Eros, the Greek god of love, AKA Cupid…and one of my very favorite gods.

Earlier tradition has him as a primeval god, being born of Chaos, the original primeval emptiness of the universe. Later tradition has him as the son of the Goddess of Love, Aphrodite and… well, there are three possible father scenarios. Lady Love liked to get it on, to put it mildly.

Of the three gods who are said to have sired Eros (Zeus, Ares or Hermes), I prefer to believe that Ares, God of War, was his father. I mean, it just seems like that would be the most interesting pairing, don’t you think? Love and hate. War and peace. Pain and sweet, sweet pleasure.

Also, because in my Eros & Co. series of romantic comedies, Eros and Hermes are dude bros. I’m all for close father/son relationships, but thinking of Hermes as his dad would be kind of weird, no? The incest that goes on between gods and goddesses (Hello Zeus and Hera) is already creepy enough. But we won’t get into that.

Anyway, Eros was the god of passion, desire and attraction. All good qualities in a man, but what makes Eros my ultimate bb is his romantic side. His love story with Psyche is swoon times a thousand. It’s no wonder it’s been used as the basis of another great love story: The Beauty and the Beast.

If you aren’t familiar with the story of Eros and Psyche, check it out (You’re welcome).

Back to the Ares being his father thing.  Although Eros had wings, he was no saint. He lost his temper plenty of times (Just ask Apollo and Daphne). What I love about him, though, is that he had a heart. He wasn’t all hulk smash all the time like Ares. Eros preferred to make love not war. Anger wasn’t his default. Or at least that’s how I imagine him. So don’t ruin it for me, okay?

Another interesting fact is that Eros actually had four siblings: Harmonia, Deimos, Phobos, and Anteros. 

Harmonia was the goddess of harmony and concord. Deimos and Phobo were twins. Deimos was the god of terror and Phobos was the personification of fear. Anteros was avenger of unrequited love. Meaning, he punished those who scorned love. Anteros is depicted as similar to Eros in every way except that his hair was longer and his wings were plumed butterfly wings.

ANOTHER interesting fact is that on top of having siblings, Eros belonged to a group of winged love gods called the Erotes. One of which was Hedylogos, the god of flattery. Did you even KNOW there was a god of SWEET TALK?

The last interesting fact I have for you is more of a tip. Don’t do a Google image search of the word Eros.

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