Love Is Blind
Back in the day, you know, them ancient times, the saying went, “Love is blind.” I guess to fall in love with a duck, that statement would have to be true.
In our celebrity-crazed, get-thin-or-die-trying, everyone-has-to-be-impossibly-photoshopped-to-be-beautiful culture this rule doesn’t always apply. There are plenty of people out there that go for looks alone and you can rest assured they will be most unhappy with how that works out.
In ancient Greece, the god of love and son of Aphrodite known as Eros was typically depicted as a young man equipped with arrows, bow, and blindfold. The Greeks took a lot of those interesting folk sayings and made them apply literally to their gods. Eros took part in a great many stories in Greek literature, and in some ways, he is the most powerful deity of the Pantheon though it is never stated directly. Throughout Greek mythology there are hints that not even the Gods can withstand the effect of Eros’s arrows. Zeus gets into quite a bit of trouble in many many stories due to his lustful ways and Eros is often painted as being directly responsible.
It is interesting to note that Eros has his own love story, that of his love for Psyche. In the tale (which is best told by a Roman, Apuleius) Eros nearly loses in his own bid for love but manages to salvage it in the very end.
There’s your Valentine’s Day mythology! Enjoy it!
Thanks to my brother for his help on this one!
Oh and here are some sketches I did the last few days.
Discussion (10) ¬
Incidentally, the romance between Phsyche and Eros occurred when Eros stabbed himself by accident with one of his own arrows. Which I find most amusing–is there no romantic love that isn’t induced by one of the arrows?
Also, “Eros” sounds like “arrows”. I am thinking there is a reason…?
love, i cant understand is. even the feeling of it makes me feel odd.
sure its wonderfull, but its like a double edged sword.
: / im being a drag, happy valentine’s day to those who have a love. those shores here are going to be lonely for yet another year
FOOLS! She’s with M…. -struck in the butt by an arrow-… Why lil’ K… how fabulous you look today… -gently moves hand around his face- why don’t we go somewhere quiet
Panel 4- Lil’ K has such libido for an 8-11 year-old.
For a spilt second i thought the young girl had turned into a giant and was about to pound on that duck…
Hehehe… ducks… “What’s the difference between a mallard with a head cold and your mother? Well, one’s a sick duck the other’s… I can’t remember how it goes but your mother’s a whore!”
I like the whole idea of love being blind in connection with the Greek’s thoughts on love being an illness, a sort of weakness and inconvenience in terms of being able to do what you’d like.
Eros does seem to cause trouble . . . Knowing him, the duck’s probably about to fall in love with the girl, or the tree, and make everything even more complicated.
Poor tree.
A few interesting aspects to the whole issue…
1. Eros has nothing to do with arrows (in good faith, supposing this was an honest query).
2. The version which has Eros as the son of Aphrodite is in some regards of less interest compared to the (I think older) variant that places him as one of the primordial daemons of Greek mythology (notably Hesiod’s “Theogony”); that notion certainly makes him one of the most powerful beings in their imagination.
3. This is further denoted by the notable quotation: “ΕΡΩΣ ΑΝΙΚΑΤΕ ΜΑΧΑΝ” (Oh Eros, invincible in combat!) from the Classic Greek period.
In some versions of the Phsyche actually does directly mention his being more powerful then the gods