エロース

エロース（Ἔρως，Erōs）は、ギリシア神話に登場する恋心と性愛を司る神である。ギリシア語で性的な愛や情熱を意味する動詞｢ἔραμαι｣が普通名詞形に変化､神格化された概念である。日本語では長母音を省略してエロスとも呼ぶ。

In Greek mythology, Eros (テンプレート:IPAc-en, テンプレート:IPAc-en; テンプレート:Lang-grc) is the Greek god of love and sex. His Roman counterpart was Cupid ("desire"). In the earliest account, he is a primordial god, while in later accounts he is described as one of the children of Aphrodite and Ares and, with some of his siblings, was one of the Erotes, a group of winged love gods.

Etymology

The Greek テンプレート:Lang, meaning 'desire', comes from テンプレート:Wikt-lang 'to desire, love', of uncertain etymology. R. S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin.

Cult and depiction

Eros appears in ancient Greek sources under several different guises. In the earliest sources (the cosmogonies, the earliest philosophers, and texts referring to the mystery religions), he is one of the primordial gods involved in the coming into being of the cosmos. In later sources, however, Eros is represented as the son of Aphrodite, whose mischievous interventions in the affairs of gods and mortals cause bonds of love to form, often illicitly. Ultimately, in the later satirical poets, he is represented as a blindfolded child, the precursor to the chubby Renaissance Cupid, whereas in early Greek poetry and art, Eros was depicted as a young adult male who embodies sexual power, and a profound artist.

A cult of Eros existed in pre-classical Greece, but it was much less important than that of Aphrodite. However, in late antiquity, Eros was worshiped by a fertility cult in Thespiae. In Athens, he shared a very popular cult with Aphrodite, and the fourth day of every month was sacred to him (also shared by Herakles, Hermes and Aphrodite).

Eros was one of the Erotes, along with other figures such as Himeros and Pothos, who are sometimes considered patrons of homosexual love between males. Eros is also part of a triad of gods that played roles in homoerotic relationships, along with Heracles and Hermes, who bestowed qualities of beauty (and loyalty), strength, and eloquence, respectively, onto male lovers.

The Thespians celebrated the Erotidia (テンプレート:Lang-grc) meaning festivals of Eros.

Mythology

Primordial god

According to Hesiod's Theogony (c. 700 BC), one of the most ancient of all Greek sources, Eros (the god of love) was the fourth god to come into existence, coming after Chaos, Gaia (the Earth), and Tartarus (the abyss).

Homer does not mention Eros. However, Parmenides (c. 400 BC), one of the pre-Socratic philosophers, makes Eros the first of all the gods to come into existence.

The Orphic and Eleusinian Mysteries featured Eros as a very original god, but not quite primordial, since he was the child of Night (Nyx). Aristophanes (c. 400 BC), influenced by Orphism, relates the birth of Eros:

At the beginning there was only Chaos, Night, dark Erebus, and deep Tartarus. Earth, the air and heaven had no existence. Firstly, blackwinged Night laid a germless egg in the bosom of the infinite deeps of Erebus, and from this, after the revolution of long ages, sprang the graceful Eros with his glittering golden wings, swift as the whirlwinds of the tempest. He mated in deep Tartarus with dark Chaos, winged like himself, and thus hatched forth our race, which was the first to see the light.

Son of Aphrodite and Ares

In later myths, he was the son of the deities Aphrodite and Ares: it is the Eros of these later myths who is one of the erotes. Eros was depicted as often carrying a lyre or bow and arrow. He was also depicted accompanied by dolphins, flutes, roosters, roses, and torches.テンプレート:Verify source

• [Hera addresses Athena:]

“We must have a word with Aphrodite. Let us go together and ask her to persuade her boy [Eros], if that is possible, to loose an arrow at Aeetes’ daughter, Medea of the many spells, and make her fall in love with Jason ...” (Argonautica)

• “He [Eros] smites maids’ breasts with unknown heat, and bids the very gods leave heaven and dwell on earth in borrowed forms.” (Phaedra)

• “Once, when Venus’ son [Eros] was kissing her, his quiver dangling down, a jutting arrow, unbeknown, had grazed her breast. She pushed the boy away. In fact the wound was deeper than it seemed, though unperceived at first. [And she became] enraptured by the beauty of a man [Adonis].” (Metamorphoses)

• “Eros drove Dionysos mad for the girl [Aura] with the delicious wound of his arrow, then curving his wings flew lightly to Olympus. And the god roamed over the hills scourged with a greater fire.” (Dionysiaca)

God of friendship and liberty

Pontianus of Nicomedia, a character in Deipnosophistae by Athenaeus, asserts that Zeno of Citium thought that Eros was the god of friendship and liberty.

