EROS and

PSYCHE
“Love and the Soul had sought and
after sore trials, found each other,
and that union could never be
broken.”

—Edith Hamilton
 Characters:
Eros
 God of Love, Passion and Physical
Desire

 Son of Aphrodite

 Husband of Psyche

Psyche
 A very beautiful lady

 Wife of Eros

 Goddess of the Soul

Aphrodite

 Goddess of love and beauty

 Mother of Eros

 Torture Psyche

Persephone
 Goddess of Spring

 Hate Aphrodite

 Helped Psyche
 Hera

 Goddess of Marriage

 Helped Psyche fetch the golden

wool of sheep through the talking
reeds.

Demeter
 Goddess of Agriculture

 Helped Psyche by sending a colony

of ants.
 Psyche was one of the three daughters of a noble Greek king. Her two sisters were beautiful, but
Psyche’s gorgeousness was so evident that she attracted everyone’s attention, something that made her
sisters quite jealous. People from distant kingdoms travelled long distances just to witness such beauty.
Psyche began to be worshipped as if she was a deity and the tributes that was once paid to Aphrodite,
the goddess of beauty, were now focused on the young and beautiful princess. The goddess was
outraged after noticing how empty her temple was while Psyche had around her parade of people
admiring her youthful beauty. Aphrodite decided to punish the young girl responsible for such defiance
and ordered her son, Eros, the god of love and passion to use his arrows to make Psyche fall in love
with a disgusting, horrible creature.
 At night, Eros walked to the princess’ room who
was asleep. Eros pointed his bow and arrow to the
princess, a weapon that could make any wounded
person fall in love even the gods. As he admired her,
Eros was amazed by Psyche’s splendorous beauty.

Suddenly, Psyche turned herself during her sleep and this

unexpected movement distracted Eros who inevitably injured
himself with his own weapon. The wounded god immediately fell
in love with the young and beautiful mortal being. And due to his
love Eros couldn’t finished his mission and nor did he hurt
Psyche.
 Psyche hated her life.
Her sisters were got Despite her beauty the
married to rich husbands Psyche remained
young girl would never be in her parent’s
who were Kings of pursued by any claimant.
other towns. palace, all alone.
 The king, Psyche’s father was concerned about his
daughter’s situation and decided to pay a visit to the Oracle
of Delphi looking for answers

“Your daughter shall marry no mortal. She is destined to

marry a monster – even the gods fear. Your princess
must be abandoned to the tallest spire of rock in your
kingdom. Dress her for her wedding as you would dress
her for her funeral. There she shall meet her doom.”
 Her parents wept and felt horrible, but they’d gotten
direct orders from the god Apollo and they can’t ignore that.
And so, the princess was taken to the edge of the kingdom,
where a five-hundred-foot spire of rock jutted into the sky.
Psyche was abandoned waiting for her terrible husband.
She waited for a moment until she decided to jump but a
wind started to take Psyche towards the sky.
Hi, I am Zephyros the But where..?
God of Wind and I will
bring you to your
husband.
 The place was extremely wealthy and included gold and silver
ornaments. Psyche was astounded by such beauty. She also has invisible
servants who helped her during the bath, the meals and sang her
beautiful songs telling her that her husband would only appear at night.
The night arrived, and Psyche waited in her bed for her husband. The
room was engulfed with absolute darkness that it was impossible to see
any shadow.
The young girl felt the presence of her
husband in the room and she was treated
with all the love and affection.

Every single night Psyche was visited by

her husband but when dawn arrived, he
was already gone.

They can only meet at night, in total

darkness.
 My wife, trust me with
I was told to marry a everything can you?
monster but I guess You shouldn’t see me
you are not even an or even know my
ugly creature. name. Trust me and we
will live with happiness.
© The next few weeks were great. The only problem: she missed her family.
Even though Psyche wanted to see her parents and show herself in the
mortal world, Eros wouldn’t let her be especially now that they are
expecting a baby.

© Instead they agreed to let Psyche’s mean sisters to come on the palace
and see her. Psyche gave them a tour of the palace. It fosters the
jealousy of her sisters even more reminding Psyche that she is destined
to marry a monster.
 Have you forgotten the
prophecy? You are
bound to marry a
monstrous creature

But… He was not .

We only care about
you. You have to save
yourself! Tonight, when
he is asleep, light a
lamp, keep some sort
of handy knife or razor
and cut off his head .
 Night arrived, and her husband
was already sleeping next to her, the
young girl grabs a knife and lighted a
lamp. When she approached the
bed, Psyche noticed that he was not
a monster rather a young man with a
stunning beauty. The girl got closer
and found out that her husband is
Eros.

