In classical mythology, Cupid (pronounced "kyoo-pid") is the god of desire, love, attraction, and affection. He is often shown as the son of Venus, the goddess of love, and Mars, the god of war. He is also called Amor ("ah-mor"), which means "love" in Latin. His Greek equivalent is Eros. In early Greek art, Eros is usually shown as a thin, winged young man. However, during the Hellenistic period, artists began to show Eros as a round-faced boy. At this time, Eros was often depicted with a bow and arrow, tools that represent his power. When someone is struck by Cupid's arrow, they feel a strong, uncontrollable desire. In myths, Cupid is usually a minor character who helps start the story. He is the main character only in the tale of Cupid and Psyche, where he is hurt by his own weapons and learns about the experience of love. Though few stories focus on him, Cupid's tradition includes many themes, such as "love conquers all" and stories about Cupid being punished.

In art, Cupid is often shown in groups as Amores (later called amorini in Italian), which are similar to the Greek Erotes. These figures appear frequently in Roman art and later Western art inspired by classical traditions. By the 15th century, Cupid's image became similar to that of a putto, a small, naked child figure in art.

Cupid remained a popular figure during the Middle Ages, where Christian ideas influenced his image, showing him as both a symbol of heavenly and earthly love. During the Renaissance, renewed interest in classical ideas gave Cupid more complex symbolic meanings. In modern times, Cupid is often shown drawing his bow to inspire romantic love, especially as a symbol of Valentine's Day. Cupid's powers are similar to those of Kamadeva, the Hindu god of human love.

Etymology

The name Cupīdō, which means "passionate desire," comes from the Latin word cupiō or cupĕre, meaning "to desire." This Latin word is believed to have developed from an earlier Proto-Italic form, kup-i-, which might have originated from kup-ei-, also meaning "to desire." Similar words in other ancient languages, such as Umbrian cupras and South Picene kuprí, support this connection. The earliest source of these words is thought to be the Proto-Indo-European verbal stem kup-(e)i-, which meant "to tremble" or "to desire." Examples of related words in other languages include Old Irish accobor ("desire"), Sanskrit prá-kupita ("trembling, quaking"), and Old Church Slavonic kypĕti ("to simmer, boil").

Origins and birth

The Romans changed Greek stories about Eros into their own version called Cupid in their books and art. Later, medieval and Renaissance scholars mixed the two together in their writings. In Greek stories, Eros had two different origins. He was one of the very first gods, created without a parent. After his birth, other gods were born from the union of male and female gods. In Hesiod’s Theogony, only Chaos and Gaia (Earth) were older than Eros. Before the idea of male and female differences existed, Eros caused things to separate from themselves what they already had inside.

At the same time, Eros was often shown as a young boy or man and was said to be the child of a divine couple. The identity of these parents changed depending on the source. Renaissance scholar Natale Conti wrote that even the Greeks were unsure about Eros’s parents, listing possibilities like Heaven and Earth, Ares and Aphrodite, Night and Ether, or the Rainbow and Zephyr. Greek writer Pausanias also gave conflicting accounts, saying at one point that Eros helped bring Aphrodite into the world, and at another that Eros was Aphrodite’s son and the youngest of the gods.

In Latin writings, Cupid was usually described as the son of Venus without mentioning a father. Seneca stated that Vulcan, Venus’s husband, was Cupid’s father. However, Cicero wrote about three different Cupids and three Venuses. The first Cupid was the son of Mercury and Diana, the second of Mercury and the second Venus, and the third of Mars and the third Venus. This last Cupid was linked to Anteros, a god who represented "Counter-Love," one of the Erotes, the gods who symbolize different kinds of love. The many Cupids shown in art reflect the variety of love and desire. During the English Renaissance, Christopher Marlowe wrote about "ten thousand Cupids," and Ben Jonson’s wedding play Hymenaei described "a thousand several-coloured loves" dancing in a wedding hall.

In later classical traditions, Cupid was most often shown as the son of Venus and Mars. Their love story was a symbolic representation of Love and War. The idea of Eros having both a primordial origin and a parentage connected to love and war helped explain philosophical ideas about Heavenly and Earthly Love, even during the Christian era.

Attributes and themes

Cupid is often shown with wings, which may represent how people in love can change their minds quickly. He is also depicted as a boy because love is not always logical. His symbols include an arrow and a torch, which show that love can hurt and make the heart feel strong emotions. These ideas were explained by Isidore of Seville (d. 636 AD) in his book Etymologiae. Cupid is sometimes shown blindfolded, not because he cannot see, but because his choices are random and not based on clear thinking. Shakespeare wrote about this in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1590s).

