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EROS

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Originally appearing in Volume V09, Page 753 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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EROS , in See also:

Greek See also:mythology, the See also:god of love. He is not mentioned in See also:Homer; in See also:Hesiod (Theog. 120) he is one of the See also:oldest and the most beautiful of the gods, whose See also:power neither gods nor men can resist. He also evolves See also:order and See also:harmony out of See also:Chaos by uniting the separated elements. This See also:cosmic Eros, who in Orphic See also:cosmogony sprang from the See also:world-See also:egg which Chronos, or See also:Time, laid in the bosom of Chaos, and which is the origin of all created beings, degenerated, in later mythology into the capricious god of sexual See also:passion, the son of See also:Aphrodite and See also:Zeus, See also:Ares or See also:Hermes. He is commonly represented as a mischievous boy, the tormentor of gods and men, even his own See also:mother not being See also:proof against his attacks. His See also:brother is See also:Anteros, the god of mutual love, who punishes those who do not return the love of others, without which Eros could not thrive; he is sometimes described as the opponent of Eros. The See also:chief associates of Eros are Pothos and Himeros (Longing and See also:Desire), Peitho (Persuasion), the See also:Muses and the See also:Graces; he himself is in See also:constant attendance on Aphrodite. Later writers (See also:Euripides being the first) assumed the existence of a number of Erotes (like the See also:Roman Amores and Cupidines) with similar attributes. According to the philosophers, Eros was not only the god of sexual love, but also of the loyal and devoted friendship of men; hence the Theban " Sacred See also:Band " was devoted to him, and the Cretans and Spartans offered See also:sacrifice to him before going into See also:battle (See also:Athenaeus xiii. p. 56,). In Alexandrian See also:poetry Eros is at one time the powerful god who conquers all, at another the elfish god of love.

For the Roman See also:

adaptation of Eros see Claim, and for the later See also:legend of See also:Cupid and See also:Psyche see PSYCHE. In See also:art Eros is represented as a beautiful youth or a winged See also:child. His attributes are the See also:bow and arrows and a burning See also:torch. The See also:rose, the See also:hare, the See also:cock and the See also:goat are frequently associated with him. The most celebrated statue of him was at See also:Thespiae, the See also:work of See also:Praxiteles. Other famous representations are the Vatican torso and Eros trying his bow (in the Capitoline museum). See J. E. See also:Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek See also:Religion (1903) ; G... F. See also:Schomann, De Cupidine Cosmogonico (1852) ; E. See also:Gerhard, Uber den Gott Eros (185o) ; articles in See also:Roscher's Lexikon der Mythologie, Daremberg and Saglio's Dictionnaire See also:des antiquites, and Pauly-Wissowa's Realencyclopddie.

End of Article: EROS

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