The History of Cupid

Cupid, the god of love, always carries his bow and arrow as he hunts for lonely hearts to claim with his arrow of love. Cupid carries two types of arrows. One is called Cupid's Golden Arrow for true love, and Cupid's Leaden Arrow for sensual passion!

The word Cupid comes from the Latin word Cupido, which means desire.

Cupid has always played a role in the celebrations of love and lovers, and has been known as a mischievous, winged child armed with bow and arrows. He shot darts of desire into the bosoms of both gods and men causing them to fall deeply in love.

In ancient Greece he was known as Eros the young son of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. This is where we get our modern day words erotic and aphrodisiac. To the Roman's he was Cupid, and his mother was Venus.

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 leaving and their lovely castle and gardens vanished with him.

Psyche found herself alone in an open field, and as she wandered trying 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 more dangerous then 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. She was also warned not to open the box. Temptation overcame Psyche and she opened the box. But instead of finding beauty, she found deadly slumber.

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