In Botticelli’s Allegory of Spring (1482), also called La Primavera, Cupid is blindfolded and shooting an arrow above Venus. In ancient Roman art, Cupid is sometimes shown with fruits, animals, or symbols of the seasons and the god Dionysus, which represent the earth’s ability to create life. Cupid is also compared to the Hindu god Kama because of their shared connections to love.

Examples of Cupid in art include Cupid by Edme Bouchardon (1744, National Gallery of Art) and a classical statue of Cupid with his bow. Cupid carries two arrows: one with a golden tip that causes strong desire, and another with a lead tip that makes people want to run away. The Latin poet Ovid wrote that when Apollo teased Cupid, Cupid shot Apollo with the golden arrow and the nymph Daphne with the lead one. Daphne turned into a laurel tree to escape Apollo. This story is similar to the tale of Echo and Narcissus.

In a 15th-century poem called The Kingis Quair, Cupid has three arrows: gold for gentle love, silver for stronger love, and steel for love that never ends. In the story of Cupid the honey thief, he is stung by bees and tells his mother Venus that small creatures should not cause pain. Venus says it is fair because Cupid, though small, causes pain through love. This story was first told about Eros by Theocritus (3rd century BC) and later used by Renaissance artists and poets, including Edmund Spenser.

The German poet Karl Philipp Conz wrote about this story as Schadenfreude ("taking pleasure in someone else’s pain"). In another version, Cupid turns into a bee. The image of Cupid as a bee connects to ideas about love’s sting and honey as a symbol of love.

In ancient and later art, Cupid is often shown riding a dolphin. On Roman sarcophagi, this image may represent the soul’s journey. A mosaic from late Roman Britain shows dolphins and sea birds leading to Cupid, symbolizing the soul’s journey from the material world to love. Dolphins were often seen as friendly to humans and could represent affection.

In scenes of love, Cupid riding a dolphin may show how quickly love moves or provide comfort during the wild ride of love. This image also appears in scenes of Neptune’s wedding or his triumph.

During the Middle Ages, some Christian writers saw Cupid as a "demon of fornication." Theodulf of Orleans described Cupid as a harmful figure whose arrows and torch represented vice. Later, some Christians saw Cupid as a symbol of love.

Sleeping Cupid became a symbol of absent or weak love in Renaissance art. Michelangelo made a famous sculpture of Sleeping Cupid (1496), which was later compared to an ancient marble. In the poetry of Giambattista Marino, sleeping Cupid represented love’s laziness. Caravaggio painted a Sleeping Cupid (1608), showing a sickly child.

Earlier in his career, Caravaggio created Victorious Love (also called Love Conquers All), which challenged traditional ideas about love.

RomanCupid

The ancient Roman god Cupid represented desire, but he did not have temples or religious rituals separate from other Roman gods like Venus, who often appeared with him in statues. Cupid might be shown among small statues in a home shrine for personal worship, but there is no clear way to tell if a statue was meant for worship or just for decoration. This is different from his Greek version, Eros, who was worshipped with his mother Aphrodite and had a special day on the 4th of every month. Roman temples sometimes also acted as places to display art, and the writer Cicero mentioned a statue of "Cupid" (Eros) by Praxiteles that was placed in a sacred room and honored along with Hercules. An inscription from Cártama, a town in Roman Spain, lists statues of Mars and Cupid as part of public projects by a wealthy priestess, and another list from a government official in Baetica includes statues of Venus and Cupid.

Cupid became more common in Roman art during the time of Augustus, the first Roman emperor. After the Battle of Actium, when Mark Antony and Cleopatra were defeated, Cupid carrying the weapons of Mars to his mother Venus became a symbol used in Augustan art. In the Aeneid, the Roman national epic by the poet Virgil, Cupid disguises himself as Iulus, the son of Aeneas (who was the son of Venus), and tricks Queen Dido of Carthage into falling in love with Aeneas. Dido helps Aeneas and his people from Troy, but Aeneas leaves her to fulfill his destiny of founding Rome. Iulus (also called Ascanius) later becomes the mythical ancestor of the Julian family, from which Julius Caesar came. Augustus, Caesar’s heir, honored his beloved great-grandson, who died young, by having him depicted as Cupid. He placed one such statue at the Temple of Venus on the Capitoline Hill and kept another in his bedroom, where he kissed it each night. Augustus’s brother, Claudius, who later became emperor, had a mother named Antonia, who is shown in a surviving sculpture as Venus with Cupid on her shoulder. The famous statue of Augustus known as the Augustus of Prima Porta is shown with a Cupid riding a dolphin. Multiple Cupids appear on the decorations of the Temple of Venus Genetrix (Venus as "Begetting Mother") and influenced scenes on other artworks, such as sarcophagi, especially those of children.

