There is no single answer to the question of what is eros. Someone sees tender sensual love in this word, others look for vulgar subtext in it, while others turn their eyes to ancient Greek mythology. And in fact, everyone is right. Let’s try together to understand the definitions of this word, how its meaning has changed throughout history and what is today considered an eros.
Meaning of the word “eros”
As everyone knows, in Greek mythology there was a huge pantheon of various gods. Some were responsible for the war, others for fertility, and others for a successful hunt. Moreover, in ancient Greece there were several gods of love. One of them was Eros. It can be said that this is the first definition of the word.
Later so began to be called so bodily and sensual love, as well as a love of knowledge and all that is beautiful.
In general, almost always a synonym for love was Eros. The meaning and interpretation of the word changed over time, as did the attitude to the feeling itself. Some philosophers and historians narrowed the definition, while others, on the contrary, tried to expand it. To date, there are many interpretations of the word "love", which means that they are no less than the word "eros".
In mythology
Let us turn to mythology and see what kind of god Eros was. According to myths, ancient Greece rewarded her character with a tough character. It was believed that this resident of Olympus did not always bring happy love, more often than not he gave people a “bitter-sweet” feeling.
According to one version, Eros is believed to be the son of Ares, the god of war, and Aphrodite, the goddess of love. On the other - he is just the eternal companion of Aphrodite. But not a god, but a demon.
According to another myth, Eros appeared long before Aphrodite, and even before Zeus. He was, as they would say now, a contemporary of Chaos, who created all life, Geei, that is, Earth, and Tartarus, the god of hell. And that it was thanks to Eros that all the other gods appeared. Love made Chaos connect her life with Gaia.
Judging by the descriptions, initially he was not a handsome young man from Olympus. God was bisexual and had four heads: a lion, a snake, a ram and a bull. Is that the golden wings behind his back betrayed in him the familiar god of love.
What is the difference from Cupid?
Later, Eros appeared Roman counterpart - Cupid. Both gods were handed a golden bow and arrow. Most often, Eros was portrayed as a blond plump boy. He began to bring people love, and even happiness. However, God did not become completely “kind”. Rather, he turned into a spoiled, moody little boy.
What distinguishes Cupid from Eros:
- Eros is able not only to give, but also to take love.
- Cupid is always depicted as a boy, the Greek god can look like a young man and like an adult man.
- Unlike Cupid, Eros gives not only love, but also sex drive.
Interestingly, Cupid's favorite flower was a rose. There is even a myth about this. The boy admired the rose, and did not notice a bee in the bud. The insect has bitten a little god. He burst into tears and flew away to Venus (Aphrodite). To remove the swelling, the mother put the stems of the rose to the wound. And the pain has passed. Adult Eros is also often depicted with this delicate flower.
Beloved of god
For a long time, Eros himself did not know true love. The mythology of ancient Greece says that he met his beloved by chance. In one kingdom lived a beautiful young girl - Psyche. She was so pretty, that they began to say that Aphrodite herself went down to Olympus to them.
The proud goddess, having heard these conversations, decided to punish the girl. She called her son Eros, ordered him to abduct the beauty. Further, the god of love was to find for Psyche the most terrible and disgusting husband. But the young man could not keep the word given to his mother, he fell in love with the girl and began to come to her in the form of a monster.
Psyche knew that her lover must be someone terrible. One night she came to kill her husband, but when she saw the beautiful Eros, she changed her mind. However, she spilled a drop of hot oil from a candle on his foot. God flew into heaven in dismay. And Psyche decided to kill herself.
Further lovers were waiting for difficult trials. Psyche descended into the realm of the dead and almost died there. Seeing their love, Zeus gave them his consent to marriage and made the girl immortal.
Eros in the philosophy of Plato
The answer to the question of what Eros is, many sages of the ancient world tried to find. Including Plato. The philosopher has expanded this definition as much as possible. He believed that the concept of eros refers to the cosmos. It is this attraction that binds:
- a man and a woman;
- writer and reader;
- doctor and patient.
Simply put, eros is in every area of life. In religion, magic, exact sciences. He is like inspiration. In this case, the feeling is born and lives in beauty. Eros according to Plato - the pursuit of ideal.
The theory of the philosopher was formed on the basis of the teachings of his predecessors: Homer and Hesiod. Moreover, the first is a bright concentrated love, and the second has a blind chaotic force.
