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In Greek mythology, Eros was the primordial god of lust, love, and intercourse; he was also worshipped as a fertility deity. His name is the root of words such as erotic. In some myths, he was the son of the deities Aphrodite and Ares. Like Dionysus, he was sometimes referred to as Eleutherios, "the liberator". His Roman equivalent was Cupid, "desire", also known as Amor, "love".

According to tradition, Eros was principally the patron of male love, while Aphrodite ruled the love between men and women. His statue could be found in the palaestrae or wrestling schools, one of the principal venues for men to associate with their beloveds, and it was to him that the Spartans sacrificed before battle. Meleager records this role in a poem preserved in the Greek Anthology: "The Cyprian queen, a woman, hurls the fire that maddens men for women; but Eros himself sways the passion for males." (Mousa Paidiké, 86) Throughout Greek thought, there appear to be two sides to the conception of Eros; in the first, he is a primeval deity who embodies not only the force of erotic love but also the creative urge of ever-flowing nature, the firstborn Light that is responsible for the coming into being and ordering of all things in the cosmos. In Hesiod's Theogony, the most famous Greek creation myth, Eros sprang forth from the primordial Chaos together with Gaia, the Earth, and Tartarus, the underworld; according to Aristophanes' play The Birds, he burgeons forth from an egg laid by Night conceived with Darkness. In the Eleusinian Mysteries, he was worshiped as Protogonus', the first-born.

Alternately, later in antiquity, Eros was the son of Aphrodite and either Ares (most commonly), Hermes or Hephaestus, or of Porus and Penia, or sometimes of Iris and Zephyrus; this Eros was an attendant to Aphrodite, harnessing the primordial force of love and directing it into mortals, an apt role for the issue of a union between "Love" and either "War" or "Fire." In some myths, he is portrayed as being playful, frequently causing trouble for gods and mortals; in others, he is mindful of the power he wields, sometimes refusing the entreaties of his mother and other gods to interfere in the course of some mortals' lives. In some versions he had brothers named Anteros, the embodiment of requited love, and Himerus.

In art, Eros was usually depicted as a nude winged boy or infant (although this is associated more with Cupid from Roman religion; to the Greeks he was a young man or a teenager), with his bow and arrows in hand. He had two kinds of arrows: one was golden with dove feathers that caused instant love; the other was lead with owl feathers that caused indifference. Sometimes, Eros is depicted with a blindfold or blinded because of the saying, "Love is blind." The poet Sappho described him as "bittersweet" and "cruel" to his victims; he was also unscrupulous, mischievous and charismatic. In his ancient identification with Protogones and Phanes he was adorned represented as a bull, a serpent, a lion, and with the heads of a ram.

Worship of Eros was uncommon in early Greece, but eventually became widespread. He was fervently worshiped by a fertility cult in Thespiae, and played an important role in the Eleusinian Mysteries. In Athens, he shared a very popular cult with Aphrodite, and the fourth day of every month was sacred to him.

In modern times, Eros is honored on Eros Day, a holiday that celebrates love and human sexuality on January 22, the day when the planetoid 433 Eros is closest to Earth.

Disclaimer: Obviously, not really Eros. Nor am I Julian McMahon. Just a rping journal and be forewarned, there might be adult content in here.

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