The word "cupid" in the modern human lexicon has several designations: from the name of a deity to the name of a group of asteroids that have recently been visited by terrestrial spacecraft, and one of the most majestic rivers of the Far East bears this name. We will consider each option in more detail in order to know exactly who is who.
Cupid, aka Eros
He is Cupid - these are all the names of one deity, the eternal companion of the beautiful Aphrodite - the goddess of love. He was the fruit of an intimate relationship between this sweet-voiced goddess and Ares, the god of war, so he was often depicted as a golden-haired baby, but with a bow in his hands.
This baby god symbolized love lust, and the arrows of Cupid, fired from his bow and hitting the heart of a person, gave birth to love in the latter. Therefore, in ancient times it was often said: "smitten with love." At the same time, Cupid was a rather playful and mischievous little boy, despite his high status. Therefore, his arrows often hit the hearts of people who were completely alien to each other - from this arose love torment, suffering on the basis of unrequited feelings, and a whole literary genre was born on this basis. Cupid's arrows, a bow, as well as angel wings and a wreath of roses - these attributes constantly accompanied Eros along with a flaming torch, symbolizing a passionatefeeling and languid desire.
The myth of Cupid
This story begins with the fact that the god of love himself succumbed to this feeling and fell in love with the beautiful Psyche, who symbolized the breath, the soul. Aphrodite, out of jealousy for the divine beauty of the girl, was categorically against their union, but the young lovers secretly connected their relationship. But since it is unacceptable for ordinary people to see the faces of the gods, Psyche languished with curiosity. Incited by her relatives, she nevertheless decided on a sin, and at night, while Cupid was sleeping after violent love joys, she lit an oil lamp and brought it close to Cupid's face in order to examine him. Psyche was so struck by the beauty of God that she did not notice how the lamp swayed in her trembling hands, and the oil from it dripped onto her husband's face. He immediately disappeared, and Psyche, in repentance, vowed to go through all the hard trials sent by the gods, angry for disobedience, if only to return Cupid.
This myth clearly shows how blind love at the beginning of the journey enjoys any state, but if the soul goes on about the mind, then you can lose everything and only true love out of time will win.
In different languages
It's not for nothing that the god of love was called by that name, because Cupid is the French "amour" (cupid), which means "love" in translation, and "amoureux" - "in love" or "lover". Moreover, the meaning of the word "cupid" is consonant with the Italian "amore" (amore), the Spanish "amor" (amor), that is, many West Germanic languages \u200b\u200bhave words with this common root.
The Great River of Eastern Siberia
Amur is a river flowing in Russia in the Amur Region and the Khabarovsk Territory, partly on the border with China and flowing into the Sea of Okhotsk. Its length is 2824 kilometers, probably, this fact underlies its name. Amur is a "big river", translated from the Tungus language. The Mongols respectfully call it Amur Khara-Muren, and the Chinese - Amur-Heihe, both translations are almost identical: "black river".
In terms of the area of the water basin, this water artery occupies the fourth position among the largest rivers in Russia and the tenth position among the rivers of the world, therefore Siberians revere it very much, considering it a nurse. Amur has a unique and diverse ichthyofauna: more than 130 species of fish, nine of which are representatives of salmon.
The second feature of this river is that it has a fairly wide range of water level fluctuations throughout the year: from 6 to 15 meters, due to seasonal rains. The Amur River is a natural border between Russia, Mongolia and China, so staying in this zone without a permit is prohibited.
Cupids in space
The second group of near-Earth asteroids is the Amurs. It belongs to the main asteroid belt, which is located between the planets Mars and Jupiter. This cluster got its name in honor of the first discovered asteroid Amur, which became known in 1932. He, in turn, was named according to an old tradition: in honor of one of the gods of the Roman pantheon. As part of the Amur group3653 asteroids are included, 65 of them have personal names, while the whole group is subdivided into four more types according to the degree of remoteness from the Sun. This group of celestial bodies rotates inside the orbit of Jupiter and does not reach the orbit of the Earth, unlike the first group of asteroids - Apollos, which rotate in their orbits between "orange" and "blue".
According to 2017 data, about 20,000 asteroids of all three groups belonging to the main asteroid belt are known, all of them of different sizes: from a boulder the size of a football field to a mini-planet reaching 100 kilometers in diameter. At the same time, the orbit calculated by astronomers is only 8000. Naturally, this suggests an asteroid danger, because if the orbit is unknown, where is the guarantee that the celestial body will not collide with our planet?
Asteroid with personal satellite
Asteroid Eros was the first of all the celestial bodies of the Amur group to receive this privilege. It happened in 2000, when NEAR Shoemaker, an American spacecraft launched into space, approached Eros.
The expanses of the Internet blew up the pictures that came from there. An unidentified object of artificial origin, about 45 meters in diameter, was photographed on the surface of the asteroid. Something that looks like a large self-propelled mechanism, an all-terrain vehicle or a small shuttle. Some researchers believe that this may be an alien mining technique for the extraction of precious metals, of which, according to the results of samples taken by NEAR Shoemaker, quite a lot has been found.
