Greek mythology. Psyche. The Myth of Psyche: A Metaphor for Psychological Development

There was no girl on earth more tender, graceful and charming than Psyche. After all, her very name meant “soul” and “butterfly”. They said that if words can be found to describe the beauty of any woman, then the beauty of Psyche could not be described by a mere mortal. Both the inhabitants of the country where the girl’s father was the king, and strangers, attracted by rumors about her wondrous beauty, gathered in crowds just to look at her. When they saw her, they knelt before her and paid such honors as if the goddess of beauty was in front of them.

Finally, people were so convinced of this that they stopped visiting the temples of Aphrodite and no longer made sacrifices to the goddess. But Psyche was showered with flowers. Tormented by jealousy of her happy rival, Aphrodite decided to punish her. She called to her son, the winged god of love Eros, and ordered him to take revenge on the girl, ordered him to instill a feeling of love for a person unworthy of her. But, seeing Psyche, Eros fell in love with her and could not harm her. And it wasn’t easy for the girl anyway. Her sisters married young men from the royal family. Only Psyche, surrounded by crowds of admirers, did not find a spouse.

Dejected by this, the king-father turned to the oracle of Apollo for advice. He ordered to leave his daughter alone on the rock, where she should wait for her betrothed. Her husband will be an immortal, instilling fear not only in people, but also in gods with his cruelty and treachery, with his wings like a bird of prey. The king took his beloved daughter to a rock and left her there alone. Shedding tears, Psyche began to await her fate. Suddenly a gentle breeze, like a marshmallow, picked up and carried away the girl. She found herself in a beautiful flowering valley, next to a magnificent palace. The luxurious decoration of the palace amazed the girl, but what surprised her even more was the fact that there was no one around. Only gentle voices spoke to her, invisible musicians delighted her ears.

On dark nights, her mysterious husband appeared to her. Psyche hears him gentle voice, feels gentle hands. He asks not to try to find out who he is. As soon as Psyche looks at him, their bliss will end. But the girl could not overcome curiosity and violated the ban. One day, when her husband fell asleep, Psyche lit the lamp and looked. The god Eros, of inexpressible beauty, slept quietly on his bed. Embraced by happiness, Psyche bent down to kiss him, but a hot drop of oil from the lamp fell on Eros's shoulder. Offended by the treachery and frivolity of his wife, he flew away from her, and she, abandoned, went across the earth to look for her lover.

Psyche walked for a long time across all lands until she was forced to bow to her rival, Venus, who had long been looking for an opportunity to take revenge on Psyche and sent Mercury to look for her. At this time, Eros, sick from a burn, was lying with his mother. Finding herself under the same roof with her husband, but separated from him, Psyche had to endure all sorts of persecutions from Aphrodite, who, seeking her death, came up with various impossible jobs. So, Psyche had to sort out a huge pile of mixed grain by grain and by type, get golden fleece from mad sheep, get water from the Styx and bring it from underground kingdom from Proserpina a box with wonderful ointments.

Thanks to the help of others, Psyche did everything that Aphrodite told her, until Eros finally recovered. Then he turned to the assistance of the supreme Olympian god and with his help obtained the consent of the celestials to marry Psyche, who received immortality from Zeus and was introduced to the host of gods. The envious sisters of Psyche were punished for their envy and deceit by crashing on a cliff, jumping from it in the hope that Zephyr would take them to the magical palace of Eros. From the marriage of Psyche with Eros, Pleasure was born.

PSYCHE I, Ps And he (ψυχη “soul, breath”), in Greek mythology the personification of soul, breath. Psyche was identified with this or that living being, with the individual functions of a living organism and its parts. The human breath became closer to the blow, the wind, the whirlwind, the wingedness. The souls of the dead appear to be a whirlwind of ghosts around Hecates, the ghost of Achilles near Troy appears accompanied by a whirlwind (Philostr. Heroic. III 26). Psyche was represented on monuments visual arts in the form of a butterfly, now flying out of a funeral pyre, now going to Hades. Sometimes the butterfly was directly identified with the deceased (Ovid. Met. XV 374). Greek word“Psyche” means “soul” and “butterfly” (Aristotle, History of Animals, IV 7). Psyche was also imagined as a flying bird. The souls of the dead are depicted flying (Hom. Od. XI 37, 605), they flock to the blood (XI 36-43), flutter in the form of shadows and dreams (XI 217-222). The soul of Patroclus departs with a “squeak” (Hom. Il. XXIII 100), and the verb tridzein, “chirp”, “squeak” is used. The souls of the suitors killed by Odysseus also disappear into view with the squeak of bats (Hom. Od. XXIV 5-9). Psyche was represented in the form of an eagle, soaring its flight upward. In a number of Homer's texts, the diaphragm is perceived as Psyche - the soul (Hom. Il. XVI 530; Od. I 322). Blood is also the carrier of the soul; the wounded soul comes out through the wound along with the blood (Hom. Il. XIV 518 next) or it is pulled out along with the tip of the spear (XVI 505). According to Pythagoras, Psyche feeds on blood; blood is “the seat of the soul” (Serv. Verg. Aen. V 79).

Combining various myths about Psyche, Apuleius created a poetic tale of wanderings human soul, yearning to merge with love (Apul. Met. IV 28 - VI 24). With the help of Zephyr, Cupid received the royal daughter Psyche as his wife. However, Psyche violated the ban on never seeing the face of her mysterious husband. At night, burning with curiosity, she lights a lamp and looks admiringly at the young god, not noticing the hot drop of oil that fell on Cupid’s delicate skin. Cupid disappears, and Psyche must regain him after going through many tests. Having overcome them and even descended into Hades for living water, Psyche, after painful suffering, again finds Cupid, who asks Zeus for permission to marry his beloved and reconciles with Aphrodite, who was viciously pursuing Psyche. Apuleius's story clearly has folklore and mythological origins, which, however, were not recorded in literature before him. Russian folk tale processed by S.T. Aksakov " The Scarlet Flower” develops the same ancient plot.

