Unconditional Love: Eros and Psyche

 Eros, known as "the fairest among the immortal gods," was also one of the most formidable. His arrows had the power to “unnerve the limbs and overcome the mind” of any god or mortal. However, this tale isn't about his arrows causing either eternal joy or doom. Instead, it recounts how Eros himself fell in love and how his beloved went to great lengths to keep him. Often interpreted as “an allegory of the soul's troubled journey through life toward a mystical union with the divine after death,” the story of Eros and Psyche is one of the rare fairy tales from the ancient world that has survived, and it is undoubtedly the most beautiful one.

Once upon a time, in the western lands, a king and queen had three daughters, each more beautiful than the last. While the two older sisters were exceptionally lovely, the youngest, Psyche, was so breathtaking that even goddesses envied her beauty. People traveled from all corners of the world to admire Psyche, and her “maidenly majesty” was so captivating that they began to honor her with the divine worship usually reserved for Aphrodite. As a result, Aphrodite’s rituals were neglected, and her temples fell into disrepair.

Aphrodite, far from pleased by the situation, sent her son Eros on a mission to make Psyche fall in love with “the most wretched, impoverished, crooked, and vile creature imaginable.” Some claim this was because Eros accidentally pricked himself with his own arrows, while others believe it was simply due to Psyche's extraordinary beauty. Regardless, the moment Eros saw Psyche, he fell in love with her and chose to disobey his mother's orders for the first time.

Psyche’s two older sisters had both married foreign kings and enjoyed their share of suitors, but no one had ever proposed to Psyche, who was believed to be either a manifestation or a daughter of Aphrodite. As a result, Psyche began to loathe her own beauty. Distressed, her father traveled to Miletus to seek advice from Apollo’s oracle on how to find a husband for his youngest daughter. The oracle revealed that Psyche's future husband was not a mortal but a fearsome serpent-like creature, powerful and winged, who soared through the starry skies and conquered everything with its fiery flight. To meet this formidable being, Psyche would need to be dressed in mourning clothes and left alone on a rocky mountaintop, where her future husband would come to take her.

Whithout being noticed by the king, queen, and even Psyche herself, the god described by the oracle was Eros. Shortly after being left alone on the rocky mountaintop, the frightened Psyche was gently carried by Zephyrus, the West Wind, down into a lush valley and laid softly in a bed of fragrant flowers. There, she discovered a magnificent palace so opulent and grand that even Zeus might have been astonished. Inside, invisible servants provided her with exquisite meals and delightful comforts. That night, in the darkness, Psyche was visited by Eros, her mysterious husband, who consummated their marriage perfectly before departing just before dawn.

As time went by, Psyche was initially content with her life, but soon she discovered she was pregnant and felt that nothing could mar her happiness. However, she eventually realized that joy is more fulfilling when shared and began to miss her family. She requested her unseen husband, who had warned her that seeing his face would result in him leaving her, to allow her sisters to visit her. After she promised not to heed their pleas or advice, Eros granted her request. Consequently, Zephyrus, the West Wind, carried Psyche’s sisters to the palace, just as he had once transported Psyche.

During their reunion, the sisters exchanged countless embraces and kisses. However, with each visit, Psyche’s older sisters became increasingly envious of her remarkable fortune. When Psyche revealed that she had never seen her husband’s face, they frightened her by suggesting that he must be an ugly monster planning to devour her baby after its birth. Eventually, they convinced her to kill him.

That night, after their intimate moment, Psyche quietly approached the sleeping Eros with a lamp and a razor. It didn’t take long for her to recognize him, as she saw his golden hair, purple cheeks, and neck as white as milk, along with his bow and arrows beside him. Overcome with awe and curiosity, she took one of the arrows from the quiver and pricked herself. The sudden pain made her drop a bit of burning oil from the lamp onto Eros’s shoulder, awakening him. Realizing that Psyche had broken her promise, Eros fled without saying a word. Ironically, the pain from the arrow only made Psyche love her husband even more intensely.

