“Men seemed to have failed completely to comprehend the power of
Eros, for if they did comprehend it, they would have built to him the
greatest altars and temples and offered the greatest sacrifices, whereas
he is given none of these honors, although he should have them most of
all…”
From Aristophanes’ Speech in the Symposium
Please
use any of the myths we read about love to critique or support this
quotation? In your response, react, evaluate, challenge, or contemplate.
(Please complete this blog response by Thu., Feb. 27th, 2014.)
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23 comments:
Unlike with the other gods, whose power only affects some people. Eros and the power of love affects everyone. One thing that the myths about love all have in common is the inevitability of love. People, whether they are god of man, fall in love. It is a plague and blessing that follows all man kind. It is this power over man that should give Eros uncomprehending praise. But love is a powerful emotion that is often ignored or concealed and so then is the god of love.
It is in deed very odd that the god of love would not be revered or worshiped like many of the main gods. So many times we are told love is all we need, or love makes the world go round. If this is true and people truly want to find love then they should have worshiped Cupid to a greater extent. Love is so powerful that Cupid himself gets struck by his own arrows."As he looked upon her it was as if he had shot one of his arrows into his own heart." this is telling of Cupid and Psyche, who was the most beautiful women on earth.
I believe that the quotation is true about Eros/Cupid. He endured a great trial of having to deal with Psyche’s lack of trust. Cupid had to also endure his pain that he received from Psyche. He got burned from her lack of trust and her betrayed hands. The hands were trembling which poured some hot oil off the lamp onto Cupid’s shoulder. The pain that he went through was terrible, but in the end he decided to come back to Psyche. Eros also had to endure through disapproval of his mother and being locked up by her with his burn. Eros proved that he could endure through his trials of love with Psyche which is a huge accomplishment for someone like him.
In our world love has become an overpowering factor. Men and women alike have succumb to the influence of love in their lives, and even more it has shaped society entirely. If humankind had the ability to truly understand love Eros would be most definitely worshiped the most; but considering that love is as mysterious as it is powerful we lack the ability to comprehend it. We as humans will always have the inability to fully understand it, and because of this we also have the inability to comprehend the power of Eros.
Love in their time period was something partially foreign to them. They’re perspective of love was more frequently depicted in light of pain, suffering and sorrow as opposed to the warming sensation we get when we see the person(s) that we adore. Zeus was very promiscuous, he married his sister and cheated on her several times. Demeter’s daughter that she loved so dearly was kidnaped by Hades. Psyche broke the bonds of trust with Cupid. Love wasn’t as central or at least not a commonly contemplated concept in their society. Love in their culture is/was entirely different than the perspective we have today. And I would completely agree with the provided quote. Love is inspiration, and serves as a steadfast motivation on the days that seem to be the grayest. Love surrounds us. Without love life would be a mistake. And still we don’t worship love, we just have a cozy cobblestone cottage in our hearts for it.
we believe it or not love(Eros) has touched all of us at one point in our lives. Eros doesn't get enough credit for how powerful he is. I think Enos has more power over men than Zeus. Even Zeus has been effected by Eros who made him fall for many woman including Semele . The thing with love is its hard to know how real it is. We as a people don't truly understand it so this quote in that way is true but we all feel love, we just don't realize it was love. It can also be ignored and not followed so Eros can be in weak in that case. But over all he is more powerful then all gods.
Based on this quote and other myths we have read, Aristophanes seems to be saying that if people had truly loved Eros the way they should have based on all that he had done for them. They would have shown that love by building him altars and temples. They would have built these things for him not only because they wanted to signify their gratefulness for him, but so that they could have a place to worship him in.
Eros in my opinion is the most powerful god, he doesn't get the credit he deserves. He has the power to even effect other gods, just like Cupid with Psyche. Even though Eros didn't receive temples, he is still loved. Although Eros himself is not worshiped by name, love is worshiped everyday through holidays, relationships, marriage etc.
The power of Eros affects the world, love is world wide. This quotation is saying that if men would have comprehended that, they would have built temples for him rather than the gods that only affected a few. Love is within almost every myth, whereas some of the other gods do not always show up. Love is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it fills your heart and a curse because every being, man or god, falls in love. Take Zeus for example, he kept falling in love with women. So, why did the men of old not build temples to Eros? Love makes the world go round and yet, there aren't many temples to the god tof love.