Lit.: Anderson V., The Romance of Apuleius and the Folk Tale, vol. 1, Kazan, 1914; Losev A.F., Ancient mythology in its historical development, M., 1957, p. 41-45; Reitzenstein R., Das Märchen von Amor und Psyche bei Apuleius, Lpz., 1912; Mosca B., La favola e il problema di Psiche, Adria, 1935; Dyroff A., Das Märchen von Amor und Psyche, Cologne, 1941; Swahn J. O., The Tale of Cupid and Psyche, Lund, 1955.

A.F. Losev

IN ancient art Psyche is depicted as a butterfly or a winged girl (Etruscan scarabs, reliefs, terracotta). On gems of the 3rd-1st centuries. BC. there are countless interpretations of the theme of Psyche and Cupid; The plot of catching Psyche the butterfly by Cupid with a burning torch in his hand is especially popular. The Psyche butterfly was depicted on many tombstones above a skull and other symbols of death. In Pompeian frescoes, Psyche was depicted with the attributes of the muses - a stylus and a flute. Numerous Eros and Psyche, busy picking flowers and working in an oil mill, are found on the frescoes of the house of the Vettii in Pompeii. The topic of Cupid and Psyche was addressed by Giulio Romano, Raphael, P.P. Rubens, A. Canova, B. Thorvaldsen and others. Allegorical interpretation of the myth of Cupid and Psyche by Calderon in two autographs. The theme of Psyche was addressed by J. Lafontaine (“The Love of Psyche and Cupid”), Moliere (drama “Psyche”) and others.

Myths of the peoples of the world. Encyclopedia. (In 2 volumes). Ch. ed. S.A. Tokarev.- M.: “ Soviet encyclopedia", 1982. T. II, p. 344-345.

A. Butro. Eros and Psyche. 1844.

Eros - greek god love. From the 6th century BC. e. myths arise that define the place of Eros in the Olympian family of gods.

Eros was also revered as the god of fertility, procreation, the god who knew the primordial Chaos, one of the most ancient gods. In the Dionysian Mysteries, Eros is called "protagonus", that is, the first of those born, the firstborn. At the same time, there are many versions of who exactly Eros was born. According to Aristophanes ("Birds"), Eros was born of Erebus (Darkness) and Nyukta (Night), in later myths he is the son of Aphrodite and Ares. However, in Hesiod’s “Theogony” (8th century BC), Eros is Aphrodite’s companion, but by no means her son. According to another legend, he is the son of Iris and Zephyr (Rainbow and Western Ve).

One of the early legends says that it was Eros who forced Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Earth) to intertwine in an embrace, which gave birth to numerous descendants. In the same “Birds” of Aristophanes it is said that Eros “hatched” humanity and it was he who gave people the light of existence. At the same time, being one of the most ancient gods, Eros took his place quite late in the religious mysteries and the pantheon itself. In Thespa he was revered as ancient god fertility, and in Athens there was a cult of Aphrodite and Eros. In Athens, too, the fourth day of each month was dedicated to Eros. Sometimes Eros appears in sources as Eros ( plural from "eros"). Anteros (also known as the deity platonic love) was the brother of Eros, the second son of Aphrodite and Ares.

Eros is usually depicted as a winged boy or youth with a bow and arrow, taking aim and ready to strike the heart of a god or mortal with love and desire. Eros has two types of arrows: gold, feathered with dove feathers, and lead with owl feathers. Some evoke love, others indifference. Sappho called Eros beautiful, but cruel to his victims in his charm, and likened love to sweet bitterness. Being completely unscrupulous, Eros poses a clear danger to everyone who, to their misfortune, happens to be close to him: in his habits, he sows as much confusion and pain around himself with his arrows as possible. But the legend also says that one day he himself fell in love.

Francois Gerard. Psyche.

According to this legend, Eros was his mother’s inseparable companion, as well as the executor of her will and assistant in all her divine affairs. It so happened that Aphrodite became envious of the beauty of the mortal girl Psyche. The goddess, overcome by jealousy, ordered Eros to pierce Psyche’s heart with a golden arrow so that she would fall in love with the most disgusting man in the world. Eros agreed to fulfill his mother’s wish, but when he saw Psyche, he fell in love with her.

J.-L. David. Cupid and Psyche.

The beautiful Psyche became the wife of the invisible and mysterious Eros, who came to her every day, but only at night and in the dark, warning his beloved that she should not bring fire into the bedroom and see him without the cover of night.

Psyche falls in love with Eros without even seeing him, but her jealous sisters convince her that she has married a terrible monster who is going to harm her. They incite her to kill her husband. One fateful night, curiosity and fear took over and Psyche hid an oil lamp and a knife in the bedroom. When Eros fell asleep, she pulled out a lamp and lit a fire to see the monster, but instead saw a beautiful sleeping young man

Edouard Picot. Eros and Psyche.

At the sight of his beauty, she trembles, and a few drops of hot oil from the lamp fall on Eros’s skin. He wakes up in pain and sees the knife she is holding in her hand. Enraged by the betrayal of his beloved, Eros flies away, and Psyche, in despair, sets off to look for her lover all over the world.

Eros returns to his mother Venus/Aphrodite, who heals his wounds and tyranns Psyche in every possible way. After several difficult tasks, she orders Psyche to go down to the Lower World and take a box with a piece of her beauty from Persephone. Psyche does not know about the intentions of Venus, who hopes that the girl will not survive the dangers of the journey. But she manages to achieve her goal thanks to the instructions of the talking tower, from which she wanted to throw herself down to commit suicide. Having received the box from Persephone, Psyche opens it in the hope of regaining the love of Eros, but instead falls into a deep sleep, indistinguishable from death.