As a winged figure, Cupid shared some traits with the goddess Victoria. On coins made by the dictator Sulla, Cupid is shown holding a palm branch, which is a symbol of victory. In Roman culture, "desire" was often linked to power and romantic feelings. Roman historians criticized "desire for glory" and "desire for power." In Latin philosophy, "cupido" is similar to the Greek word "pothos," which refers to the idea of desire and its weight. In the Aeneid, the poet Virgil describes the "pious love" between two soldiers, Nisus and Euryalus, and has Nisus wonder about their bond.

In the writings of Lucretius, "cupido" can represent human lust and the animal urge to mate, but it also describes the force that makes tiny particles join to form matter. Gladiators, who were often given names like "Cupid," were sometimes admired for their strength and beauty, which linked them to themes of love and violence.

Cupid was seen as the opposite of chastity, and the poet Ovid contrasts him with Diana, the virgin goddess of the hunt, who also carries a bow but hates Cupid’s arrows that cause love. Cupid also conflicts with Apollo, the brother of Diana and the god of poetry, whose love stories usually end badly. Ovid humorously claims that Cupid caused him to write love poems instead of more serious epic stories.

Cupid and Psyche

The story of Cupid and Psyche was shown in Greek art as early as the 4th century BC. However, the most detailed version of the story comes from a Latin book called Metamorphoses, also known as The Golden Ass, written by Apuleius in the 2nd century AD. The story follows Psyche’s journey to overcome challenges in her love for Cupid.

Psyche’s beauty becomes so famous that it seems to outshine Venus, the goddess of love. Venus sends Cupid to punish Psyche. Instead, Cupid falls in love with Psyche and takes her to his palace. He visits her at night and tells her not to look at him. Psyche’s jealous sisters trick her into thinking Cupid is a monster. She uses a lamp to see him and accidentally burns him with hot oil. Cupid leaves her. Psyche searches for him and later serves Venus, who makes her suffer. Venus gives Psyche difficult tasks to complete. Each time Psyche feels hopeless, she receives help from the gods. Her final task is to get a beauty potion from Proserpina in the underworld. Psyche succeeds but opens the box containing the potion, causing her to fall into a deep sleep. Cupid finds her, puts the sleep back in the box, and wakes her. He gives Psyche immortality so they can marry as equals.

The story includes ideas from ancient philosophy and secret religious beliefs, allowing many different interpretations. It has been read as a story about love overcoming death and has appeared in art like Roman sarcophagi. After Apuleius’s book was rediscovered during the Renaissance, the story was widely used in poetry, plays, operas, paintings, and sculptures. It has also influenced popular culture, especially as a symbol of "true love" and is often linked to Valentine’s Day.

The French story La Belle et la Bête ("The Beauty and the Beast") was written by Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve and later shortened by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont in 1740. It inspired the Disney movie Beauty and the Beast in 1991. Some people believe Gabrielle was influenced by the story of Cupid and Psyche.

Depictions

Cupid is often shown in art having fun by playing games, such as driving a hoop, throwing darts, catching butterflies, or interacting with a nymph. He is frequently pictured with his mother, Venus, who is usually shown holding a horn. In some artworks, Venus appears to be scolding or even spanking Cupid because of his playful and mischievous behavior. Cupid is also depicted wearing a helmet and holding a small shield. These items may represent a phrase from the poet Virgil or symbolize love as a type of battle. Traditionally, Cupid was shown without clothing in the style of ancient art, but more recent images often show him wearing a diaper, a sash, and/or wings.

• Cupid
• A red-figure plate showing Eros, the Greek version of Cupid, as a young man making an offering (around 340–320 BC). Walters Art Museum, Baltimore
• Lucas Cranach the Elder – Venus with Cupid Stealing Honey
• Cupids playing with a lyre, a Roman fresco from Herculaneum
• Venus and Amor by Frans Floris, Hallwyl Museum
• Cupid the Honey Thief (1514) by Dürer
• Venus, Mars and Cupido by Joachim Wtewael, around 1610
• Allegory with Venus, Mars, Cupid and Time (around 1625): In this unique version by Guercino, a winged figure representing Time points at baby Cupid, who is held in a net similar to the one that caught Venus and Mars.
• Cupid draws his bow as the river god Peneus looks away in Apollo and Daphne (1625) by Poussin
• Cupid breaking his bow (around 1635) by Jean Ducamps
• Cupid in a Tree (1795/1805) by Jean-Jacques-François Le Barbier
• Omnia Vincit Amor (1809) by Benjamin West
• Cupid on a sea monster (around 1857) by William Adolphe Bouguereau
• A Valentine greeting card (1909)
• Love who has just stolen a rose, around 1796, by Jeanne-Elisabeth Chaudet