The fact that Eros isn't worshiped as much as the other gods seems ridiculous. Everyone has felt the power of love and it is one of the most primal emotions. It can rule over what we do, for example in the myth of Pyramus and Thisbe they end up killing themselves because the ones they love are believed to be dead. This shows that love gives people a reason to live. Without love, at least for Pyramus and Thisbe, there is no reason to live. So it seems as though Eros should be worshiped more than other gods and goddesses rather than less.
The power of love creates the most amount of emotion within the human spirit. When love is kind to you, your heart soars. However, when love is unkind and for whatever reason love doesn't last, your heart breaks. Love can create jealousy, rage, and sheer happiness within one person. Only one power can create such a wide range of emotion in human beings, and that is love.
Eros/Love/Cupid, whatever you want to call him seems to be a more powerful god then anyone gives him credit to. He is, apparently, the only one besides his mother who has some sort of power over Zeus. I would support this quotation, seeing as how in the Cupid and Psyche myth Zeus himself acknowledges Eros's power over himself.
It is odd that the god of love was not worshiped like the main gods where. But the way marige was arainged and your main goal was to have off spring, not to love each other created a socity were a god decicated to love was not nesecery and in fact became a wast of time. What is realy hard to belive is why the would have a god for love at all.
It is odd that the god of love was not worshiped like the main gods where. But the way marige was arainged and your main goal was to have off spring, not to love each other created a socity were a god decicated to love was not nesecery and in fact became a wast of time. What is realy hard to belive is why the would have a god for love at all.
Love is the strongest of emotions in my opinion, while its power is not always physical its nonetheless a powerful motivator. However it is not a harsh or demanding one and because of that, I feel it was not afforded the respect in ancient times as it is now. However i think it should be because not only is it, in my opinion, stronger than its opposite it is much more peaceful.
I agree with this because you would think that people would build alters and worship the god of Love, especially to ask for his help in their love life. Looking at Greek mythology, everyone is affected by love. Even Cupid himself felt like he was struck by one of his own arrows when he saw Psyche. With something so powerful, I'm surprised that there aren't any temples for him.
Eros is the god of love and he Doesn't treat or give mankind his honor because they sometimes conceal and hide the love they have they sometimes show barbaric attitude towards each other out of love for the women on the earth. so Eros doesn't give what man does they ignore the love and in return Eros is a forgotten god at times
Eros, or Cupid, son of Aphrodite is the God of Love. In the quote from Aristophanes’ Speech in the Symposium says the he isn’t given enough credit for the power he has. I dont know if i completely agree or disagree with him. I do agree the as one of many gods his powers to effect those mortal and immortal. But compared to Zeus or Poseidon, Eros’s power isn’t as important or influential. So to improve the quote given, I think that Eros deserves more praise, but not to much to make him has worshiped as the major gods.
It is unusual that Eros, or the power of love is not honored. The power of love is in our everyday lives and drives us to do unbelievable actions. It controls us to do whatever necessary to protect what is there. Although, there are no altars or temples it appears more than many other attributes worshiped, and will always be carried through the decades. Not only is love the most common power, it is also seen to be the most complex. Even to this day no one has a direct definition or perspective of love, whether you are a god/goddess, man, or woman. Therefore, It would be a huge challenge to worship the power of Eros in a certain way.
Eros the God of love has a power that affects every one, yet he is not honored. Part of this could be that love sometimes doesn't always work out the way you want it to at first. Like in Cupid and Psyche, Psyche had to go through Venus's tasks to prove she still did love Cupid after not trusting him. Maybe Eros would get more honors if love was always simple and made every one happy at all times, but people sometimes have to go through tough times to find or regain love from someone they love.
I do find it odd, the lack of praise, physical statues and other signs of honer for Eros, the god of love.In the myth of cupid and Psyche, Cupid says trust is the most important part of love. Trusting people gets you hurt. One reason they may have not praised Eros could possibly be that they didn't wanna trust, not wanting to get hurt, and they lived selfishly without a true waterfall of love in there life.
Based on this quote I think that even though Eros didn't recieve anything he is still loved. Love is very strong. For exanple if someone is rude\harmful for whatever reason love won't last. Their heart will break. Love can create a lot of emotions like anger, jealousy, happiness and sadness. Only one thing is so special and its love.
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