The Myth Of Eros And Psyche

The Myth of Eros and Psyche is a love story.

The myth of Eros and Psyche is about one of three royal daughters. According to history, she was not only the most beautiful woman in Anatolia (present-day Turkey), but the most beautiful in the world.

In the myth, everyone fell in love with her when they saw her beauty. That is why Venus, the goddess of love, became jealous. She could not cope that an ordinary mortal could be more beautiful than her.

This was because men were engrossed in the beauty of the Psyche instead of worshiping Venus in the temple. This the goddess could no longer endure, so she ordered Eros, her son, that he should find Psyche and shoot her with one of his arrows, whereby she should fall in love with the ugliest creature that existed.

Eros, who was an obedient son, did as his mother had commanded. But by mistake, he got stuck on the arrow he was going to use on Psyche and fell in love with her.

Ironically, the god of love did not even have experience with love and did not know what to do. Therefore, he had no choice but to ask for help from Apollo, the god of light and truth.

A strange fate

The myth of Eros and Psyche tells us that the god, Apollo, also did not know what to do when it came to love. According to him, it sounded, at least in principle, that the best thing would be to get rid of all Psyche’s suitors.

Thereby, with the help of his powers, men began to admire Psyche, but without falling in love with her. Everyone thus admired her beauty, but no one wanted to marry her.

Psyche’s two sisters were already married, but Psyche was not. It was there that her father, because his daughter was not yet married, asked the gods for help. Apollo knew that Eros’ love must remain secret, because otherwise Venus would be angry. Therefore, he advised the king to lead Psyche up a mountain far away and leave her there.

Though her father was very sad, he took Apollo’s advice, since he was a wise god and sure that his daughter would be happy. In the myth, it is said that Psyche cried inconsolably when she came to the mountain, whereupon she fell asleep.

When she woke up, she was in a beautiful garden next to a wonderful castle. Then she heard a voice inviting her to come inside, put on the beautiful dresses and eat all the delicious food.

The myth of Eros and Psyche

The same voice told her that her husband would visit her at night. But their meetings were to take place in the dark, and she was not to see his face under any circumstances. If she did, the two lovers would be separated forever. Thus, she had to trust him, because without trust, love would not be possible.

The story goes that the girl was flattered by all the attention. After spending every night with her husband, she fell more and more in love with him. However, she was sad that she had not seen her sisters for a long time, for she missed them very much .

Her husband tried to convince Psyche not to invite them, but she was determined to do so. Eventually, they agreed, but he warned her not to tell them about him.

The sisters came to the castle and became envious of all that the sister had and of the love that shone in her eyes. Therefore, they began to plant mistrust in her heart . They convinced her that her lover could be a creepy monster.

The price of love

The myth of Eros and Psyche tells us that Psyche followed the advice of his sisters. Therefore, when she turned on the light, she saw the beautiful Eros, who was lying next to her. While she was looking at him, he accidentally hit the oil lamp. Then, obviously wounded and burned, he left her and went out to look for his mother. He swore he would never return to Psyche.

Psyche regretted that she had not trusted Eros, so she asked Venus for help in saving her marriage. Venus subjected her to the inhuman trials of the world. But some ants, a rose bush, and an eagle helped her overcome them. Venus asked her to go to the underworld and bring her some of the beauty of Persephone.

Persephone was touched by Psyche’s story and gave her some of her beauty in a box. After many trials, Psyche finally managed to return. But before she did, she decided to take a little of the beauty of Persephone for herself.

Thus, she opened the casket, it was full of darkness, and she fell into a deep sleep. By this time, Eros had already forgiven Psyche and was following her everywhere without her realizing it. He woke her from the magical sleep.

This is how the myth of Eros and Psyche ends

Eros asked the gods for approval of his marriage to Psyche. They agreed and gave ambrosia to Psyche so she would become immortal. In light of the new situation, Venus gave the lovers his permission so that everything ended happily in the end.