Eros, healed from his wounds, yearns for his beloved and looks for her everywhere. He awakens Psyche by pricking her with an arrow from his quiver, and then flies off to convince Jupiter (Zeus) to take his side in a dispute with the angry Venus (Aphrodite). In the end they manage to pacify Venus. Jupiter blesses Psyche and Eros. He turns the girl into a goddess, making her immortal. This is how lovers are united forever. Soon Psyche and Eros give birth to a daughter, who is called Pleasure.

A. Pompeo. Marriage of Cupid and Psyche.

For the Greeks, this myth was a classic example true love, the highest realization of the human soul. Therefore, Psyche - a mortal who has gained immortality - became a symbol of the soul searching for its ideal.

According to Homer, the souls of the dead in the Underworld look like living people. On Greek tombs the soul was often depicted as a bird, and later as a butterfly. Psyche was sometimes depicted with wings, which spoke of the soul’s ability to fly and rebirth, and sometimes with a butterfly in her hands.

Maurice Denis. Ascension of Psyche to Heaven.

Eros was also revered as the god of life after death and tombs were decorated with his images. This tradition is alive to this day: many crypts with images of Eros flying away and Psyche dying of grief, clinging to him in anguish, can be found in modern cemeteries. The Greeks considered him the most beautiful, the most beloved and the most loving. His statue was placed in gymnasiums (athletes were supposed to be similar in beauty to Eros). Images of Eros can be seen on almost any utensil, from drinking vessels to flasks with oil. And it is almost always clear that Eros is again ready to strike the heart of a new unsuspecting victim.

There are several other versions of the myth. Let's say, Ovid in his Metamorphoses described the origin of Eros this way:

Although they say that Eros is one of the elder gods who arose from Chaos, or that, as the Orphics believe, he emerged from an egg, we will not talk about Eros as one of the first deities. So, the parents of Eros were either Aphrodite and Ares, or Aphrodite and Hermes, or maybe Iris and Zephyr, or Artemis and Hermes; There are also completely fantastic versions: for example, the poet Olen calls Eros the son of Ilithyia, the goddess who helps during childbirth, and Euripides (“Hippollitus”) even considers Eros the son of Zeus...

In Hesiod we read:

First of all, Chaos arose in the universe, and then
Broad-breasted Gaia, universal safe haven,
Gloomy Tartarus, lying in the deep depths of the earth,
And, among all the eternal gods, the most beautiful is Eros.
Sweet-smelling - for all gods and earthly people it is
It conquers the soul in the chest and deprives everyone of reason.

Orphics (supporters of the philosophical and mystical movement) believed that

Protogon, or Fanet (aka Eros), hatched from the World Egg created by Chaososm and Ether. Protogonus means "First Born". Protogonus also has other names: Fanet ("Revealed"), the golden-winged god of light and love, Ericapaeus, meaning "Powerful", and Metis, "Wise". He is the master of the keys of the ether, the sky, the sea, the earth, kingdom of the dead and tartare.

There are other options. Later, in the Hellenistic and Roman periods

he is portrayed as just a boy, blond and winged, capricious and cunning. He often serves his mother in exchange for some absolutely useless gift (but in Apollonius of Rhodes, Eros completely pushes Aphrodite around). And in general, each person will probably be able to imagine Eros more clearly if he remembers his child (or a child in general.

The most popular version remains the one that has already been given - from Apuleius’s novel “Metamorphoses”:

In a certain kingdom-state there lived a king and a queen, and they had three daughters. The elders are beautiful, and the youngest, Psyche, is so beautiful that people began to say that Venus herself walked among them, or that a new Venus was born on earth. The people began to bring her gifts and call on her in prayer. Venus, rightly indignant, “now called to her the son of her winged, extremely impudent boy, who, in his malice, neglecting the social order, armed with arrows and a torch, runs at night through other people’s houses, dissolving marriages everywhere, and, committing such crimes with impunity, decidedly good does nothing. Due to the natural depravity of the unbridled, she also excites him with words, takes him to that city and... shows “the girl, urging him to make Psyche fall in love with the most wretched and unworthy person that can be found on earth.

Caravaggio. Cupid and Psyche.

Although the older sisters had long been married and lived a quiet and happy life, Niko did not woo Psyche. The saddened father turned to the oracle, and Apollo replied:

King, place the doomed maiden on a high cliff
And in her funeral attire for her wedding rites;
Don’t hope to have a mortal son-in-law, unfortunate parent:
He will be wild and cruel, like a terrible dragon.
He flies around the air on wings and tires everyone,
He inflicts wounds on everyone and scorches them with a burning flame.
Even Jupiter trembles before him and the gods are afraid.
He inspires fear in the Styx, a gloomy underground river.

The parents cried, but there was nothing to do - you need to follow the decrees of the gods. And so, when the girl was left alone on the rock, Zephyr lifted her into the sky and took her to a strange garden. In the palace, invisible slaves began to serve her, and at night Cupid appeared, and so on for many days: during the day invisible servants served her, and at night an unknown husband appeared, who, as soon as dawn began to break, flew away.

Jean-Baptiste Regnault. Cupid and Psyche.

Meanwhile, Psyche's parents were getting old, and the older sisters decided to visit them. That same night, Cupid ordered Psyche not to listen to the voices of the sisters if they came to the cliff, that whatever they said would bring him a lot of suffering and her inevitable death. The next day, Psyche was inconsolable, and Cupid, wanting to console his beloved, not only resigned himself to her hearing the sisters, but finally agreed to order Zephyr to take them to the palace.

Seeing in what luxury Psyche lived, the sisters decided to take revenge on her for their less favorable fate. Reminding Psyche that the prediction spoke of a monster, the sisters advised her to hide the razor and candle, and when her secret husband fell asleep, behead him.

Naive Psyche followed the advice of her sisters, but as soon as she saw beautiful god, as her determination disappeared. Having accidentally been pricked by Cupid's arrow, Psyche flared up even more. more love to God, however, trembling, she dropped a drop of oil, and Cupid, waking up, flew into the sky.

