The Thespians celebrated the Erotidia ( Ancient Greek: Ἐρωτίδεια) meaning festivals of Eros. [12] [13] [14]

In Greek mythology, Eros ( UK: / ˈ ɪər ɒ s, ˈ ɛr ɒ s/, US: / ˈ ɛr ɒ s, ˈ ɛr oʊ s/; [4] Ancient Greek: Ἔρως, lit.'Love, Desire') is the Greek god of love and sex. His Roman counterpart was Cupid ('desire'). [5] In the earliest account, he is a primordial god, while in later accounts he is described as one of the children of Aphrodite and Ares and, with some of his siblings, was one of the Erotes, a group of winged love gods. Plantade, Emmanuel et Nedjima. «Du conte berbère au mythe grec: le cas d'Éros et Psyché». In: Revue des Études Berbères no 9, 2013, pp.533–563.Anthony Grafton; Glenn W. Most; Salvatore Settis, eds. (2010). "Cupid". The Classical Tradition. Harvard University Press. pp.244–246. Other depictions surviving from antiquity include a 2nd-century papyrus illustration possibly of the tale, [110] and a ceiling fresco at Trier executed during the reign of Constantine I. [6] Modern era [ edit ] Cupid and Psyche (1867) by Alphonse Legros, criticized for rendering female nudity as "commonplace" Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss by Antonio Canova is a large sculpture that allows interaction of its space, in other words, it allows us, the viewers, to walk around it and investigate it from all angles. It is a complete three-dimensional space versus a more two-dimensional space of a canvas.

Silva, Francisco Vaz da (1 October 2010). "The Invention of Fairy Tales". Journal of American Folklore. 123 (490): 398–425. doi: 10.5406/jamerfolk.123.490.0398. Once again despairing of her task, Psyche climbs a tower, planning to throw herself off. The tower, however, suddenly breaks into speech, and advises her to travel to Lacedaemon, Greece, and to seek out the place called Taenarus, where she will find the entrance to the underworld. The tower offers instructions for navigating the underworld: At dawn, Venus sets a second task for Psyche. She is to cross a river and fetch golden wool from violent sheep who graze on the other side. These sheep are elsewhere identified as belonging to Helios. [14] Psyche's only intention is to drown herself on the way, but instead she is saved by instructions from a divinely inspired reed, of the type used to make musical instruments, and gathers the wool caught on briers. William Morris retold the Cupid and Psyche story in verse in The Earthly Paradise (1868–70), and a chapter in Walter Pater's Marius the Epicurean (1885) was a prose translation. [44] About the same time, Robert Bridges wrote Eros and Psyche: A Narrative Poem in Twelve Measures (1885; 1894). Caraman, Petru. " Identificarea episodului despre Cupidon şi Psyche, din romanul „Metamorphoses” al lui Apuleius, cu un basm autentic popular" [Identification of the Episode on Cupidon and Psyche, in the Novel Metamorphoses by Appuleius, with An Authentic Folk Fairy Tale]. In: Anuarul Muzeului Etnografic al Moldovei 9 (2009): 11–85.The tale thus lent itself to adaptation in a Christian or mystical context, often as symbolic of the soul. [30] In the Gnostic text On the Origin of the World, the first rose is created from the blood of Psyche when she loses her virginity to Cupid. [31] To the Christian mythographer Fulgentius (6th century), Psyche was an Adam figure, driven by sinful curiosity and lust from the paradise of Love's domain. [32] Psyche's sisters are Flesh and Free Will, and her parents are God and Matter. [33] To Boccaccio (14th century), the marriage of Cupid and Psyche symbolized the union of soul and God. [32] Morwood, James (2010). "Cupid Grows Up". Greece & Rome. 57 (1): 107–116. doi: 10.1017/S0017383509990301. JSTOR 40929430. S2CID 162521335. As described by a contemporary reviewer of the new work, quoted by Philippe Bordes, Jacques-Louis David: Empire to Exile (Yale University Press, 2005), p. 234. Aristophanes, in his comedy The Birds (414 BC), presents a parody of a cosmogony which has been considered Orphic, [19] in which Eros is born from a egg laid by Night ( Nyx):