There is no single answer to the question of what eros is. Someone sees tender sensual love in this word, others look for a vulgar subtext in it, others turn their gaze 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 considered eros today.
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, others for a successful hunt. At the same time, in ancient Greece there were several gods of love. One of them was Eros. We can say that this is the first definition of this word.
Later it became so called bodily and sensual love, as well as the love of knowledge and everything beautiful.
In general, eros was almost always synonymous with love. The meaning and interpretation of the word changed over time, just as the attitude towards the feeling itself changed. Some philosophers and historians narrowed the definition, others, on the contrary, tried toexpand. Today, there are many interpretations of the word "love", which means that the word "eros" has no less of them.
In mythology
Let's turn to mythology and see what kind of god Eros was. Ancient Greece, judging by the myths, rewarded its character with a tough character. It was believed that this inhabitant of Olympus did not always bring happy love, most often he gave people a "bittersweet" feeling.
According to one version, it is believed that Eros is the son of Ares, the god of war, and Aphrodite, the goddess of love. According to another, he is simply 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 living things, Gaea, that is, the Earth, and Tartarus, the god of hell. And that it was thanks to Eros that all the other gods appeared. Love made Chaos connect his life with Gaia.
Judging by the descriptions, he was not originally a handsome young man from Olympus. God was bisexual and had four heads: lion, snake, ram and bull. Unless the golden wings behind him betrayed in him the usual god of love.
How is it different from Cupid?
Later Eros had a Roman counterpart - Cupid. Both gods were given golden bows and arrows. Most often, Eros began to be portrayed as a blond plump boy. He began to bring people love, and even happiness. However, God did not become completely “good”. Rather, he turned into a spoiled, naughty little boy.
What separates Cupid fromErosa:
- Eros can not only give, but also take away love.
- Cupid is always depicted as a boy, the Greek god can look like a young man and like a grown man.
- Unlike Cupid, Eros gives not only love, but also sexual desire.
Interestingly, Cupid's favorite flower was a rose. There is even a myth about this. The boy admired the rose, and did not notice the bee in the bud. The insect bit the little god. He burst into tears and flew away to Venus (Aphrodite). To relieve swelling, the mother applied rose stems to the wound. And the pain is gone. Adult Eros is also often depicted with this delicate flower.
God's Beloved
Eros himself did not know true love for a long time. The mythology of Ancient Greece tells 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 descended Olympus to them.
The proud goddess, having heard these conversations, decided to punish the girl. She called her son Eros, ordered him to kidnap the beauty. Further, the god of love had to find the most terrible and disgusting husband for Psyche. But the young man did not keep his word to his mother, fell in love with the girl himself 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 candle oil on his leg. God fled to heaven in fear. And Psyche decided to killyourself.
Next, the lovers were waiting for severe trials. Psyche descended into the realm of the dead and nearly died there. Seeing their love, Zeus gave them his consent to marriage and made the girl immortal.
Eros in Plato's philosophy
An answer to the question of what is eros, tried to find many sages of the ancient world. Including Plato. The philosopher expanded this definition to the maximum. He believed that the concept of eros refers to the Cosmos. It is this attraction that binds:
- man and woman;
- writer and reader;
- doctor and patient.
To put it simply, eros exists in every area of life. In religion, magic, exact sciences. He is like an inspiration. At the same time, a feeling is born and lives in beauty. Eros according to Plato is the pursuit of the ideal.
The theory of the philosopher was formed on the basis of the teachings of his predecessors: Homer and Hesiod. Moreover, for the first it is a bright concentrated love, and for the second it is 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 a longing for a loved one and an obsession with another person.
- Agape. Partner love. Loy alty to each other, search for common interests and values.
It turns out that even in science, eros is a selfish feeling that burns everything on the way to its 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 find a definition for the phenomenon. At first he narrowed the concept to prodigal passion,completely rejecting Plato's theory. Freud declared that all the achievements of culture and art are nothing but the sublimation of eros.
In further work, the psychoanalyst found that eros is a sexual attraction, as well as an instinct to preserve 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 eros. Boris Vysheslavtsev did not agree with his colleague and argued that "eros goes beyond 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, this word can be truly understood through its opposite - Thanatos. Actually, I'll have to go back to Freud.
The psychoanalyst believed that if Eros is the life instinct, then there must be a death instinct as well. The 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 the other.
True, the scientist's forecast was sad: no matter how much we strive to love, no matter how much we value life, in the end everything in its path that destroys Thanatos will win. At the same time, the faster a person reaches his heights in life, the sooner his attraction todeath.
Regarding, according to Freud, this is not only the relationship to life, but all its spheres. Including the relationship between a man and a woman. Yes, and all creativity "swings" between love and death.
Reflection in culture
Eros also "sneaked" into culture and art. The value of this concept in creativity is difficult to overestimate.
First, of course, people got acquainted with the image of a god from Olympus. His image could be found on the friezes in Pompeii, on the famous mosaics of Piazza Armerina in Sicily. God was sung by poets and playwrights. True, the ancient Greek poetess Sappho most often showed him cruel.
During the time of Euripides, Eros was endowed with a bow and arrows. 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 the Serenade for Tchaikovsky's orchestra. The choreographer was Mikhail Fokin. The ballet was staged for several years, it even survived revolutions. True, it was no longer about God, but about 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 tape is based on the research of 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.
Meaning of the name Eros
As mentioned above, the name Eros was the ancient Greek god. Our contemporaries at birth also sometimes receive such a name. As you might guess, it means love.
If we spell it out, we will see the following picture:
- E - means sociable.
- P - active, selfish.
- Oh - emotional.
- С - balanced.
Numerology assigned the number 3 to the name. This means that Eros is a cheerful, talented person, able to learn. At the same time, he is impatient, inclined to give up everything. His lucky colors are supposed to be black and grey. The day of the week is Saturday. And the metal is lead. The totem animal for Eros can be a camel, turtle, mole, donkey or ant.
From the famous people who bear this name, one can single out the Italian singer and composer - Eros Luciano Ramazzotti.
Planet in the solar system
What is surprising, 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 discovered near-Earth asteroid. The uniqueness of the 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, on Valentine's Day, it landed on an asteroid. For several weeks, the device studied the surface of the planet, sent data to Earth.
And here's what we now know about a small planet in the solar system:
- There is a little gravity there.
- Eros crossesorbit of Mars, but does not collide with the giant.
- If for some reason the asteroid's orbit shifts, Eros may 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.