“After all, I, the most simple-minded Psyche, contrary to the command of my mother Venus, who ordered to instill in you a passion for the most pitiful, the last of mortals and doom you to a wretched marriage, I myself chose to fly to you as a lover. I know that I acted frivolously, but, the famous shooter , I wounded myself with my own weapon and made you my wife so that you would consider me a monster and want to cut off my head with a razor because it contains these eyes that are in love with you. I have always urged you to beware. , always persuaded in a friendly manner. Your respectable advisers will immediately answer me for their disastrous invention, but I will punish you only with my disappearance,” he said, stopping in the garden, and flew away.

The saddened Psyche tried to drown herself, but the river, not wanting to quarrel with the god of love, rejected her body. Seeing her, tearful and exhausted, Pan advised her not to kill herself, but to pray to Cupid, and although such advice was almost absurd, Psyche decided to find a husband at all costs. Having reached the nearest city, in which her sister was the queen, Psyche went to her and told her that the light of the lamp had revealed to her that Cupid himself was her husband, but that he woke up and drove her out, declaring that he preferred her sister (and Psyche called Name). The enthusiastic sister immediately boarded the ship, sailed to the cliff from where Zephyr had previously carried her to Cupid’s palace and, without waiting for the wind, jumped off the cliff.

Meanwhile, Psyche reached the city where her second sister lived and told her the same story as the first; and this envious woman crashed in the same way. So, she moved from one city to another in search of her lover.

Meanwhile, the burned Cupid flew to his mother's palace and lay there sick. The efficient seagull, who learned about this, hurried to Venus and told her about her son’s illness and that people no longer fall in love or get married, and that they scold the idlers Venus and Cupid for this. The seagull also did not forget to mention Psyche, whom Cupid made his beloved contrary to his mother’s orders. The goddess became furious: she attacked her son and threatened to take away his weapon and take bitter revenge on his chosen one. Having ordered her son to be locked up and strictly guarded (partly, fearing for a burn, partly so that the young man would not run away to his beloved), Venus went off in search of the girl.

Meanwhile, Psyche herself decided to go to Venus. When she already saw the palace of the goddess, Habit ran up to her and dragged her by the hair to her mistress Venus. The Goddess was delighted: having promised not to allow Psyche to give birth, she ordered Care and Dejection to beat the girl, and then mixed rye, barley, millet, poppy seeds, peas, lentils, beans and ordered Psyche to sort it all out in a day. However, the ants took pity on Psyche, and when Venus returned from the feast, the work was already done.

The next morning, Venus ordered Psyche to bring a tuft of wool from the golden fleece rams that were grazing in the meadow. The girl obediently went, but only to drown herself in the nearest river, along the banks of which reeds grew. One reed took pity on the girl and said: “Psyche... be careful not to get close to the terrible sheep at this hour: when the heat of the sun burns them, they are usually attacked by wild rabies... When in the afternoon the sun’s heat subsides and the pleasant coolness of the river calms the herd , then... you will find golden wool stuck everywhere among the intertwined branches - you just have to shake the foliage of the neighboring trees."

The enraged goddess was not slow in giving the next task. This time Psyche needed to draw water into a vessel from the rezi Cocytus, which was guarded by the dragon. But even in this test she found an assistant: the eagle, the bird of Jupiter, took water and gave the vessel to Psyche.

As last test Venus told Psyche to go down to the kingdom of Orcus (Hades) and take some of her beauty from Proserpina. “After all, I’ve already spent mine taking care of my son,” said Venus. This task, Psyche decided, was definitely not up to her. Having climbed the highest tower itself, Psyche was about to throw herself down, when she suddenly heard the voice of the tower itself: “Why, poor thing, should you look for
death in the abyss? Why do new dangers and labors so easily depress you? After all, once your spirit one day separates from your body, of course, you will descend into deep Tartarus, but from there... you will not return. Listen to me... Not far from here is Lacedaemon, famous city Achaia; next to it, find Tenar, hidden among deserted places. There is a chasm called Dita, and through the gaping gate one can see an impassable road; As soon as you trust her and cross the threshold, you will reach the Orc kingdom in a direct way. But you must not enter into this darkness empty-handed: in each one, hold a barley cake mixed with honey and wine, and carry two coins in your mouth. Having already walked a significant part of the deadly road, you will meet a lame donkey loaded with firewood, and with it a lame driver; he will turn to you with a request to pick up a few pieces of wood that have fallen from the bundle, but you do not say a single word and silently move on. Soon you will reach rivers of the dead, over which Charon has been appointed chief... You will give this dirty old man one of the coppers that you will have with you as payment for the transportation, but in such a way that he himself, with his own hand, will take it out of your mouth. That's not all: when you cross the slow stream, a dead old man will float to the surface and, stretching out his rotten hand to you, will ask you to drag him into the boat, but do not succumb to illicit pity. When, having crossed the river, you go a little further, you will see old weavers busy with weaving; they will ask you to have a hand in their work, but this should not concern you. After all, all this and much more will arise through the cunning of Venus, so that you let go of at least one cake. Do not think that losing these barley cakes is an empty, insignificant matter: if you lose even one, you will not see the white light again. Enormous dog with three big heads, huge and terrible, spewing a thunderous growl from his mouth and vainly frightening the dead, to whom he cannot harm, lies at the very threshold of the black palaces of Proserpina and constantly guards the vast dwelling of Dita. Having given him one of the two cakes as a prey to tame, you will easily pass by him and will soon reach Proserpina herself, who will receive you kindly and graciously, offer you a soft seat and ask you to taste a sumptuous meal. But sit down on the ground and take only simple bread, then report why you came, and, having accepted what they will give you, go back; soften the dog’s rage with the remaining cake, pay the stingy boatman with the coin you saved, and, having crossed the river, you will again take the same road and again see the round dance of the heavenly bodies. But this is what I consider especially necessary to warn you about first of all: do not even think about opening the jar that is in your hands, or looking into it, do not show curiosity about the treasures of divine beauty hidden in it.”

