Valentine’s Day is filled with candy, flowers, and other material forms of expressing love. This time of year is associated with the colors red and pink, hearts and teddy bears, and images of a man-baby shooting arrows of love. But Cupid wasn’t always portrayed as a cute, lovable character...his origins are much darker.
Cupid is the Latin name for the Greek god Eros, god of love and sexual attraction. He first emerges in Hesiodos’ poem Theogonia (c. 730-700 B.C.) as beautifully dangerous with an extremely strong power of attraction. Depictions of Eros (Cupid) show a nude, young man with white feathered wings. Beginning in the early 4th century B.C., Eros is pictured in many art pieces as son of Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty.
In the Roman period, the image of Eros/Cupid shifted from a young man to an infant boy. After the Roman Empire converted to Christianity, the ideals and images of many gods and deities were altered, often seen as lesser gods or even demons. For Cupid, being a god of attraction was now contributed to lust. In The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville (c. 560-636 A.D.), Cupid is described as a “demon of fornication”. Continuing through this century, Cupid was associated with trickery and using his arrows to poison people with lust.
It wasn’t until the Renaissance that Cupid was used as a symbol of pure love. This is contributed to romanticized art, poems, and plays during this period. William Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream contains one of the most famous mentions of Cupid as a romantic figure. His portrayal continued to be in the form of a baby with wings and a bow (ie. Cupid Riding on a Dolphin by Erasmus Quellinus III circa 1630 A.D.)
In the 19th century, Valentine’s Day was on the rise and pictures of Cupid, as an image of love, were plastered on cards and other decorations. To this day, Cupid is directly associated with true love and affection. So, Cupid has the commercialization of Valentine's Day to thank for his improved reputation.
Love a holiday appropriate post!
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting analysis! Definitely appreciate the note about Cupid's origins as Eros in Hesiod's Thoegony -- following Hesiod's canon, our modern-day conceptualization of 'Cupid' is an entity that actually predates the entire pantheon of greco-roman gods, a being nearly as old as Chaos (or the primordial state of the universe) itself. As commercialized and watered-down Valentine's Day has come to be, it's always a little spine-chilling to remember that its mascot has born witness to and perhaps is partly responsible for the ensuing carnage, violence, and bloodshed between the titans and the Olympian gods. Love and lust can be quite harrowing and inspire horrendous, and even 'demonic' outcomes. Take, for example, the Ovidian interpretation of Apollo and Daphne -- or even the Trojan War!
ReplyDeleteAlthough, I have to admit, the contemporary, yassified art of cupid is cute. Traditionally, he's depicted as a young adult or even an adolescent, so I have no clue where the baby cherub thing comes from.