Was Cupid Real?- Facts About The God Of Love

Ok, as a youngster we believed just about everything that grown ups told us.  Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, etc.  For some reason, the idea of a naked winged baby who shoots arrow at people causing them to fall deeply in love, was just a bit far fetched. Was Cupid real? Well we might be able to finally have an answer if the God Of Love was real.In ancient Greece, he was known as Eros the young son of Aphrodite, the Goddess of love and beauty.  To the Romans, he was Cupid, and his mother Venus.  You see him every Valentine’s day…on cards, on boxes of candy, on decorations, he has always played a role in the celebrations of love and lovers and he was thought to be a mischievous little bugger because often times, his victims, were unsuspecting, which I guess is how love is supposed to work?  Hmmm.

One legend tells the story of Cupid and the mortal maiden, Psyche. Venus was jealous of the beauty of Psyche, and ordered Cupid to punish the mortal. But instead, Cupid fell deeply in love with her. He took her as his wife, but as a mortal she was forbidden to look at him.

Psyche was happy until her sisters convinced her to look at Cupid. Cupid punished her by departing. Their lovely castle and gardens vanished with him and Psyche found herself alone in an open field.

As she wandered to find her love, she came upon the temple of Venus. Wishing to destroy her, the goddess of love gave Psyche a series of tasks, each harder and dangerous than the last. For her last task Psyche was given a little box and told to take it to the underworld. She was told to get some of the beauty of Proserpine, the wife of Pluto, and put it in the box.During her trip she was given tips on avoiding the dangers of the realm of the dead. And also warned not to open the box. Temptation would overcome Psyche and she opened the box. But instead of finding beauty, she found deadly slumber.

Cupid found her lifeless on the ground. He gathered the sleep from her body and put it back in the box. Cupid forgave her, as did Venus. The gods, moved by Psyche's love for Cupid made her a goddess.

So back to the main question, was Cupid real?  Most likely not, but I guess it’s kind of fun to imagine if he was, right?  I figure that some felt as though Valentine’s day needed more of an icon than just a heart shape, which I have heard, originally symbolized the shape of 2 actual human hearts mended together, but that is another story for another day.