Having done everything as the tower advised, Psyche received a jar from Proserpina, but, unable to resist, opened it and immediately fell asleep, for there was a dream contained there. underworld.

Meanwhile, Cupid's wound healed, and, worried about his beloved, he rushed to the entrance to the kingdom of Orca, where he discovered the sleeping Psyche. After removing the dream from her, he hid it back in the jar. “Now you almost died again, all because of your same curiosity. But for now, diligently carry out the assignment that my mother gave you with her order, and I will take care of the rest,” he said

Prudhon. Eros and Psyche.

Cupid flew into the sky to the kingdom of Jupiter.

Apuleius ends with Jupiter agreeing to the marriage of Cupid and Psyche, and so that Venus does not consider the union of her son with a mortal offensive, he grants Psyche immortality.

The full text of the myth with detailed comments is described in Erich Neumann’s book “Cupid and Psyche: the psychic development of the feminine.” Ed. Princeton University, New Jersey, 1971.

Also based on this myth, Robert Jones’s work “She” was written, Deep Aspects of Female Psychology, in which it is discussed in more detail.

Some poets and writers turned to the myth of Eros and Psyche.

M. Denis. Eros and Psyche.

John Keats
Ode to Psyche

Translation by Grigory Kruzhkov

Descending to these silent verses,
Forgive me, goddess, if I don't hide
And I’ll betray it to the unreliable wind
A memory dear to my heart.
Was I really dreaming? or in reality
Did I recognize the gaze of the awakened Psyche?
Without a goal I wandered in the green wilderness,
When suddenly, frozen, I saw through the foliage
Two beautiful creatures: behind the intertwined
A curtain of stems, grasses and petals
They lay together and sleepless
Spring of a hundred frets
Lulled them with melodious streams.
With fragrant, quiet eyes
The flowers looked on, hugging them tenderly;
They rested in the arms of the grass,
Intertwined with arms and wings.
Their breath is a living warmth
Merged into one warmth, even the lips
A soft hand swept away the drowsiness,
To kiss again without counting

They, parting with a ruddy sleep,
They were ready to give gifts to each other.
This winged boy is familiar to me,
But who is his lucky girlfriend?

She is the youngest in the family of immortals,
But more miraculous than Nature itself,
More beautiful than the Sun and Moon
And Vesper, the radiant beetle of the sky;
The most beautiful of all - even though she doesn’t have a temple,
No altar with flowers;
No hymns, under the veils of branches
Sounding in the evenings;
No flute, no cithara, no smoke
From fragrant resins;
No grove, no shrine, no priests,
From the spells of drunks.

O Light One! the odes have long ceased
Antique - and the sounds of ardent lyres,
That the world was sung like a shrine:
And air, and fire, and firmament, and water.
But now, even though it's all gone,
Far away from delights, now reserved,

I see how between the pale Olympians
This light wing sparkles.
So let me be your priest
Drunk from spells;
Kifhara, flute, curly smoke -
Smoky fragrant;
Sanctuary, and grove, and singer,
And a prophetic idol.
Yes, I will become your prophet
And I will build a secluded temple
In the forest of your soul, so that thoughts are pine trees,
Growing there with sweet pain,
They stretched upward, thick and peaceful.
From ledge to ledge, behind the trunk the trunk,
They will cover rocky ridges,
And there, to the sound of birds, streams and bees,
Fearful dryads fall asleep in the grass.
And in this concentration, in silence
Unseen, wondrous flowers,
Garlands and bright stars,
To everything that was hardly seen in a dream
Fantasies for a crazy gardener,
I will decorate the temple; and for your sake
I'll leave the keys there for all the joys,
So that you never look gloomy, -
And a bright torch, and a window in the night,
Revealed for the boy Cupid!

Fragonard. Psyche and Cupid.

What did you feel, Psyche, on that day,

When Eros you, under the name of his wife,

Brought the gods to a feast under an unearthly canopy?

How did you feel in their Olympic circle?

And all the love of the one who is God above love,

Could it ease slightly visible grievances:

Ares's daring gaze, the queen's evil sigh,

The whispering of goddesses and the evil greetings of Cyprus!

And at the feast of the gods, under their shameless laughter,

Where everything is above power, everyone is gods and goddesses,

Have you not remembered the days of earthly pleasures,

Where there is sadness and shame, where there is faith in sacred things!

Valery Bryusov.

J. Waterhouse. Psyche enters Cupid's garden.

Psyche

And Psyche, falling to her companion - a blind Scarecrow in a cap - trembles: Did the ardent kiss of an arap burn through her glove... Punch and midnight. Punch and ashes Falling onto the Persian Fawn robe - and ball gowns empty foam In the dusty mirror...

Marina Tsvetaeva.

Cupid and Psyche. Statue in the Summer Garden.

Myths and legends about Psyche and Eros (Cupid)

Psyche (Greek y u c h, “soul”, “butterfly”), in Greek mythology the personification of the soul, breath. The ancient Greeks imagined the souls of the dead in the form of a butterfly or a flying bird. The souls of the dead in the kingdom of Hades are depicted as flying; they appear to be flying out of the blood of the victims, fluttering in the form of shadows and phantoms. The souls of the dead swirl like a whirlwind of ghosts around Hecate; the ghost of Achilles appears accompanied by a whirlwind during the siege of Troy.

