| Cupid is the mischievous, juvenile, winged | | | | |
| child, who shots the heart of his victims | | | | Cupid has been portrayed in various facets in |
| with his arrows and making them fall deeply | | | | art and literature. In Caravaggio's Amor |
| in love. In ancient Greece, he was known as | | | | Vincit Omni painting and sculpture, Cupid is |
| Eros the young son of Aphrodite, the goddess | | | | portrayed as a nude winged boy armed with a |
| of love and beauty. According to the Roman | | | | bow and quiver of arrows. The conventional |
| mythology, Cupid was the son of Lord Venus. | | | | Christian illustration of a Cherub is footed |
| Venus was supposed to be envious of Psyche | | | | on him. On trinkets and other extant pieces, |
| and ordered her son Cupid to punish the | | | | he is usually made known amusing himself with |
| mortal maiden. But Cupid fell in love with | | | | childhood play, sometimes driving a hoop, |
| Psyche and they end up in a bitter partition | | | | throwing flits, catching a butterfly, or |
| after Psyche committed the fault of throwing | | | | flirting with a nymph. He is often portrayed |
| a glance at the god of love. Their lovely | | | | with his mother as playing a horn. He is also |
| castle and garden vanished with him and | | | | shown wearing a helmet and hauling a buckler. |
| Psyche found her unaided in an open field. | | | | Cupid is commenced vastly in Ariel poetry, |
| Distressed Psyche landed in the temple of | | | | lyrics and of course Ovid's love and |
| Lord Venus for help and malicious Venus | | | | metamorphic poetry. Cupid is not frequently |
| instead of providing a helping hand, | | | | beckoned on epic poetry but he has an |
| bombarded her with a series of treacherous | | | | existence in Virgil's Aeneid changed into the |
| and fatal tasks. Her last task was to carry a | | | | shape of Ascanius rousing Dido's love. In |
| small box to Proserpine, wife of Pluto and | | | | later literature, Cupid is cited more often |
| was told to get some beauty of Proserpine and | | | | than not as mischievous, erratic and |
| put it inside the box. Slowly locating each | | | | perverse. Cupid is often depicted as carrying |
| of her steps through the overflowing perilous | | | | two sets of arrows among which one set is |
| path to her destination, Psyche was lured to | | | | gold-headed which inspire love and the other |
| open the box where she found poisonous sleep. | | | | set is lead-headed which motivate revulsion. |
| Cupid found her lifeless on the ground. He | | | | |
| assembled the sleep from her body and put it | | | | There are some legends which involve Cupid |
| back in the box. Psyche's intense love and | | | | but the best known saga on Cupid is the tale |
| devotion for Cupid rubbed out all the envy | | | | of Cupid and Psyche, first attested in |
| and anger of gods and therefore made her a | | | | Apuleius' picaresque novel and The Golden |
| goddess. | | | | Ass, written in the second century. Cupid's |
| | | | personality was anything but virtuous. He was |
| Cupid's cult was strongly allied with Venus | | | | reasonably playful and many of his deeds |
| and he was worshipped as acutely as Venus. | | | | resulted in tragic ending of his victims. |
| Cupid was known to have more power than his | | | | Cupid possesses the traditional supremacy of |
| mother. He had command over the dead in | | | | the Olympic Gods such as superhuman power, |
| Hades, the creatures of the sea and the gods | | | | fortitude and permanence. Cupid can grow |
| in Olympus. Some of the religious groups of | | | | wings at will and fly, carrying the weight of |
| Cupid suggested that Cupid got united with | | | | others. He is very proud of his skills as God |
| Chaos and created gods and men alike and so | | | | of Love. |
| gods became the brood of love. | | | | |