Erxias (Ἐρξίας) wrote that the Samians consecrated a gymnasium to Eros. The festival instituted in his honour was called the Eleutheria (Ἐλευθέρια), meaning "liberty".

The Lacedaemonians offered sacrifices to Eros before they went into battle, thinking that safety and victory depend on the friendship of those who stand side by side in the battle. In addition, the Cretans offered sacrifices to Eros in their line of battle.

Eros and Psyche

テンプレート:Main The story of Eros and Psyche has a longstanding tradition as a folktale of the ancient Greco-Roman world long before it was committed to literature in Apuleius' Latin novel, The Golden Ass. The novel itself is written in a picaresque Roman style, yet Psyche retains her Greek name even though Eros and Aphrodite are called by their Latin names (Cupid and Venus). Also, Cupid is depicted as a young adult, rather than a fat winged child (テンプレート:Lang).

The story tells of the quest for love and trust between Eros and Psyche. Aphrodite was jealous of the beauty of mortal princess Psyche, as men were leaving her altars barren to worship a mere human woman instead, and so she commanded her son Eros, the god of love, to cause Psyche to fall in love with the ugliest creature on earth. But instead, Eros falls in love with Psyche himself and spirits her away to his home. Their fragile peace is ruined by a visit from Psyche's jealous sisters, who cause Psyche to betray the trust of her husband. Wounded, Eros leaves his wife, and Psyche wanders the Earth, looking for her lost love. Eventually, she approaches Aphrodite and asks for her help. Aphrodite imposes a series of difficult tasks on Psyche, which she is able to achieve by means of supernatural assistance.

After successfully completing these tasks, Aphrodite relents and Psyche becomes immortal to live alongside her husband Eros. Together they had a daughter, Voluptas or Hedone (meaning physical pleasure, bliss).

In Greek mythology, Psyche was the deification of the human soul. She was portrayed in ancient mosaics as a goddess with butterfly wings (because psyche was also the Ancient Greek word for "butterfly"). The Greek word psyche literally means "soul, spirit, breath, life, or animating force".

In the Gnostic narrative found in On the Origin of the World, Eros, during the universe's creation, is scattered in all the creatures of Chaos, existing between the midpoint of light and darkness as well as the angels and people. Later, Psyche pours her blood upon him, causing the first rose to sprout up on the Earth, followed by every flower and herb.

Dionysiaca

Eros features in two Dionysus-related myths. In the first, Eros made Hymnus, a young shepherd, to fall in love with the beautiful Naiad Nicaea. Nicaea never reciprocated Hymnus' affection, and he in desperation asked her to kill him. She fulfilled his wish, but Eros, disgusted with Nicaea's actions, made Dionysus fall in love with her by hitting him with a love arrow. Nicaea rejected Dionysus, so he filled the spring she used to drink from with wine. Intoxicated, Nicaea lay to rest as Dionysus forced himself on her. Afterwards, she sought to find him seeking revenge, but never found him. In the other, one of Artemis' maiden nymphs Aura boasted of being better than her mistress, due to having a virgin's body, as opposed to Artemis' sensuous and lush figure, thereby bringing into question Artemis' virginity. Artemis, angered, asked Nemesis, the goddess of vengeance and retribution, to avenge her, and Nemesis ordered Eros to make Dionysus fall in love with Aura. The tale then continues in the same manner as Nicaea's myth; Dionysus gets Aura drunk and then rapes her.