Myths about Princess Psyche tell about the desire of the human soul to merge with love. For her indescribable beauty, people revered Psyche more than Aphrodite. Apuleius in Metamorphoses retells the myth of the romantic love of Cupid and Psyche; the wanderings of the human soul, eager to meet its love.
The myth of the love of Eros and Psyche
In a certain country there lived a king and a queen. They had three beautiful daughters, and the youngest, Psyche, was so beautiful that she surpassed Venus herself in beauty.
Venus, rightly indignant, “now called to her the son of her winged, extremely impudent boy, who, in his malice, neglecting the social order, armed with arrows and a torch, runs at night through other people’s houses, dissolving marriages everywhere, and, committing such crimes with impunity, is decidedly good.” does nothing. Due to the natural depravity of the unbridled, she also excites him with words, takes him to that city and... shows “the girl, urging him to make Psyche fall in love with the most insignificant of people and be unhappy with him all her life. ".

Cupid flew to carry out his mother's orders, but everything did not turn out the way Venus wanted. Seeing Psyche, Cupid was struck by her beauty, and the beautiful princess, without suspecting it, stung the god of love himself with love. Cupid decided that the beauty should become his wife, and began to discourage all suitors from her.

The king and queen were perplexed: the two eldest daughters were already happily married, and Psyche, despite her beauty, still lived in parental home and not a single groom wooed her.
The king turned to the oracle, and the oracle announced (of course, at the instigation of Cupid) that the princess was destined for an unusual fate.
The oracle said that her husband would not be a man, but someone winged, scorching with fire, the threat of the gods and even Styx. He ordered that Psyche be dressed in a wedding dress and taken to high mountain and leave there waiting for the unknown husband destined for her.
The king and queen grieved for a long time, but they did not dare to disobey the will of the gods and did everything as the oracle ordered.
Unhappy Psyche in wedding dress I found myself alone on the top of the mountain. She looked around in horror, expecting that some monster was about to appear.
But suddenly a light, gentle Zephyr breeze flew in, picked up Psyche, carried her from the inhospitable rock to a green valley and lowered her onto the silky grass.

A shady grove grew nearby, and among the trees stood a white marble palace. Seeing that nothing bad had happened to her so far, the princess perked up and wanted to take a closer look at the palace. The doors opened of their own accord in front of her, and the princess, timidly, went inside.

Psyche had never seen such luxury before. The walls shone with gold and silver, the ceiling was made of Ivory, and the floor, which she trampled with her feet, is made of precious stones.
Suddenly, a friendly voice was heard from somewhere: “Hello, princess! Be the mistress here.”
Psyche walked around the palace all day, but was never able to explore all its rooms. Invisible servants accompanied the princess, fulfilling her every desire, as soon as she had time to think about it.
In the evening, tired, Psyche went to bed, and under the cover of darkness Cupid came down to her bed. Psyche did not see, but only felt her unknown husband, but, nevertheless, she fell in love with him dearly. In the morning, before it was dawn, Cupid left, only to come again when it got dark.

Cupid, unable to see his beloved wife in sadness, said: “I will fulfill your wish. See your sisters, but be careful - they can give you bad advice.”
He sent Zephyrs for Psyche's sisters, and they carried them on their wings to the palace.
Having recovered from traveling by air and seeing that their younger sister alive and well, the sisters were very happy. But when Psyche told them how happy she was, showed them around the palace and showed her wealth, envy awoke in their hearts.
When the sisters began to ask her about her husband, the simple-minded Psyche replied that her husband was kind and affectionate, and, apparently, young and handsome, although she could not say this for sure, because he visits her only under cover of darkness.
Here the sisters were filled with even greater envy, since one of them had a husband who was old and bald as a pumpkin, while the other’s was crooked from rheumatism and constantly smeared himself with stinking ointment.
Returning home, the sisters did not even tell their parents that Psyche was alive, and they drew up an insidious plan to ruin her happiness.

Soon Psyche again wanted to see her sisters, and they, like the last time, flew to visit her on the wings of the Zephyrs.
Seeing Psyche, the sisters portrayed feigned grief on their faces and exclaimed: “Oh, unfortunate one! Your husband is a disgusting and evil snake. The local farmers have more than once seen him crawling on his belly across the river and hiding in your palace. Beware! One day he will bite you - and you will die terrible death!" And they both sobbed loudly.
Frightened and confused, Psyche asked: “What should I do?”
The sisters said: "Hide it under the bed sharp knife, and when your husband comes to you this night, kill him."
The treacherous sisters returned home, leaving Psyche in fear and sadness.
On reflection, she doubted the words of her sisters and decided, before killing her husband, to look at him to make sure that he really was a snake. She filled the lamp with oil and hid it near the bed.

At night, Cupid, as usual, came to Psyche’s bed. When he fell asleep, Psyche slowly got up, lit the lamp and, frozen with horror, looked at her husband. Imagine her amazement and joy when, instead of the disgusting snake, she saw the golden-haired god of love. Having accidentally been pricked by Cupid's arrow, Psyche was inflamed with even greater love for God, however, Psyche's hand trembled, the lamp tilted, and a drop of hot oil fell on the sleeping man's shoulder.

Cupid immediately woke up. Seeing Psyche with a lamp in her hands, he exclaimed in anger and grief:
“After all, I, the most simple-minded Psyche, contrary to the command of my mother Venus, who ordered to instill in you a passion for the most pitiful, the last of mortals and doom you to a wretched marriage, I myself chose to fly to you as a lover. I know that I acted frivolously, but, the famous shooter , I wounded myself with my own weapon and made you my wife so that you would consider me a monster and want to cut off my head with a razor because it contains these eyes that are in love with you. I have always urged you to beware. , always persuaded in a friendly manner. Your respectable advisers will immediately answer me for their disastrous invention, but I will punish you only with my disappearance,” he said, stopping in the garden, and flew away.

The unfortunate Psyche was left alone, crying bitterly and cursing her gullibility.
She tried to drown herself, but the river, not wanting to quarrel with the god of love, rejected her body. Seeing her, tearful and exhausted, Pan advised her not to kill herself, but to pray to Cupid, and although such advice was almost absurd, Psyche decided to find a husband at all costs.