Desperate and unsure of what to do, Psyche set out to find Eros, traveling from one country to another and pleading for help, but all in vain. Even Demeter and Hera, fearing Aphrodite’s wrath, refused to assist her. With no other options, Psyche finally arrived at Aphrodite’s palace. Enraged that her son had disobeyed her, the goddess of love and beauty showed no compassion. She seized Psyche by the hair, ripped her clothing, and mocked her for having an illegitimate child. Then, she handed Psyche over to her two servant-maidens, Sorrow and Sadness, and subjected her to grueling tasks as challenging as those faced by Heracles.

Aphrodite took a large amount of “wheat, barley, millet, poppy seeds, peas, lentils, and beans, mixing them all into a single heap.” Psyche’s task was to sort out these seeds into separate piles within one day. Overwhelmed and unsure how to start, Psyche started crying. Fortunately, an ant, moved by her tough situation, called all the ants in the area. They came together and helped Psyche complete the task just before the deadline.

Next, Aphrodite set Psyche the challenge of collecting golden wool from a flock of dangerous sheep with sharp horns. A green reed, inspired by divine guidance, advised her to wait until the sheep fell asleep in the heat of the afternoon before collecting the golden wool from the briar bushes where it was caught. Psyche followed this advice and managed to gather a bundle of golden wool, but Aphrodite remained unimpressed.

Aphrodite’s third task was even more challenging: Psyche had to fill a jar with water from the deadly black river Styx, which flowed from the top of a distant mountain. Psyche faced immense difficulty just reaching the river, only to find it guarded by two fearsome, ever-watchful dragons. Overcome with fear and despair, she was unable even to cry. Remembering that he owed Eros a favor, Zeus’ eagle swooped down from the heavens, took the jar from Psyche, and filled it with Styx’s water before returning it to her. Psyche happily brought the jar back to Aphrodite, but the goddess had yet another challenge for her: the fourth and final task.

This final task was by far the most challenging of all. Psyche was required to travel to the Underworld, request a day’s worth of Persephone’s beauty, and bring it back to Aphrodite in a box. Believing that the only way to reach Hades was to die, Psyche climbed a high tower with the intention of throwing herself into the hell. However, guided by divine intervention, the tower revealed a different approach. Psyche did everything the tower told her to.

First, Psyche traveled to the hill of Taenarus in the Peloponnese, where she discovered an entrance to the Underworld. Equipped with two coins and two pieces of bread soaked in barley and honey, she used the first coin to pay Charon for ferrying her across the Styx and the first piece of bread to calm Cerberus and gain entry to Hades' palace. Inside, she found Persephone and, following the tower’s guidance, declined all the sumptuous food offered to her, requesting only a crust of brown bread and a favor. After receiving the favor, Psyche took a small amount of Persephone’s beauty and returned to the world of the living, using the second piece of bread to placate Cerberus and the last coin to pay Charon.

However, Psyche disobeyed the final instruction. Much like Pandora with her jar, Psyche opened Persephone’s box, but not out of curiosity or malice. She merely hoped that a touch of divine beauty would help her regain Eros’s love. However, instead of beauty, she found only a dark, deadly sleep that immediately overcame her as soon as the box was opened. She collapsed to the ground, lying there as if she were a lifeless corpse.

Unable to endure Psyche's absence any longer, Eros secretly flew out of his chamber and found her. He removed the deadly sleep from her face and returned its essence to the box. Then he lifted Psyche into the air, allowing her to deliver the box to Aphrodite just in time. Not wanting Psyche to suffer any further, Eros quickly went to Zeus and pleaded for his intervention. Zeus agreed, granting Psyche immortality by giving her ambrosia. This allowed Psyche and Eros to be united as equals in marriage and satisfied Aphrodite. Eventually, Psyche gave birth to a healthy daughter named Voluptas, who, as she grew, became the Goddess of Pleasure.