However, a drop of oil fell off the lamp and sizzled on the god’s bare shoulder and
his eyes flew open. Eros’s expression changed from shock to regret to bitterness. He
snatched up his bow and quiver, spread his wings, and pushed Psyche aside. Eros flew
straight out the window, dragging Psyche with him. As they passed through the garden,
she lost her grip and tumbled. She lay crumpled on the ground, weeping and calling his
name, but his heart had hardened.
 I chose you more than my mother. But you’ve
listen to your sisters and look what you’ve done.
You ruined everything that I built just for the two of
us. A love without trust is nothing but a waste.

Eros flew straight out the

window, dragging Psyche with
him. She called his name, but
his heart had hardened.
 After Eros flew away, Psyche wandered in a daze. At the edge of the valley, she
reached the banks of a river and decided to throw herself in and drown. Pan, the satyr
god of the wilderness, was napping nearby after a three-day party. Psyche was so
distraught she didn’t even care that a drunken goat-man was talking to her.

If you have a problem, drowning yourself

in the river would never be a solution and
the only thing that you should do is to
pray to Eros, the god of love because
he’s the only who can help you.
 Psyche thinks, maybe that goat-man was right but first she have to
thank her sisters for their help. She wandered across the countryside
for days until she found the city-state where her eldest sister’s husband
was king. Psyche tricked her sister. She told her the whole story and
how Eros mentioned her name after he left. The same trick goes with
Psyche’s middle sister when she reached the other kingdom.

Before he flew away, Eros told me he was dumping me. He said he

would marry my sister instead. He called you by name.
After hearing Psyche’s story, her two
sisters both hurried to reached the spire of
rock. They climbed to the top, jumped off
and plummeted to their death.

Having run out of sisters to destroy.

Psyche wandered Greece, going from city
to city to find Eros.

Psyche checked every place that Eros

might visit or hang out with. However, she
had no luck.
On the other hand, Eros is dealing with
his own problems. A trickle of candle on
his shoulder cause an excruciating pain
that nothing can heal.

He flew to Aphrodite’s Villa, crashing on

his own bed.

Aphrodite burst into Eros’ bedroom

overwhelmed with anger, learning that
Eros become the laughingstock of the
cosmos.
 Who’s the harlot who
broke your heart? I
haven’t been disgraced
this badly by a mortal
since that Psyche girl a
few months ago.
Well, actually, about that…

Eros told Aphrodite about

the truth.
After knowing the truth Aphrodite blasted the ceiling into rubble. And
started to scold her child for several hours straight.

You ungrateful little boy! You were always a

trouble! You never listen! You mess with
everyone’s feelings, even mine! I should disown
you. I should take away your immortality, your
bows and arrows, and give them to one of my
manservants. Any mortal slave can do your job.
It’s not that hard. You never apply yourself. You
never follow directions

Aphrodite
It’s funny how a mother change her mood from a beast into a caring
woman whenever her child is at risks. Aphrodite was so worried when
she noticed her child situation.

Aphrodite called Apollo, the god of healing

that was even mystified about the wound.

She made everything for Eros to be

comfortable as possible.
 You have to find your
husband alone Psyche.
However, I promise to
help you in the right time
when you needed me
the most.

Upon searching for Eros, Psyche found a temple. It was a

temple of goddess Demeter according to the wheat that is carved
in the place. It was so dirty and messed up due to the
abandonment. She then, clean the whole place without thinking of
any reward she will gain. After cleaning, the goddess of grain
pops up out of nowhere. Glad of what Psyche did to her sacred
place she promised to help her out when it will not cross
Aphrodite’s knowledge.
Someday, I’ll have the
chance to help you in a
very subtle way but for
now you have to face
your problem on your
own.

Psyche continued her journey to find her husband. In the middle

of the forest she saw an abandoned shrine. The ivy-covered statue
tells that it been once owned by Hera. Like what she did in Demeter’s
temple, she clean also the abandoned place of Hera until it looked new
and organized. As soon as she was done Hera appear in front of her.
 Psyche travelled aiming to find not his husband but Aphrodite. She
reached the place on the shore of Adriatic sea. The servant lead her to the
goddess. As soon as Aphrodite saw Psyche, she charged at her. She started
kicking the poor girl, pulling her hair, raking her with her fingernails. The
goddess probably would’ve killed her, but once she saw that Psyche was
pregnant she couldn’t quite bring herself to do that.