Eros in music

• Jose Antonio Bottiroli Eros in B minor B37 for piano (1974)

Eros in art

• Eros bobbin Louvre CA1798.jpg

  Bobbin with Eros; 470–450 BC; red-figure pottery; height: 2.6 cm, diameter: 11.8 cm; Louvre

• Red-figure hydria with Poseidon, Amymone, Eros and Satyr (4th cent. B.C.) in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens on 11 September 2018.jpg

  Hydria of Eros between Poseidon, Amymone, and a Satyr; 375-350 B.C.; red-figure pottery; National Archaeological Museum, Athens

• Ascoli Satriano Painter - Red-Figure Plate with Eros - Walters 482765.jpg

  Plate with Eros; 340–320 BC; red-figure terracotta; 5 × 24.4 cm; Walters Art Museum (Baltimore, US)

• Bronze statue of Eros sleeping MET DP123903.jpg

  Statue of Eros sleeping; 3rd–2nd century BC; bronze; 41.9 × 35.6 × 85.2 cm, 124.7 kg, height with base: 45.7 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)

• Roman - Eros - Walters 54724.jpg

  Figure of wingless Eros; 20–60 AD; cast bronze and silver inlay; 17.2 × 9.5 × 6.8 cm; Walters Art Museum

• Eros bow Musei Capitolini MC410.jpg

  Eros Stringing his Bow, a Roman copy from the Capitoline Museum of a Greek original by Lysippos; 2nd century AD; marble; height: 123 cm; Capitoline Museum (Rome)

• Angelica Kauffmann - The Victory of Eros - 39.184.19 - Metropolitan Museum of Art.jpg

  The Victory of Eros; by Angelica Kauffman; 1750–1775; oil on canvas; Metropolitan Museum of Art

• Psyché.jpg

  Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss; by Antonio Canova; c. 1787–1793; marble; height: 1.55 m, width: 1.69 m, depth: 1.01 m; Louvre

• A Girl Defending Herself against Eros, by William-Adolphe Bouguereau.jpg

  A Girl Defending Herself against Eros; by William-Adolphe Bouguereau; c. 1880; Getty Center (Los Angeles, US)

See also

• Eros (concept)
• Greek words for love
• Kamadeva
• Family tree of the Greek gods
• Phanes (mythology)

• Aristophanes, Birds. The Complete Greek Drama. vol. 2. Eugene O'Neill, Jr. New York. Random House. 1938. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Aristophanes, Aristophanes Comoediae edited by F.W. Hall and W.M. Geldart, vol. 2. F.W. Hall and W.M. Geldart. Oxford. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1907. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Caldwell, Richard, Hesiod's Theogony, Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Company (June 1, 1987). ISBN 978-0-941051-00-2.
• "Eros." Cassells's Encyclopedia of Queer Myth, Symbol and Spirit Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Lore, 1997.
• Gantz, Timothy, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: ISBN 978-0-8018-5360-9 (Vol. 1), ISBN 978-0-8018-5362-3 (Vol. 2).
• Hard, Robin, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004, ISBN 9780415186360. Google Books.
• Hesiod, Theogony, in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). "Eros"
• Nonnus, Dionysiaca; translated by Rouse, W H D, I Books I-XV. Loeb Classical Library No. 344, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940. Internet Archive
• Nonnus, Dionysiaca; translated by Rouse, W H D, II Books XVI-XXXV. Loeb Classical Library No. 345, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940. Internet Archive
• Nonnus, Dionysiaca; translated by Rouse, W H D, III Books XXXVI-XLVIII. Loeb Classical Library No. 346, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940. Internet Archive.
• The Greek Anthology. with an English Translation by. W. R. Paton. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1916. 1. Full text available at topostext.org.

