Cupid
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Wikipedia
Featured:  |
In Roman mythology, Cupid (Latin cupido) is the god of erotic love and beauty. He is equated with the Greek god Eros, and another one of his Latin names is Amor (cognate with Kama). In popular culture Cupid is frequently shown shooting his bow to inspire romantic love, and often falsely associated with Valentine's Day.
Portrayal in art and literature
In painting and sculpture, Cupid is often portrayed as a nude (or sometimes diapered) winged boy or baby armed with a bow and a quiver of arrows.
The Hindu Kāma also has a very similar description. On gems and other surviving pieces, he is usually shown amusing himself with childhood play, sometimes driving a hoop, throwing darts, catching a butterfly, or flirting with a nymph. He is often depicted with his mother (in graphic arts, this is nearly always Venus), playing a horn. In other images, his mother is depicted scolding or even spanking him due to his mischievous nature. He is also shown wearing a helmet and carrying a buckler, perhaps in reference to Virgil's Omnia vincit amor or as political satire on wars for love or love as war.
Cupid figures prominently in ariel poetry, lyrics and, of course, elegiac love and metamorphic poetry. In epic poetry, he is less often invoked, but he does appear in Virgil's Aeneid changed into the shape of Ascanius inspiring Dido's love. In later literature, Cupid is frequently invoked as fickle, playful, and perverse. He is often depicted as carrying two sets of arrows: one set gold-headed, which inspire love; and the other lead-headed, which inspire hatred.
The best-known story involving Cupid is the tale of Cupid and Psyche.
In the Artemis Fowl book series, the character Holly Short's great-great grandfather is Cupid.
