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Figures in the ancient sources

Eros in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Eros

42 passages from 6 ancient authors that tell of Eros, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Was Eros a primordial force or Aphrodite's son? Explore both origin myths, his love story with Psyche, and his symbols: bow, torch, wings. For the story in one place, read our article on Eros.

Hesiod (2)

  1. Hesiod, Theogony 100–129Invocation of the Muses; Chaos, Gaia and the first gods (100-129)The proem closes with an invocation: the Muses are asked to tell how the gods and the world first came to be. The cosmogony begins with Chaos, broad-breasted Gaia (Earth), murky Tartarus and Eros, fairest of the gods. Erebus and Night come from Chaos and bear Aether and Day, and Gaia bears Uranus (Heaven) and the hills.
  2. Hesiod, Theogony 175–209Cronus castrates Uranus; the birth of Aphrodite (175-209)Uranus comes to lie with Gaia, and Cronus, waiting in ambush, cuts off his father's genitals with the sickle. From the drops of blood come the Erinyes, the Giants and the ash-tree nymphs, and from the foam round the severed flesh Aphrodite rises and is carried to Cythera and Cyprus, with Eros and Desire as her companions. Uranus calls his sons Titans, because they strained and acted presumptuously.

Sophocles (3)

  1. Sophocles, Women of Trachis 335–430Second episode (cont.): the Messenger exposes LichasThe Messenger stops Deianeira from going in and tells her that Lichas has been lying. He says that he heard Lichas declare in public that Heracles destroyed the city of Eurytus for love of the girl, who is Iole, Eurytus' daughter. Deianeira is shocked, and when she questions Lichas he says that the girl is a Euboean of unknown birth, and denies that he ever said otherwise.
  2. Sophocles, Women of Trachis 431–496Second episode (cont.): Lichas confessesDeianeira begs Lichas by Zeus not to hide the truth from her, saying that she knows that all men are subject to desire and that she will not blame Heracles or the girl. Lichas admits that the Messenger is right, that Heracles sacked Oechalia out of passion for the girl, and that he did not tell her out of fear of causing her pain. Deianeira says that she will not fight the gods, and goes in to bring gifts for Heracles.
  3. Sophocles, Antigone 781–882Third stasimon: the ode to Eros, and Antigone's lamentThe Chorus sing of the power of Love, which drives even just men to ruin, and then, seeing Antigone led out, weep for her. Antigone compares her fate to that of the daughter of Tantalus turned to stone, and the Chorus say that she is paying for a crime of her father's. She mourns the doom of the house of Labdacus, and says that she goes unwept and unwed to share the home of her parents.

Apollonius Rhodius (2)

  1. Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.1–166Hera and Athena ask Cypris to make Medea love JasonThe poet calls on Erato, and Hera and Athena decide to go to Cypris to ask her to make Aeetes' daughter Medea fall in love with Jason. Cypris finds her son Eros playing dice with Ganymede, and persuades him with the promise of a ball that once belonged to Zeus.
  2. Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.167–298Medea falls in love with JasonIn council Jason proposes to try Aeetes with words first and goes to the palace with the sons of Phrixus, Telamon and Augeias. Hera hides them in mist; Chalciope greets her sons, and Eros shoots Medea with an arrow as Jason stands among them, so that she is struck with love for him.

Ovid (4)

