David Albertson, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Conventional stereotypes about romance portray it as a passionate, irrational game. Ancient philosophers, on the other hand, viewed love as something dangerous − but also enlightening.
‘Cupid and Psyche’ by Italian sculptor Antonio Canova.
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Ancient Greece and Rome may have handed down the image of rosy-cheeked Cupids, but their myths about him explore the messier – sometimes scarier – sides of love.
The love god Kamadeva prepares to shoot Shiva with a love dart.
British Museum/Wikimedia Commons
A scholar of early Greek classics explains what the myth of the weapon-carrying god of love, Cupid, a child of the gods of love and war, conveys about the pleasures and dangers of desire.
Statue of Eros of the type of Centocelle. Roman artwork of the 2nd century AD, probably a copy after a Greek original.
Wikimedia Commons
Erotic spells were a popular form of magic in ancient Greece and Rome. Ancient spells were often violent, brutal and without any sense of caution or remorse.