What Greek god is the equivalent of the Roman Cupid, often depicted on Valentine’s Day? The answer is Eros.
Eros is the Greek god associated with love, desire, and sexual attraction; Cupid is his Roman counterpart. Ancient Greek traditions did not always portray Eros as the chubby winged child familiar from modern Valentine’s cards. Earlier art and literature could depict him as a powerful youthful deity, while later Greek and Roman art increasingly emphasized the playful winged boy.
The Roman name Cupid comes from the Latin cupido, meaning desire or longing. Roman artists and writers adapted Greek mythology, and Cupid became closely linked with Venus, the Roman equivalent of Aphrodite. Eros was similarly associated with Aphrodite in later Greek traditions, although his origins and family relationships vary across ancient sources.
The famous story of Eros and Psyche helped shape the enduring love-god image. In Apuleius’s second-century Roman novel The Golden Ass, Cupid—called Eros in Greek versions of the story—falls in love with the mortal Psyche. Modern Valentine imagery blends these older myths with later European art and commercial symbolism.