  1. Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.452–567Apollo and DaphneApollo ('Phoebus' in More's translation), proud of his victory over the Python, mocks Eros (Cupid) and his little bow, and Eros shoots him with a golden arrow that makes him love, and the nymph Daphne with a leaden arrow that makes her flee from love. Apollo chases her, pleading, and as he catches her she prays to her father, the river Peneus, and begins to change into a laurel. Apollo embraces the tree and says that it shall always be his, and that its leaves shall crown victors and stand at the gates of Augustus' house.
  2. Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.338–461Typhoeus; the rape of PersephoneCalliope sings for the Muses of the giant Typhoeus buried under Sicily, whose struggles shake the island, and of how Aphrodite (Venus) asks Eros (Cupid) to wound Hades (Pluto) with love. Hades, driving through Sicily, sees Persephone (Proserpina) gathering flowers by the lake of Pergus and carries her off in his chariot. The nymph Cyane tries to stop him and is changed into a pool, and Hades drives through the earth to his own kingdom. Demeter (Ceres) begins her search for her daughter, and turns the boy Stellio, who mocks her thirst, into a lizard.
  3. Ovid, Metamorphoses 9.413–571Byblis and CaunusThemis' prophecy ends, and Byblis, a girl of Miletus, falls in love with her twin brother Caunus, and at first tries to deceive herself that it is only sisterly love. She dreams of him, and debates with herself whether she should write to him, and in the end writes a letter confessing her love. As she gives the tablets to a servant, they slip from her hands and fall.
  4. Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.519–709Aphrodite and Adonis; Atalanta and HippomenesAdonis grows into a youth so beautiful that Aphrodite (Venus) herself, wounded by one of Eros' (Cupid's) arrows, falls in love with him and gives up heaven to be with him. She warns him to avoid dangerous beasts and tells him the tale of Atalanta, who would marry only the man who could beat her in a foot-race, the loser being killed. Hippomenes wins her with the help of Aphrodite, who gives him three golden apples to throw before her, and is later turned with Atalanta into a lion for profaning a temple of Cybele. Aphrodite ends her warning, and Adonis does not heed it.

Nonnus of Panopolis (30)

