cupid & psyche

• Lucius Apuleius (125 CE - after 170 CE)


  wrote the story of cupid & psyche
• Metamorphoses or The Golden Ass


  where the story of cupid & psyche was excerpted; first complete surviving latin novel although is based on a greek original now lost
• old wive's tale


  The story is presented in his novel as a tale told by an old woman to comfort a young woman who has been abducted by a band of robbers and is being held for ransome
• cupid's place, the underworld, mount olympus


  settings of the story
• psyche


  greco-roman goddess of the soul; youngest daughter of the king; the most lovely maiden exist that surpass the beauty of venus
• cupid


  roman god of love and desire; son of venusl beautiful winged youth
• venus


  roman goddess of love and beauty; aphrodite in greek; mother of cupid
• apollo


  god of greek phropecy and healing
• charon


  ferryman
• zephyr


  sweetest and mildest of winds
• ceres or mercury


  goddess of agriculture, grain crops, fertility, and motherly relationships
• jupiter or zeus


  god of the sky and ruler of the olympian gods
• persephone or proserpine


  goddess queen of the underworld; wife of Hades (underworld)
• king


  father of psyche
• 2 sisters of psyche

  jealous and tricked psyche that her husband is the serpent
• venus


  other than her sisters, she is also jealous of psyche's beauty
• fame and beauty 


  venus was enraged with psyche's
• psyche


  youngest child of the king that excelled her sisters
• cupid


  fell in love with psyche
• apollo


  told the king that his daughter was doomed in a phropecy and commanded the girl to be left at the edge of a cliff where psyche waited for her doom
• zephyr


  lifted psyche on the hilltop
• mansion


  where psyche woke up and lived with her lover
• night


  cupid can only be seen during this time
• sisters of psyche


  planned something evil
• lamp

  psyche used this to see cupid while he was sleeping
• burning wound


  according to venus, psyche gave cupid something after what she did to him
• Psyche's task to get Cupid back

  1. Separate the seeds from each other

  2. Fetch shining wool from the sheeps with fleeces of gold

  3. Get a vile of black water from the river Styx

  4. Carry a box to the underworld and ask Persephone to fill it with her beauty
• Helpers


  • Ants
  • Eagle
  • Charon
  • Cerberus
• Ants


  Helped her separate the seeds
• Eagle


  Brought the black water from the river Styx
• Charon


  Psyche gave a penny to him in order for her to take her across
• Cerberus


  1. headed dogs that guarded the doors
• Cake


  Item that would let Psyche pass Cerberus
• Curiosity


  Made Psyche open the box to see the beauty charm
• Deadly languer


  Made Psyche fall asleep
• Mercury


  Brought Psyche into the palace of the gods
• Jupiter


  Gave the wine of immortality to Psyche
• Ambrosia


  Wine that made Psyche immortal