyche was already immortal and Cupid was just so enraptured by her he went to great lengths to make her fall in love with him. Either way the article was very fluid and nice to read. I appreciated the story a lot.
Micaela Cruz
The only previous knowledge I had of Cupid was how once an individual was shot with one of his arrows, they would fall madly in love with whomever. It was interesting to read about to the story of Cupid and his strong love for Psyche. I found it fascinating how Cupid’s mother Venus felt such a strong sense of jealousy towards Psyche, and because of this, the title for this article was terrific and comical.
Eric Ortega Rodriguez
Funny title! This article was fascinating, primarily because I have not heard this story and because I find it interesting to read up on the struggles Cupid and Psyche had to overcome in order to be together. I also found it weird how Cupid’s mother would put her jealousy over her son’s happiness. Overall, I enjoyed reading this article, it kept me engaged and wanted to read more on these characters.