By the way, even in ancient Greece, the sages identified two types of love :
- Eros. Love is all-consuming. This is longing for a loved one and an obsession with another person.
- Agape. Affiliate love. Devotion to each other, the search for common interests and values.
It turns out, even in science, eros is a selfish feeling that burns everything on the way to your love.
What did Freud say?
Sigmund Freud, however, already in the 20th century, also decided to study the word "eros". The psychoanalyst did not immediately determine the phenomenon. First, he narrowed the concept to prodigal passion, completely rejecting Plato's theory. Freud announced that all the achievements of culture and art are nothing but the sublimation of eros.
In his further work, the psychoanalyst found that eros is a sexual attraction, as well as the instinct of preserving human life. The scientist himself called sexual attraction true love in its broadest sense. At the same time, Eros has its own energy, which Freud called "libido."
The search for the definition of the word did not end there. The Russian philosopher Semyon Frank called sexual materialism an eros. Boris Vysheslavtsev did not agree with his colleague and argued that “Eros goes beyond the limits of bodily attraction”, purifies and transforms a person.
Eros and Thanatos
It would seem that we have already found enough answers to the question of what eros is. However, you can truly understand this word through the opposite of it - Thanatos. Actually, you have to go back to Freud.
The psychoanalyst believed that since Eros is the instinct of life, there must also be the death instinct. Attraction to death, as well as aggression - this is Thanatos. And our life is just between these two concepts. Every person from time to time is attracted to one of them, then to another.
True, the scientist’s forecast was sad: no matter how we strive to love, no matter how much we value life, in the end everything that destroys Thanatos will win. Moreover, the faster a person reaches his heights in life, the sooner his attraction to death will begin.
It concerns, according to Freud, this is not only the relationship to life, but also all its spheres. Including the relationship between a man and a woman. And all creativity "sways" between love and death.
Cultural reflection
In culture and art, too, "got" eros. The value of this concept in creativity is difficult to overestimate.
At first, of course, people got acquainted with the image of God from Olympus. His image could be found on the friezes in Pompeii, on the famous mosaics of Piazza Armerina in Sicily. God was praised by poets and playwrights. True, the ancient Greek poetess Sappho most often showed him cruel.
In the time of Euripides, Eros was endowed with a bow and arrow. The sculpture of the deity was sculpted by Titian, Lysippus and many other artists.
In 1915, a ballet was staged in Russia to the music of Serenade for the Tchaikovsky Orchestra. The choreographer was Mikhail Fokin. The ballet was staged for several years, he even survived the revolution. True, it was no longer a question of God, but of sensual love. The plot was based on the fairy tale “Angel from Fiesoli”.
The philosophical film Eros and Civilization was shot in 1955 by the German philosopher Herbert Marcuse. The basis of the tape includes research by Sigmund Freud.
Already in 2004, Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai made his feature film: Eros. The picture, consisting of three short films, tells the viewer about sex and love.
The meaning of the name Eros
As mentioned above, the name of Eros was the ancient Greek god. Our contemporaries at birth also sometimes get such a name. As you might guess, it means love.
If spelled, we will see the following picture:
- E - means sociable.
- P - active, selfish.
- Oh - emotional.
- C - balanced.
Numerology assigned the name number 3. This means that Eros is a cheerful, talented person, able to learn. At the same time impatient, inclined to give up everything. His lucky colors are supposed to be black and gray. Day of the week is Saturday. And metal is lead. A camel, a turtle, a mole, a donkey or an ant can become a totem beast for Eros.
Among the famous people who bear this name, one can distinguish the Italian singer and composer - Eros Luciano Ramazotti.
Planet in the solar system
Surprisingly, every astronomer knows what Eros is. It turns out that this is a small planet in the solar system. Its diameter is only 20 kilometers. It was discovered at the end of the 19th century by amateur astronomer Karl Witt.
Eros became the first open near-Earth asteroid. The uniqueness of a small planet did not end there. In 1996, the Americans sent a spacecraft to study a celestial object. For almost a year, the robot flew around the orbit, and on February 14, 2001, the day of all lovers, it landed on an asteroid. For several weeks, the device studied the surface of the planet, sent data to Earth.
And here is what we now know about a small planet in the solar system:
- There is a little gravity.
- Eros crosses the orbit of Mars, but does not collide with the giant.
- If for some reason the asteroid’s orbit moves, then Eros could collide with our planet. True, scientists have noticed that at present it is not worth panicking. In their opinion, this will not happen in the next few hundred thousand years.