I can’t believe that you came here to ask about

forgiveness. Don’t call me mother-in-law for I don’t
recognize the marriage of the both you. I am not up to
forgiveness right now but punishment, we can certainly
arrange that. Bring this girl in the dungeon . Then, we
will see how I feel about forgiveness.
 Aphrodite was impressed by Psyche’s determination to win her
forgiveness and bring back her son’s love. She then, gave
Psyche a series of challenge that are quite impossible to fulfil.

Collecting A Pitcher of A Box Beauty

Sorting Grain
Gold Wool Styx Water cream

1st 2nd 3rd 4th

 Sorting Grain

Psyche was asked to sort different kind of grain such as barley,

wheat, oats, rice, organic quinoa and put them back on their proper
sack. Determine to see her husband again she accepts the challenge of
the goddess. Looking at the mountain of grains Psyche felt hopeless.
Until, a colony of ant emerge in the kitchen to help her in the quest she
was given. She wondered who sent helped in remember Demeter, the
goddess of grain whom he helped before by cleaning her temple. They
finished the tasked before dinnertime when Aphrodite was shocked that
she was able to win the first challenge.
 Collecting Gold
Wool

The second quest is to gather a wool, a pure gold wool from the sheep
at the western edge of the valley, by the river. Psyche watched the
sheep with sharp horns, pointed teeth, poison bites and steel hooves
thinking how to get a wool from the flesh-eating animal. She wondered
how deep the river was, thinking to end her life again by jumping on it.
Suddenly, she heard a voice coming from a reed that was sent by Hera
to help her to overcome the second challenge. After listening and
following the instructions given by the talking reed Psyche was able to
get the golden wool and presented it to Aphrodite.
 A Pitcher of Styx Water

The third quest was to get a pitcher of water at the top of the River Styx.
It was impossible every one knew that even Eros. Who was
eavesdropping. Neither of the woman knows that Eros is listening to
their conversation. He summoned helped from the god of the Sky to
help Psyche. When Psyche reached the waterfalls, helplessness
crowded on her, no human can get a water from the top and the
coldness of water can even kill a human. The eagle appeared and took
the pitcher to fill with water. Psyche is still wondering, because she did
not do anything for Zeus however she accepted the offer and returned
with the water Styx.
 A box of Beauty Cream

Everything comes on three. Three is a sacred number, three member of a

group is very successful, three quest is more than enough. Psyche is
looking forward to get her husband back. But, Aphrodite is an extra. She
asked for a fourth quest, a box of beauty cream from the Underworld.
Psyche doesn’t know how to survive an Underworld journey with
nothingness. Eros sent his spirit and was capable of talking to his wife
through a tower where Psyche attempted to face death. He then, advised
Psyche how she could surpass the underworld. Two rice cakes for
Cerberus and two drachmas for Chiron are very helpful.
 She found the goddess Persephone in her garden in her winter mood. She
wasn’t seemed surprised to see a mortal pregnant woman in her beloved garden.
The goddess offered her a sit and a tea together with a delicious scones. It
mesmerizes Psyche however eating anything in the Underworld mean staying
forever there without a parole. She focused her attention to her quest asking
Persephone a box of beauty cream for Aphrodite. Persephone thought that
Aphrodite sent the mortal girl to annoyed her and for her to kill her, however, she’s
not going to give Aphrodite a favor.

Don’t open the box.

Inside that is for
Aphrodite alone.
 Psyche’s fatal flaw is insecurity. When she was halfway a
sudden thought struck her. She look awful and not sure if
Eros will want her back seeing her like a wasted woman.
Exhausted, eating only bread crumbs, wearing rag clothes,
she was sleep-deprived, and not thinking straight. Psyche
was tempted to open the box and as soon as she open the
box Stygian sleep fill her lungs.

Eros felt a throbbing pain on his shoulder and sense that

something happened to her wife. Even he still weak he
rose and find Psyche. He found her lying unconsciously, he
cradled his wife on his shoulder and brought her to Mount
Olympus.
Eros demanded justice to Zeus. He told the whole story to
the Olympians and they are moved by Psyche’s drive and
bravery except Aphrodite. They decided to make her a
goddess of soul which she deserved and fits her as a wife
of the god of love, Aphrodite can’t do anything but to
grudgingly agree to the other gods and goddesses. When
Psyche woke up she is filled of new gain power and live
happily with Eros, she gave birth to Hedone, the goddess
of pleasure.
THANKS 
~ Spread love not hate ~