External links

• テンプレート:Commons category-inline
• Warburg Institute Iconographic Database - Amor
• EROS (PRIMORDIAL) from The Theoi Project
• EROS (OLYMPIAN) from The Theoi Project

概説

ローマ神話との対応・姿の変化

ローマ神話では、エロースには、ラテン語で受苦の愛に近い意味を持つアモール（Amor）またはクピードー（Cupido）を対応させる。(ギリシャ語で言う｢πάσχω｣)｡クピードーは後に幼児化して、英語読みでキューピッドと呼ばれる小天使のようなものに変化したが、元は、髭の生えた男性の姿でイメージされていた。古代ギリシアのエロースも同様で、古代には力強い有翼の男性あるいは若々しい青年であり、やがて、少年の姿でイメージされるようになった。エロースの象徴は弓矢及び松明である。

古代の記述

ヘーシオドスの『神統記』では、カオスやガイア、タルタロスと同じく、世界の始まりから存在した原初神 (Greek primordial deities)である。崇高で偉大で、どの神よりも卓越した力を持つ神であった。またこの姿が、エロースの本来のありようである。

後に、軍神アレースと愛の女神アプロディーテーの子であるとされるようになった。またエロースはアプロディーテーの傍に仕える忠実な従者とされる。

古代においては、若い男性の姿で描かれていたが、西欧文化では、近世以降、背中に翼のある愛らしい少年の姿で描かれることが多く、手には弓と矢を持つ（この姿の絵は、本来のエロースではなく、アモールあるいはクピードーと混同された絵である）。黄金で出来た矢に射られた者は激しい愛情にとりつかれ、鉛で出来た矢に射られた者は恋を嫌悪するようになる。

エロースはこの矢で人や神々を撃って遊んでいた。ある時、アポローンにそれを嘲られ、復讐としてアポローンを金の矢で、たまたまアポローンの前に居たダプネーを鉛の矢で撃った。アポローンはダプネーへの恋慕のため、彼女を追い回すようになったが、ダプネーはこれを嫌って逃れた。しかし、いよいよアポローンに追いつめられて逃げ場がなくなったとき、彼女は父に頼んでその身を月桂樹に変えた（ダプネー daphne とはギリシア語で、月桂樹という意味の普通名詞である）。このエピソードが示す寓意は、強い理性に凝り固まった者は恋愛と言う物を蔑みがちだが、自らの激しい恋慕の前にはその理性も瓦解すると言う事である。

「愛と心の物語」

ヘレニズム時代になると、甘美な物語が語られるようになる。それが『愛と心の物語』である。地上の人間界で、王の末娘プシューケーが絶世の美女として噂になっていた。母アプロディーテーは美の女神としての誇りからこれを嫉妬し憎み、この娘が子孫を残さぬよう鉛の矢で撃つようにエロースに命じた。

だがエロースはプシューケーの寝顔の美しさに惑って撃ち損ない、ついには誤って金の矢で自身の足を傷つけてしまう。その時眼前に居たプシューケーに恋をしてしまうが、エロースは恥じて身を隠し、だが恋心は抑えられず、魔神に化けてプシューケーの両親の前に現れ、彼女を生贄として捧げるよう命じた。

晴れてプシューケーと同居したエロースだが、神であることを知られては禁忌に触れるため、暗闇でしかプシューケーに会おうとしなかった。姉たちに唆されたプシューケーが灯りをエロースに当てると、エロースは逃げ去ってしまった。

エロースの端正な顔と美しい姿を見てプシューケーも恋に陥り、人間でありながら姑アプロディーテーの出す難題を解くため冥界に行ったりなどして、ついにエロースと再会する。この話は、アプレイウスが『黄金の驢馬』のなかに記した挿入譚で、「愛と心」の関係を象徴的に神話にしたものである。プシューケーとはギリシア語で、「心・魂」の意味である。

プシューケーとの間にはウォルプタース（ラテン語で「喜び」、「悦楽」の意。古典ギリシア語ではヘードネー）と言う名の女神が生まれた。

参考書籍

• wikipedia：エロース（最終閲覧日：22-12-13）
  • ヘシオドス『神統記』廣川洋一訳、岩波文庫（1984年）
  • アプレイウス『愛と心の物語』呉茂一・国原吉之助訳注、岩波書店（2013年、『黄金の驢馬』の作中話として挿入されている）。
  • 呉茂一『ギリシア神話 上巻』、新潮社（1956年）
  • 高津春繁『ギリシア・ローマ神話辞典』、岩波書店（1960年）
  • 松村一男監修『知っておきたい 世界と日本の神々』、西東社（2007年）

関連項目

• アプロディーテー
• カーマ (ヒンドゥー教) - エロースと同じく、矢で射たものに恋情を引き起こす愛の神。