Having reached the nearest city, in which her sister was the queen, Psyche went to her and told her that the light of the lamp had revealed to her that Cupid himself was her husband, but that he woke up and drove her out, declaring that he preferred her sister (and Psyche called Name). The enthusiastic sister immediately boarded the ship, sailed to the cliff from where Zephyr had previously carried her to Cupid’s palace and, without waiting for the wind, jumped off the cliff.
Meanwhile, Psyche reached the city where her second sister lived and told her the same story as the first; and this envious woman crashed in the same way. So, she moved from one city to another in search of her lover.

Cupid, meanwhile, flew to the palace of his mother Venus. His burned shoulder hurt badly, he moaned and complained loudly.
The efficient seagull, who learned about this, hurried to Venus and told her about her son’s illness and that people no longer fall in love or get married, and that they scold the idlers Venus and Cupid for this. The seagull also did not forget to mention Psyche, whom Cupid made his beloved contrary to his mother’s orders.
Venus was angry with her son, who dared to marry the one she wished harm without her knowledge, but the goddess was even more angry with Psyche. Venus strictly forbade gods and people to help the unfortunate woman, to give her shelter and consolation, and began to search for the “runaway servant.”
Venus appears to Jupiter in a chariot drawn by birds and demands that Mercury be given to her. Mercury announces everywhere that the one who “returns from hiding or can indicate the place where the fugitive, the royal daughter, the servant of Venus, named Psyche, is hiding,” will receive as a reward from Venus “seven sweet kisses and another most honeyed one with a gentle touch of the tongue.” "
But Psyche is ready to bow to her mother-in-law herself in order to soften her anger and find a husband.

Psyche wandered for a long time, rejected by everyone, and finally came to the palace of Venus.
At the gate, Habit, Care and Dejection greet her with abuse, beat her with whips, Venus mocks her and refuses to recognize Psyche as her daughter-in-law and herself as the grandmother of the unborn child. She tears Psyche's dress, pulls her hair and asks her impossible tasks. Promising not to allow Psyche to give birth, she mixed rye, barley, millet, poppy seeds, peas, lentils, beans and told Psyche to sort it all out in a day.

Psyche began to cry, not daring to even begin this endless work.
However, the ants took pity on Psyche, and when Venus returned from the feast, the work was already done.

The next morning, Venus ordered Psyche to bring a tuft of wool from the golden fleece rams that were grazing in the meadow. The girl obediently went, but only to drown herself in the nearest river, along the banks of which reeds grew. One reed took pity on the girl and said: “Psyche, look, don’t get close to the terrible sheep at this hour: when the heat of the sun burns them, they are usually attacked by wild rage... When in the afternoon the sun’s heat subsides and the pleasant coolness of the river calms the flock , then... you will find golden wool stuck everywhere among the intertwined branches - you just have to shake the foliage of the neighboring trees."
Psyche listened to the advice and brought Venus an armful of golden wool.

The angry goddess did not hesitate to give the next task. This time Psyche needed to fill a vessel with water from a source gushing at the top of a steep cliff. When Psyche, holding a crystal vessel in her hands, stood at the foot of the rock and looked with despair at the impregnable peak, an eagle flew past. He picked up the crystal vessel and, rising on his wings to the top of the rock, scooped up water from the source.
Annoyed Venus came up with an idea new task: She ordered Psyche to go down underground into the kingdom of death, ask its mistress Proserpina for a casket of beauty and, without opening it, bring it to Venus.
The miserable Psyche thought that it was easier to die than to complete this task. She climbed a high tower to throw herself down and put an end to her torment. Her grief was so great that the cold stones from which the tower was built took pity on her. They spoke and showed Psyche the way to the underworld, teaching her to bribe the ferryman across the river separating the world of the living from the world of the dead with two coins and appeasing the dog guarding the entrance to the underworld with two pieces of bread. The stones of the tower also warned: do not even think about opening the jar that will be in your hands, or looking into it, do not show curiosity about the treasures of divine beauty hidden in it.

Having done everything as the tower advised, Psyche received a jar from Proserpina.
She remembered that she shouldn't look into it, but she couldn't control her curiosity. As soon as she emerged from the underground kingdom into the light, she opened the lid.
The casket contained a dream of the underworld, similar to death. He enveloped Psyche in black fog, she fell to the ground and fell asleep.

Meanwhile, Cupid's burned shoulder healed, and along with the pain, his anger towards Psyche passed away. He found her, immersed in an enchanted sleep, and woke her with a kiss. Psyche told her husband how cruelly Venus oppresses her, and Cupid promised that from now on this would come to an end. “But for now, diligently carry out the assignment that my mother gave you with her order, and I will take care of the rest,” said Cupid and flew away again.
He flew to Jupiter himself and began to ask him to establish peace between his mother and wife.
Jupiter called Venus and said to her: “Oh, most beautiful! Do not complain that your son chose not a goddess, but a mortal as his wife. I will give her immortality, and she will be equal to the gods.” He filled the goblet with ambrosia - the drink of the gods - and gave it to Psyche to drink.

Psyche became immortal, like her husband. The gods sang praises to her beauty and good disposition, Venus had to humble herself and recognize Psyche as her daughter-in-law.
Soon Cupid and Psyche had a daughter, whose name is Pleasure.

The legend of where the Fan came from

The god of the west wind, Aeolus, fell in love with the wife of the god of love Eros, Psyche. During the absence of Eros, Aeolus entered the room of the sleeping Psyche and began to kiss her. Returning Eros angrily tore off his opponent's wing. Psyche woke up from the noise. Taking her husband’s trophy, she flirtatiously began to fan herself with it. Yes, according to Greek legend, the first fan appeared.

