The Greek Myth of Eros and Psyche: Background information when reading The Palace of Eros

The Greek Myth of Eros and Psyche

This article relates to The Palace of Eros

In the original Greek myth that The Palace of Eros retells, Psyche is the youngest daughter of a king and the most beautiful woman in all the land. She is mistaken for Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty, and worshiped accordingly. An envious Aphrodite commands her son, Eros, to shoot Psyche with his arrows of love and make her become enamored with a hideous beast. Her plan backfires when Eros falls in love with Psyche.

When the Oracle proclaims that Psyche should be taken by a winged beast as punishment for her father's arrogance over her beauty, she is left in mourning clothes on a high cliff. But the phrase "winged beast" carries a metaphorical double meaning — it is also a reference to Eros and his "beastly" habit of making odd couples fall in love for his own amusement.

With the help of Zephyrus, a wind god, Psyche is blown away to Eros's palace of gold, marble, and jewels. She lives in luxury, served by invisible servants, but is otherwise alone, except at night when Eros visits. While they are happy, his true identity remains a mystery to Psyche, as Eros has commanded that she never see him in the light. Eventually, Psyche asks Eros for her sisters to be allowed to visit her and he reluctantly agrees. When they arrive, the sisters become jealous of her new life and tell Psyche that her husband must be a beast who is planning to devour her and their future firstborn child. Psyche believes it and decides to kill him while he sleeps.

One night, when the couple goes to bed, Psyche approaches her husband with an oil lamp and razor. But the lamplight reveals that he is not a monster at all, but Eros, the beautiful god of desire and passion. A drop of oil falls onto his shoulder, burning and awakening him. Feeling betrayed, Eros flees. He rejects Psyche's desperate apology and declares she will never see him again. Psyche's sisters throw themselves from the crag where Psyche was originally taken, hoping to be whisked away to the palace in her place, but instead they are smashed to death on the stones below.

Psyche initially attempts to drown herself, but a river spirit washes her back to shore, and one of Aphrodite's servants brings her to the enraged goddess. Aphrodite first punishes her with whips, then she orders Psyche to sort chickpeas, lentils, and poppy seeds into separate piles. Psyche is aided by ants, who do the sorting for her. Suspecting assistance, Aphrodite assigns Psyche another task: skinning the fleece of a carnivorous golden sheep.

Again, Psyche receives guidance — a reed tells her to collect the sheep's fleece, which has snagged on the bushes. Still unconvinced by her success, Aphrodite orders another task, this time commanding Psyche to fill a jug with water from a mountaintop river that flows into the Underworld and is guarded by two dragons. Once again, she receives help — the Eagles of Zeus dodge the dragons and fill the jug for her. And again, Aphrodite is unsatisfied. She sends Psyche back down to the Underworld to collect some of Persephone's beauty.

Psyche, believing this task to be impossible, decides to throw herself from a tower. Yet, the tower intervenes and tells her she can circumvent Cerberus, the Underworld's three-headed guard dog, by feeding him seed-cake. Additionally, the tower tells Psyche that she must not look into the box of Persephone's beauty. Psyche completes the task, but she does open the box of beauty, hoping to use it to win back Eros's love. Instead, she falls into a deathly sleep.

Moved, Eros appeals to Zeus, the King of the Gods. He awakens Psyche from sleep, makes her immortal, and grants legitimacy to their marriage in a ceremony before all the gods. Aphrodite is placated, admitting Psyche's devotion to Eros. Psyche becomes the goddess of the soul and gives birth to a daughter, Hedone, or pleasure.

The Abduction of Psyche by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1895 courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Filed under Cultural Curiosities

This article relates to The Palace of Eros. It first ran in the September 18, 2024 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.