Reading Notes: Cupid and Psyche, Part B

Although Venus (Aphrodite) is the lovely goddess of love, her husband is Vulcan (Hephaestus), the god of the forge and metalworking, a lame god whom Venus did not love at all. Among her lovers was the god of war, Mars (Ares). There is a famous incident recorded already in the ancient poem, Homer's Odyssey, which tells how Vulcan used his skill as a craftsman to fashion a net which trapped the unsuspected lovers in bed, exposing their adulterous love for all the gods and goddesses of Olympus to see.

 Psyche, seeking protection from the goddess Venus, appeals to the two other great goddesses: Demeter and Hera 

There are many gods and goddesses in the Greek and Roman traditions who are personifications of abstract concepts. The most famous is Fortuna, the goddess who is "Luck" personified. Here your will meet a goddess who is named Consuetudo in Latin, which Kline translates as "Familiarity," and this goddess is in turn a servant of the goddess Venus.


Tony Kline. Cupid and Psyche. Source.

Psyche




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