  1. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 33.0–104Book 33: Pasithea tells Aphrodite of Dionysos' madness; Eros at playDionysos, still mad, rushes about while the Grace Pasithea sees him and the dead Bassarids and tells Aphrodite what she has witnessed. Aphrodite sends Aglaia to fetch Eros, who is playing a game of shooting nectar drops with Hymenaios on Olympos and wins the prizes.
  2. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 48.182–327Book 48: Dionysos kills Sithon and weds Pallene; the huntress AuraDionysos kills Sithon with his thyrsus and gives the weapon to Pallene as a love-gift. The Nereids and the sea-gods sing at the wedding, and Dionysos consoles the bride. The poet then introduces Aura, daughter of the Titan Lelantos, a manlike huntress who knows nothing of love, and who drives Artemis's car to the river Sangarios on a hot noon.
  3. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 47.364–495Book 47: Ariadne's lament; her marriage to Dionysos; the madness of ArgosAriadne laments her abandonment and begs any passing sailor to take her to Athens. Dionysos appears, consoles her and promises her a crown of stars, and they marry on Naxos amid songs and dances. He then goes to Argos, where the people, fearing Hera, refuse his rites, and he drives the Argive women mad so that they kill their infant children.
  4. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 7.67–149Book 7: Zeus promises mankind wine and a second DionysosZeus considers in silence and then tells Time not to be angry, since he will give men wine to heal their sorrows. He will bear a son in his own thigh who will plant the vine and be received among the gods. Eros takes out his quiver of twelve arrows, each engraved with the name of a mortal woman, and tips the fifth with ivy. Meanwhile Semele dreams of a tree whose fruit is carried off to Zeus, and her father Cadmos sends her to sacrifice.
  5. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 33.105–194Book 33: Aglaia's message; Eros wounds Morrheus with desireAglaia brings Aphrodite's message, and Eros offers to fight anyone who has wronged his mother. Aphrodite tells him that Ares is helping Deriades and asks him to help Dionysos by making Morrheus fall in love with the Bacchic girl Chalcomede. Eros flies to the Indian host and shoots his arrow into Morrheus.
  6. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 40.493–580Book 40: The first ship and the founding of Tyre; the nymphs and ErosHeracles tells how the earthborn sacrificed the eagle of the olive on the wandering rocks, which then became fixed, and built Tyre on both. He then explains that Eros, by his shafts, made the fountain-nymphs the brides of the earthborn, from whom Dionysos' family descends. Dionysos accepts a starry robe from Heracles, gives him a golden mixing-bowl and moves on to another part of Assyria.
  7. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 48.474–652Book 48: Dionysos' wine-spring and the sleeping AuraLovesick and unable to speak to the unyielding Aura, Dionysos sees the shade of Ariadne reproach him in a dream. Remembering how he won another nymph by a potion, he opens a spring of wine on the rock when Aura is parched with thirst at midday. She drinks, falls asleep, and Dionysos binds her hands and feet and takes her while she sleeps.
  8. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 1.0–133Book 1: Invocation; Zeus carries Europa across the seaThe poet asks the Muse to tell of the twice-born Dionysos and calls for the wand, cymbals and fawnskin of his rites, picturing Proteus's many shapes as the god's. Zeus, as a bull, carries Europa over the sea while Eros drives him and the sea-gods marvel. The girl cries out to the shores, to her father and to Boreas.
  9. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 15.312–422Book 15: Hymnos' plea; Nicaia kills himHymnos asks Nicaia to kill him if she will not love him, and tells her how to bury him. She shoots an arrow into his throat. The Naiads, the herd and Rheia mourn for the oxherd, and Apollo shows Artemis the love-murder.
  10. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 16.0–70Book 16: Eros wounds Dionysos with love for NicaiaEros, arming himself unseen, shoots Dionysos with desire as he watches the huntress Nicaia bathing in a mountain stream. Lovesick, Dionysos follows her about and imagines how he might win her: he would carry her hunting gear, offer a cluster of grapes instead of an olive branch, or even take the shape of a bull or a golden shower. He will not, however, strike down her father with a thunderbolt to gain her.
  11. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 24.242–348Book 24: Leucos sings of Aphrodite at Athena's loomLeucos sings how Aphrodite took up Athena's loom, so that marriage and birth failed throughout the world. Athena complains to the gods and Hermes mocks Aphrodite, telling her to go back to her girdle, which she does. The army then sleeps, guarded by leopards, lions and hounds.
  12. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 41.119–211Book 41: Eros is born at Beroe; the birth of BeroeMeadows and vines burst up around Aphrodite, and she gives birth to Eros, who leaps at once to her breast. The poet hails Beroe as nurse of cities and says she is also called Amymone. In a younger story Aphrodite bears her to Adonis with Hermes and Themis attending, the beasts rejoice, and Aphrodite foresees that a boar will bring Adonis' death.
18 more passages of Nonnus of Panopolis that name Eros
  1. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 42.1–123Book 42: Eros shoots Dionysos and Poseidon with love for Beroe
  2. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 43.307–449Book 43: Zeus ends the battle; Poseidon weds Beroe; Eros consoles Dionysos
  3. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 1.344–408Book 1: Zeus takes Europa and enlists Cadmos
  4. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 3.0–130Book 3: Cadmos sails to Samothrace; Peitho leads him
  5. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 7.0–66Book 7: Time begs Zeus to relieve mankind
  6. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 7.150–254Book 7: Semele washes in the Asopos
  7. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 7.255–368Book 7: Zeus woos Semele
  8. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 11.301–427Book 11: Eros tells of Calamos and Carpos
  9. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 11.428–521Book 11: Calamos mourns Carpos; the Seasons visit Helios
  10. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 16.228–301Book 16: Nicaia drinks from the wine-spring; Dionysos takes her asleep
  11. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 16.302–405Book 16: Nicaia's grief; the birth of Telete and the founding of Nicaia
  12. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 19.158–262Book 19: Seilenos and Maron contend for the golden bowl
  13. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 32.0–58Book 32: Hera takes the cestus and goes to Zeus
  14. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 36.0–95Book 36: Dionysos recovers; the gods take sides
  15. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 47.256–363Book 47: Dionysos finds Ariadne asleep on Naxos
  16. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 48.0–181Book 48: The Giants attack Dionysos; he wrestles Pallene
  17. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 48.328–473Book 48: Aura insults Artemis; Nemesis is sent against her
  18. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 41.338–427Book 41: The tablets of Ophion; Aphrodite urges Eros to strike the gods

Orpheus (attributed) (1)

  1. Orpheus (attributed), Orphic Hymns 57–61Hymns 57-61: the Terrestrial Hermes, Cupid, the Fates, the Graces, NemesisHermes of the earth is invoked as the god whom Fate set to dwell on the dread path that leads to deepest hell, and Cupid as the pure and lovely source of sweet delight. The Fates are addressed as the daughters of Night and are named Atropos, Lachesis and Clotho. The Graces are called on as the descendants of Jove, with Eunomia, and Nemesis as the almighty queen by whom the deeds of mortal life are seen.
Eros in the Ancient Sources: 42 Passages in Greek & English