Gods of love among Greeks, Romans and Slavs

Everyone has a need for love and fellowship with a man of the opposite sex. Love helps to prevent conflict and unites people. Only in union with a loved one can people gain absolute integrity. The nature of love can be very different: from passion and sexual attraction to spiritual and platonic love. In ancient times, there were no dating sites, no psychotherapists and consultants, no divorce proceedings. Instead, myths, legends and beliefs were invented, in which the goddesses and gods of love corresponded to the many forms of this light feeling.

Each people had their own myths, their gods and goddesses. The most famous of them is the Greek god of love Eros. It was he who became a popular symbol of Valentine's Day and other love romance. In the Roman Empire, Cupid and Cupid became its analogue. In ancient times, the gods of love were depicted in the form of beautiful young men who held the bow and arrows in their hands. In modern interpretation, this is a cunning little mischievous prankster, still holding a bow with magic arrows, which, when hit in the heart of the target, cause fervent feelings. By the way, the ancient god himself fell a victim of love.

According to legend, there lived a long time ago a girl of unprecedented beauty. And her name was Psyche. She was so beautiful that she was envied by the very goddess of beauty Aphrodite. She could not stand the death that compared to her beauty, and sent her son Eros to punish her. He had to shoot an arrow in her heart with unrequited love. But when Eros saw the beauty, he himself without a memory fell in love with her and made her his wife. Psyche also fell in love with Eros. But there was one "but": the wife did not have the right to see her husband. People were forbidden to look at the gods. Once Psyche's sisters persuaded her to take a secret look at her beloved. Curiosity prevailed, and she could not resist. Eros was angry. He decided to punish his wife, who violated the prohibition of the gods, and left her forever. Psyche also loved her husband so much that she could not accept his loss. She went to the temple of the goddess Aphrodite for help. But the cunning goddess was still angry at the beauty. She decided to try it out. Psyche endured all the tasks and assignments of Aphrodite. The last task was to carry the casket to the kingdom of Morpheus. According to Aphrodite, the beauty of the wife of the God of Death was there. However, the cunning goddess put a dead dream there. Opening the casket, Psyche fell dead. Eros found his beloved Psyche and aroused her with a kiss. He forgave his wife and gave her immortality as a reward for her courage, love and faithfulness.

By the way, in the ancient myths, the gods of love are often depicted along with the white pigeons surrounding them. Therefore today pigeons are also a symbol of love between a man and a woman. A white dove is a symbol of feminine fidelity. In addition, from time immemorial pigeons are considered a connecting thread between lovers who are in separation.

In ancient Russia also had their own gods of love. For example, everyone knows the famous goddess of love, spring and beauty Lada. It is an analog of the Greek Aphrodite and Roman Venus. Her beautiful daughter Lelya. But the main god of love among the Slavs is the god Yarilo. It symbolized love, passion and fertility. He was depicted as a young red-haired horseman on a white horse. Every year the Slavs celebrated the spring and the revival of life. At the celebration, they chose a bride for Yarila, tied her to a tree and danced round her. It was believed that in the week of Yarila, all sorts of love conspiracies, fortune-telling and broths had a special power.