2017-05-30 Tue

Another one of our stories from the 60 Cents Greek Stamps published in 2014 is the story of Eros, whom we all know as Cupid and his wife Psyche. The stamp depicts the winged-God Eros and Psyche holding hands bound in eternal love.

Psyche was the youngest of the three daughters of a certain Grecian King and Queen, albeit the most beautiful of all. She was so beautiful that they say she rivaled even Aphrodite in beauty. Aphrodite was now becoming forgotten and people started admiring Psyche. Angered, Aphrodite ordered her son Eros to make Psyche fall in love with a monster. But when Eros saw her, the arrow struck him instead and he fell deeply in love with her.

All men only admired but none offered to marry her for fear of upsetting Aphrodite. Out of anxiety, her father visited the oracle of Delphi to enquire about her future. It said Psyche would marry a winged serpent, terrible and more powerful than Gods themselves, waiting for her at the summit of a mountain. Saddened they left her at the mountain from where Zephyr, the mildest of the winds gently lifted her and dropped her at Eros’s house when she was asleep.

Every night Eros would come to her and by day become invisible again. He was afraid Psyche might get scared of his wings. Months passed by and they were blissfully happy. However, she soon became bored and asked Eros if she could call her sisters for a visit. Sensing her sadness he agreed but warned her to not get influenced by them. The sisters, jealous of her lifestyle told her that her husband was indeed a monster and was feeding her up to eat her later.

One night she lit a lamp and held a dagger in the other hand and went to see who her husband was, she saw it was Eros himself and felt ashamed of herself. Her hands shook and a drop of oil from the lamp fell on Eros. Saddened by her distrust he flew away.

In despair, she begged Aphrodite to help her. Aphrodite, still jealous, asked her to fulfill three tasks in order to get back Eros. These were tasks she presumed that Psyche could never complete.

1. She took Psyche to a mountain top full of mixed small grains and asked her to separate each of them by afternoon. Feeling pity for her a group of ants helped her and separated the grains.
2. She asked Psyche to bring her water from the river Estige whose rocks were slippery and steep. A flying eagle appeared and helped her.
3. She was to take a box to the underworld and ask Persephone, queen of the dead, to drain a little of her beauty into the box. Persephone, happy to serve Aphrodite, drained a little of her beauty in the box.

When Psyche returned, Aphrodite grew angry and made her a servant. The Gods were now angered by this wrongdoing and sent Hermes, the messenger of Gods to narrate to Eros all the difficulties Psyche took for him. Impressed he returned to her. They eventually convinced Aphrodite and were married. Zeus made Psyche immortal and made her drink Ambrosia, drink of the Gods. They lived happily ever after and also had a daughter named Pleasure. To read more interesting articles on Greek click here.