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.
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.
It almost sounds like a paradox, but pairing with the right person can help you grow as an individual as you blend your interests with theirs and learn from their strengths.
Fragments of Sappho? The 2014 discovery was of five stanzas of one poem and portions of a second.
('Sappho and Erinna in a Garden at Mytilene,'1864, by Simeon Solomon)
After a withered 2020 due to COVID-19, the flower industry is hoping to blossom. The industry, which remains far from sustainable, remains a multi-billion dollar operation.
While Valentine’s Day is typically a night to celebrate, it might be best to order takeout this year because of the pandemic.
Tim Boyle/Getty Images
For single people, finding at least one partner has been hard enough. But for those used to juggling multiple relationships, the pandemic has forced them to rethink dating altogether.
The Garter, 1724,
Jean François de Troy.
The Metropolitan Museum, New York
The busk was a long piece of wood, metal or whalebone, stitched into fabric and inscribed with intimate words of love. Garters, too, often carried messages and were charged with erotic connotations.
Our beliefs about our romantic partner act like a pair of tinted glasses that colour our experience of our partner.
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People create beliefs about their romantic partner that affect how they respond to them and interpret their behaviour. These beliefs can act as rose-tinted glasses, or as a darker lens.
Finding a Valentine via a dating app is a lot more likely than running into them on the street or getting trapped in a lift with them — even if it lacks a Hollywood moment.
Many study participants reported they had smelled an absent partner’s clothing because it made them feel relaxed or secure.
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Men seem less comfortable celebrating their friendships – to their own detriment.
‘Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club,’ is an extraordinary debut novel set on Valentine’s Day in St. John’s during a blizzard.
(House of Anansi Press)
The novel is timely in light of the fact that, increasingly, readers are invited to consider what responsibilities they need to assume in the face of women’s disclosures about their life stories.
Couples get romantic on Qixi, a lovers’ festival similar to Valentine’s Day.
Visual China Group via Getty Images
China’s Qixi Festival is a celebration of love based on the legend of a mortal who married a goddess, causing his furious mother-in-law to create a Milky Way to divide these two twinkling stars.
Research suggests that couples who exercise together, stay together.
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