That little cherub on your Valentine's Day card represents thousands of years of history.
Cupid's name has become synonymous with love, matchmaking and all the red and pink glitz on Feb. 14. But what do we really know about him? Surge Desk decided to learn more about Cupid's legend.
1. He came from Roman mythology
Cupid was the Roman god of love, and ancient images of him were much like modern ones: He was depicted as a winged baby or young man with a bow and a quiver full of arrows. His name derives from "cupido," or desire. Greeks had their own Cupid-equivalent, known as Eros.
2. He had a powerful pedigree
In the Roman pantheon, Cupid's mother was Venus, the goddess of love. In some accounts his father was Mercury, the winged messenger, and in others it was Mars, the god of war.
3. He fell in love, too
A legend written by Lucius Apuleius in A.D. 2 described the story of Cupid and Psyche. In this tale, Venus is jealous of a beautiful girl named Psyche. She convinces her son to sneak into the girl's home and scratch Psyche with his arrows, so the girl will fall head over heels for "some low, mean, unworthy being." Cupid accidentally scratches himself with an arrow during his mission, which makes him fall in love with Psyche, and -- after a series of dramatic twists, including curses, exile and the wrath of Venus -- Cupid and Psyche are able to declare their love for each other and have a daughter named Voluptas.
4. He had two kinds of arrows
According to legend, Cupid used gold arrows for true love and lead-tipped arrows to invoke sensual passion.
5. He monkeyed with poetry
One of Cupid's most famous appearances in Roman literature was his turn in Ovid's "Amores," a collection of love poems. Early in the collection Ovid explains that he set out to write epic poetry, but sneaky Cupid stole a metric foot of verse, leaving him no choice but to write about love.
Cupid's name has become synonymous with love, matchmaking and all the red and pink glitz on Feb. 14. But what do we really know about him? Surge Desk decided to learn more about Cupid's legend.
1. He came from Roman mythology
Cupid was the Roman god of love, and ancient images of him were much like modern ones: He was depicted as a winged baby or young man with a bow and a quiver full of arrows. His name derives from "cupido," or desire. Greeks had their own Cupid-equivalent, known as Eros.
2. He had a powerful pedigree
In the Roman pantheon, Cupid's mother was Venus, the goddess of love. In some accounts his father was Mercury, the winged messenger, and in others it was Mars, the god of war.
3. He fell in love, too
A legend written by Lucius Apuleius in A.D. 2 described the story of Cupid and Psyche. In this tale, Venus is jealous of a beautiful girl named Psyche. She convinces her son to sneak into the girl's home and scratch Psyche with his arrows, so the girl will fall head over heels for "some low, mean, unworthy being." Cupid accidentally scratches himself with an arrow during his mission, which makes him fall in love with Psyche, and -- after a series of dramatic twists, including curses, exile and the wrath of Venus -- Cupid and Psyche are able to declare their love for each other and have a daughter named Voluptas.
4. He had two kinds of arrows
According to legend, Cupid used gold arrows for true love and lead-tipped arrows to invoke sensual passion.
5. He monkeyed with poetry
One of Cupid's most famous appearances in Roman literature was his turn in Ovid's "Amores," a collection of love poems. Early in the collection Ovid explains that he set out to write epic poetry, but sneaky Cupid stole a metric foot of verse, leaving him no choice but to write about love.
