Cupid and Psyche an Eternal Lover Story

Cupid and Psyche

The story of Cupid and Psyche has been my favorite Roman Mythology tale ever since I first read it as a young girl. It has all the ingredients of a great romance including mystery, love, trials, tribulations, and ultimate redemption. This love story has been immortalized in various works of art, literature, and music throughout history. The narrative is a symbolic representation of the human soul's journey toward divine love and the challenges it faces along the way.

The tale of Cupid and Psyche is primarily known from "Metamorphoses" (also known as "The Golden Ass"), a novel written by the Roman author Apuleius in the 2nd century AD. However, the story may have earlier roots in Greek mythology and other ancient traditions. The main characters are as follow with their Greek names in parentheses:

Cupid (Eros): The god of love and desire, represented as a young and handsome winged boy with a bow and arrows that cause people to fall in love.

Psyche: A mortal princess, renowned for her extraordinary beauty, grace, and virtue. She is the protagonist of the story.

Venus (Aphrodite): The goddess of love and beauty, who becomes envious of Psyche's beauty and commands Cupid to make her fall in love with a hideous creature.

Zephyr (Zephyrus): The west wind, who becomes Psyche's ally during her trials.

Jupiter (Zeus), the chief god of Olympus

Juno (Hera), the wife of Zeus

Proserpina (Persephone) the wife of Hades in the underworld

The love story begins

Psyche was so beautiful that her radiant grace and charm drew admiration from mortals and even the gods. As a result, people began to neglect the worship of Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, in favor of praising Psyche's appearance. Enraged and jealous, Venus asked her son Cupid to cast a spell on Psyche, so she would fall in love with a despicable creature.

However, Cupid accidentally pricked himself with his own arrow and fell deeply in love with the human upon seeing her beauty. He decided to make her his own wife in secret and concealed his identity from her.

Psyche's beauty soon became a burden, as no mortal man dared to marry her, fearing they would offend the gods. Her parents consulted an oracle, and it was revealed that she was destined to marry a mysterious, monstrous creature. They arranged for her to be exposed on a mountaintop where the destined husband would claim her.

The secret romance gets underway

Instead of a monster, Psyche was gently carried away by Zephyr, the west wind, and brought to a magnificent palace where unseen servants attended to her every need. Every night, her husband visited her in the darkness, but she could never see his face as he requested her not to. I was so fascinated as a teenager thinking about this secret husband who made love to Psyche in the dark and how she initially trusted him.

Psyche's sisters, came to visit and were jealous of her luxurious life. They convinced her to uncover her husband's identity while he slept because he was prophesied to be a monster. Psyche, driven by curiosity, held a lamp over her spouse while he slept, but she accidentally dripped hot oil on him, burning him and waking him up. Feeling betrayed, Cupid fled.

Psyche's troubles

Psyche was devastated and set out on a quest to win back Cupid's love. She sought the help of Venus, who despised her and imposed a series of seemingly impossible tasks on her, hoping she would fail. However, Psyche's determination and purity allowed her to succeed with the help of various gods and creatures.

Some versions say that it was Cupid who was aiding her and helping her carry out the tasks given by her mother-in-law.

Aphrodite punished Psyche for falling in love with a god, setting her a series of seemingly impossible tasks, including separating different grains from one another, shearing shining gold fleeces from the backs of violent rams, and collecting the black water from the River Styx.

Cupid and Psyche find everlasting love

Cupid's love for Psyche was so strong he presented his case to Jupiter who granted Psyche immortality and she drank of the nectar of the gods, and she was made a goddess so that she could live forever with Cupid. Aphrodite was happy because with her new daughter-in-law in heaven she could not interfere with men's worship of the goddess of love. Cupid and Psyche is a simple story of true love triumphing over all.