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Cupid: A symbol of love or someone with good PR?
14th February 2011. Posted by Tom Braithwaite. Trackback
It’s Valentine’s Day again. For many, it is a day of exchanging gifts and declaring true love and for others, it’s just another day. It was named after Saint Valentine, the patron saint of lovers who, it is believed, was murdered on 14th February AD 270.
During that time, the Roman emperor Claudius II cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. Take up for the army wasn’t great, and he believed married men, being emotionally attached to their wives and families, did not make good soldiers.
However, Valentine secretly married couples until he was caught, then, refusing to renounce his Christian beliefs, was sentenced to be beaten to death with clubs and have his head cut off. Lovely stuff.
One legend suggests he left a farewell note for the jailer’s daughter before his death which said “Love from your Valentine”, the first Valentine’s card.
Today, Valentine’s Day is a day for large-scale public displays of affection with Cupid, the Roman god of love, becoming chief mascot.
Cupid enjoyed playing jokes on people and spreading love with the use of his gold arrows, however, he wasn’t the loveable scamp that many think. Cupid had split personalities and he had an evil side in which he used lead arrows to kill his victims. According to Roman mythology, he didn’t make the greatest husband in the world either.
He was the son of Venus and as the story goes, Venus became jealous of a beautiful maiden named Psyche.
She ordered Cupid to punish the maiden but instead, Cupid fell deeply in love with Psyche. The two married, but as a mortal she was forbidden to look at him. Psyche's sisters, however, later convinced her to look at him and when she did, Cupid punished her by promptly leaving.
Slight overreaction, perhaps.
Their beautiful surroundings, including their castle and gardens, were all gone and Psyche, left with nothing, wandered in search of her lost love. She would eventually arrive at the temple of Venus, who wanted to destroy her.
It’s at this point in the tale that, if I were Psyche, I would be having strong words with my sisters.
Venus, doing nothing to improve the image of mother-in-laws, gave Psyche a series of tasks to complete and for her final task, Psyche was sent to the underworld with a small box. She was told to use the box to collect some of the beauty of Proserpine, the wife of Pluto.
Psyche was warned not to open the box, but temptation overcame her. When she opened the box, Psyche fell into a death-like sleep.
When Cupid found her lifeless on the ground, he woke her, and all was forgiven. That’s right. Cupid forgave Psyche. What for? If you ask me, she had a bloody hard couple of days.
Now, personally, I don't think this is a tale that epitomises true love and devotion in the same way as St. Valentine’s tale and I think Cupid has done pretty well to land the chief mascot job.
I suppose he must have had a good PR team behind him…