Psyche- V ancient greek mythology personification of soul, breath; was represented in the form of a butterfly or a girl with butterfly wings. In myths, she was pursued by Eros (Cupid), then she took revenge on him for the persecution, then there was the most tender love between them. Although ideas about the soul have been found since Homer, the myth of Psyche was first developed only by Apuleius in his novel Metamorphoses.

The Myth of Cupid and Psyche

The myth says that one king had three beautiful daughters, of which the youngest, Psyche, was the most beautiful. The fame of her beauty spread throughout the entire earth, and many came to the city where Psyche lived to admire her. They even began to give her divine honors, forgetting Aphrodite. The latter was offended and decided to destroy her rival. Calling her son Eros, she showed him the beauty and told him to instill in her love for the most outcast, ugliest and pitiful of people. Meanwhile, Psyche felt very unhappy because everyone admired her as a soulless beauty, and no one sought her hand.

In grief, her father turned to the Milesian oracle, and God replied that Psyche, dressed in funeral clothes, should be taken to a rock to marry a terrible monster. Fulfilling the will of the oracle, the unfortunate father brought Psyche to the indicated place and left her alone; suddenly a breath of wind carried her to a wonderful palace inhabited by invisible spirits, and she became the wife of some mysterious invisible creature. Psyche's blissful life, however, did not last long: the envious sisters, having learned about her well-being, decided to harass her and, by cunning, achieved that Psyche broke her promise to her husband - not to find out who he was. The evil sisters whispered to her that the invisible husband was a dragon, who would one day eat her with her fetus (Psyche was already pregnant), and convinced her that, armed with a sword and a lamp, she would lie in wait for him during his sleep and kill him.

Trusting Psyche obeyed, lit the lamp and began to examine her husband, who turned out to be a beautiful Eros; while she, struck by the beauty of his face, admired the sleeping man, a hot drop of oil fell from the lamp onto the god’s shoulder, and he woke up in pain. Offended by the treachery and frivolity of his wife, he flew away from her, and she, abandoned, went across the earth to look for her lover. For a long time Psyche walked throughout all the lands until she was forced to bow to her rival, Aphrodite, who had long been looking for an opportunity to take revenge on Psyche and sent Hermes to look for her. At this time, Eros, sick from a burn, was lying with his mother.

Finding herself under the same roof with her husband, but separated from him, Psyche had to endure all sorts of persecutions from Aphrodite, who, wishing her death, came up with various impossible tasks.

Four tests for the Soul from the point of view of psychologists

Aphrodite told the girl that she would allow her to meet her son only if she could complete four tasks. All the tasks were practically impossible, but each time Psyche miraculously managed to solve them. Psychologists have their own opinion on this matter. After each completed task, the woman acquired new knowledge and skills. She not only did everything possible to meet her beloved - she developed to become worthy of God.

For example, first Aphrodite took the girl to a room with a huge pile of different seeds and ordered her to sort them. Psychologists consider this important symbolism. Before making a final serious decision, a woman must be able to sort out her feelings, put aside her fears, and separate something important from something completely unimportant. Insects and birds helped Psyche complete this task. But Aphrodite still did not want to allow the girl to see her son.

Then Psyche had to get some golden fleece from the solar rams. These huge aggressive monsters would trample the girl if she dared to walk between them. But the reed told her to wait until night, when the animals left the field. From the point of view of psychologists, such a task is a metaphor - a woman should be able to gain strength without losing the characteristics of her personality and ability to sympathize.

In the third task, Psyche had to collect water from a forbidden source, which fell from the cracks of the highest rock. Naturally, the girl could have fallen to her death if the eagle had not come to her aid in this matter. Some experts believe that such a metaphor means the ability to see big picture what is happening, which is extremely important for solving certain problems.

Psyche was afraid that she would not be able to complete this task, but the stones took pity on her and let her into the underground vault. There, the goddess Persephone gave her a casket and ordered her not to look into it.

But Psyche was never able to control her feminine nature. On the way back, she opened the jar to borrow some divine beauty. But what was in the jar was not beauty, but an “underground Stygian sleep” that immediately engulfed Psyche.

Covered in the sleep of death, Psyche lay for a long time somewhere halfway from the afterlife - for a long time, but not forever, as Aphrodite had hoped. Having recovered from his wound, Eros went in search of his beloved and found her. Seeing Psyche, he took the dream from her, returned it to the box, awakened Psyche with a light prick of his arrow and ordered her to take the box to her mother, he supposedly took care of the rest.

The end of the story

After this, the god of love took his betrothed to Olympus, where he received Zeus’ permission for marriage. The Thunderer granted the girl immortality and introduced her to the pantheon of gods. The goddess Psyche and Eros gave birth to a child - Volupia, the goddess of pleasure. Only the union of soul and love can give rise to real pleasure, real happiness.

The image of the psyche

Psyche was represented on monuments of fine art either in the form of a young girl with butterfly wings, or in the form of a butterfly either flying out of a funeral pyre or going to Hades. Sometimes the butterfly was directly identified with the deceased. The Greek word "psyche" means "soul" and "butterfly". Psyche was also imagined as a flying bird. The souls of the dead in Hades are depicted as flying, they flock to blood, flutter in the form of shadows and dreams. The soul of Patroclus departs with a “squeak”, and the verb tridzein is used, “twitter”, “squeak”. The souls of the suitors killed by Odysseus also go to Hades with the squeaking of bats.

Psyche was also depicted in the form of an eagle, soaring its flight upward. In a number of Homer's texts, the diaphragm is perceived as Psyche - the soul. Blood is also the carrier of the soul; the wounded soul comes out through the wound, obviously in the form of blood, or it is pulled out together with the tip of a spear: “from the gaping wound the oppressed Spirit flew out” (Homer “Iliad”, XIV 518-519). According to Pythagoras, Psyche feeds on blood; blood is the “seat of the soul.”

Apuleius in Metamorphoses talks about full of adventure, the romantic love of Cupid and Psyche; the journeys of the human soul, yearning to merge with love.