Eros & Psyche
Presented by Esther Hernandez
Love
Love is a very strange thing, it can make you feel warm and happy inside but can also hurt so much that it can kill you. Now you may know that there are different types of love established by Greek Mythology, Agape the love of mankind, Phila the love of friendship, Storge love of family, and the one that will be talking about mostly is Eros sexual and romantic love. Which does have a big major part in Greek Mythology most love stories have tragic endings, fortunately, this story does not, I’ll like to tell you the story of Eros and Psyche.
Eros
Eros is the son of Aphrodite and Ares, now Eros is a very powerful God so much more powerful than Zeus because his arrows can make anyone fall in love with the first person they see. This is funny because it does explain Zeus' non-subtle record of lovers and other stories outside Zeus’s involvement. Now his mother Aphrodite is the Goddess of Love, Sexuality, Beauty, and Doves. Aphrodite is well known for (you guessed it) beauty but also for her temper and Jealously which will be important to this story.
Eros & Psyche
Aphrodite’s Jealously & Poor Eros
The story begins with a very beautiful princess named Psyche who was the time of suitors. This wouldn’t be a problem if it was not taken too far, because Psyche is so beautiful that some claim to be even more beautiful than Aphrodite (that’s never good for a girl in Greece) As may expect the vain Goddess is jealous and wants to find a way to make her pay (yes for absolutely nothing). Orders her son Eros to make fall in love with a monster. The obedient son goes to the princess’s bedroom to do his duty but ends up stabbing himself with his arrows, falling in love with the princess.
Lonely Psyche
Meanwhile, the princess is of course very lonely and sad at the fact that people only lust for her body and do not love her for her. The poor princess goes to the oracle and asks if she’ll find love and the response was yes but with a horrible monster, but she takes the answer anyway because she rather loves a monster who loves her than a lustful man. Psyche goes to a cliff for her monster soon-to-be-lover, but Zephyr the God of Wind goes to Psyche and brings her to the monster's palace.
The Luxury but Betrayal
Psyche now starts to live in this beautiful palace with the monster, who is invisible so she can’t see him ever, even in intercourse which is very weird. Later her sister visits her to convince Psyche that her monstrous lover may be evil or ugly because her sisters are jealous of Psyche's living situation and possibly her beauty, and how they're not getting any praise like her. Later that night, Psyche goes to her lover's room to see him visibly with the lantern and is soon to find out that her lover is actually handsomely asleep. Psyche gets closer to him but stabs herself with Eros’s arrows and now is more in love with him than ever. However, the lantern she was holding is also in love with him (I’m sure how) and ends up burning him, he wakes, feeling betrayed he flies away to mommy.
Trials to Kill
Aphrodite furious at the princess goes to the palace to have a little chat with Psyche, saying that if she does these tasks for her, little does the princess know that these trials are made to kill her (fun!) The first task is a pile of a mixture of grains and she has to sort all the grains by type in one day, this is, of course, impossible but soon a nest of ants helps her sort the grains for her. The next task is to get some golden fleece from the sun sheep that is between her and a river, a random river nymph helps her out and tells her to grab some of the fleece on bush branches that were ripped off from sheep. The next task is to go grab water from the river Styx, which by the way is a cliff away while also being a huge dragon there. Zeus sends a dove to defeat the dragon and scoops up some water for her (Also none of the Gods are supposed to help her). Aphrodite is absolutely done with her and tells her to go to hell (the underworld), well her task is to go get some of Persephone’s beauty in a box and bring it back. She goes to the underworld, meets with Persephone who puts something in the box, and travels off. While the princess thinks it’s beauty inside the box, so she thought it was fine to use some for herself and opens it, the only thing in the box was death and she dies.
Eros to the Rescue!
Eros finds out and has forgiven Psyche long before all this and escapes Aphrodite's palace and goes off and saves her. He flies with Psyche all the way to Olympus and they tell Zeus that they want to wed, Aphrodite objects but everyone ignores her. Psyche drinks some ambrosia (Which makes her a goddess), gets married, and has a daughter named Hedone (which means joy).
Happy Valentines Day
I hope that you have a wonderful Valentine's day with your loved ones and if you have a romantic partner I hope you have a good Valentine's. If you’re single well, love yourself, and see you soon in the March Newspaper!