Cupid and Psyche: the full myth, told in order
Most myths about love end badly. This one does not, but Psyche has to walk into the underworld to get there.
The story comes to us from Apuleius, a Roman writer of the second century, who tells it in the middle of his novel the Metamorphoses, also known as The Golden Ass. An old woman tells it to a frightened girl to calm her down. It became one of the most painted love stories in history.
A beauty that angered a goddess
Psyche was the youngest of three princesses, and she was so beautiful that people began to worship her instead of Venus. The temples of the goddess emptied. Venus, furious, called her son Cupid and gave him an order: make this girl fall in love with the vilest creature in the world.
An oracle then told Psyche's father to dress her as a bride and leave her on a mountain top, where she would be married to a monster. The family wept and obeyed. But a gentle wind lifted Psyche from the rock and carried her down into a valley, to a palace of gold and jewels where invisible voices served her.
The husband she could not see
Every night her husband came to her in the dark, and every morning he left before dawn. He was kind and he loved her, but he gave her one rule: never try to see my face.
Her jealous sisters convinced her that he was the monster from the oracle and that he would eat her. One night Psyche took a lamp and a knife and lifted the light over her sleeping husband. It was Cupid himself, the god of love, the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. Her hand shook. A drop of hot oil fell from the lamp onto his shoulder. He woke, saw that she had broken her promise, and flew away.
Four impossible trials
Psyche searched the whole world for him and finally gave herself up to Venus, who set her four tasks that no mortal could do.
- The seeds. Sort a huge heap of mixed grains, wheat, barley, millet, poppy seeds, lentils and beans, before nightfall. An army of ants took pity on her and did it.
- The golden wool. Bring back wool from a flock of golden sheep that killed anyone who came near. A reed by the river told her to wait until the afternoon heat had passed and gather the wool caught on the bushes.
- The black water. Fill a crystal jar from the spring that feeds the river Styx, high on a cliff guarded by dragons. Jupiter's eagle flew down and filled it for her.
- The underworld. Go down to the land of the dead and ask Proserpina, its queen, for a box of her beauty. A tower told her how: coins for the ferryman, cakes for the three headed dog, and never open the box.
The box
Psyche came back from the underworld alive, which no one was supposed to do. Then, so close to the end, she opened the box, hoping a little divine beauty would win Cupid back. Inside there was no beauty at all, only a deathly sleep, and she fell to the ground as if dead.
Cupid, healed now, found her, wiped the sleep from her face and put it back in the box. He flew to Jupiter and asked him to bless the marriage. Jupiter gave Psyche a cup of ambrosia, which made her immortal, and the gods held a wedding. Their daughter was named Voluptas, Pleasure.
Why Psyche
In Greek, psyche means soul, and also butterfly. The story has been read for centuries as the soul searching for love. For MARTYRZ it is simpler: Psyche lost everything for love, then risked her life four times to get it back. Icarus burned. Psyche came back.
That moment of return is what William-Adolphe Bouguereau painted in 1895 in The Abduction of Psyche: Cupid lifting her into the sky, her eyes closed. Read more about the painting in The Abduction of Psyche: the painting behind the PSYCHE TEE.
Wear the painting
The PSYCHE TEE prints Bouguereau's painting seam to seam on a white heavyweight boxy tee in 280 gsm cotton, with 16 crystals set by hand. Part of Drop I, Too Close To The Sun, coming soon and shipping worldwide. Limited units, every piece numbered.