Eros (Greek: Ἔρως), in Greek mythology, was the primordial god of sexual love and beauty.
His Roman counterpart was Cupid ("desire"), also known as Amor ("love"). In some myths, he was the son of the deities Aphrodite and Ares, but according to Plato's Symposium, he was conceived by Poros (Plenty) and Penia (Poverty) at Aphrodite's birthday. Like Dionysus, he was sometimes referred to as Eleutherios, "the liberator".
Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer
Eros is Love, who overpowers the mind, and tames the spirit in the breasts of both gods and men.
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 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 Gaea, the Earth, and Tartarus, the underworld; according to Aristophanes' play The Birds (c. 414 BC), he burgeons forth from an egg laid by Nyx (Night) conceived with Erebus (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. Rarely, he was given as the son of Iris and Zephyrus; this Eros was an attendant the Aphrodite, harnessing the primordial force of love and directing it into mortals.
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.
Love is more powerful than Necessity
Eros (Love) has been regarded as more powerful a god than Ananke (Necessity). For Love has no concern with ugliness, or with the violent dealings deriving from the compelling power of Necessity. And since Love came to be, the delighting in beautiful things surpassed the dominion of Necessity, bringing all kinds of benefits both to gods and mankind.
