Psyche, Wife of Cupid
Psyche, Wife of Cupid
Psyche's myth is actually more Roman than Greek,
however, since some of the other players in her myth, namely
Cupid and Mercury, are both Greek and Roman she finds a place
here.
Psyche was a beautiful young woman of whom Venus (Aphrodite) was jealous. She derived a plan to send her son, Cupid, to make Psyche fall in love with an ugly or ungainly man. Unfortunately for Venus, Cupid fell in love with Psyche. Psyche's father had been told by an Oracle that Psyche must marry a winged serpent and so he led her to the top of a hill and left her there.
The frightened Psyche stayed at the top of the hill waiting for her suitor, but soon found herself carried off to a valley and beautiful palace. Unseen handmaids prepared and fed her, then led her to a darkened room. When the evening came she found herself visited by an invisible lover. She could here his voice but could only feel his passionate embraces. Her nights were wonderful, but her days were lonely. Finally, at the urging of her sisters, Psyche could take it no more and when her lover came to her one evening she waited for him to fall asleep and lit a lamp over him. To her surprise she saw the God Cupid, who suddenly awoke. When Psyche jolted at his awakening a drop of oil fell on Cupid's shoulder. He reproached her for going against his wishes and fled to his mother.
A now pregnant Psyche began wandering the earth, searching for Cupid, when Mercury found her and took her to the goddess of love. Venus decided to punish Psyche taking her child, beating and starving her, and then put her through a series of trials and making her a slave. Among the trials of Psyche were sorting a moutain of mixed grains, which the ants helped her do after taking pity on her. She had to get wool from the dangerous golden sheep, but the pipes of Pan told her to wait until the afternoon heat lulled them to sleep. She did and had no problems getting the wool. She had to get water from the river Styx, which Jupiter's eagle helped her do by filling a jar for her.
A vexed Venus then sent Psyche to the underworld to
ask Proserpine (Persephone) to donate some of her beauty to
Venus, to make up for the wear the whole matter had taken on her.
Psyche then went to the top of a tall tower and prepared to jump
and end her troubles, but the tower spoke to her and said they
would soon be over. She went to Proserpine and was given a golden
box of beauty. Psyche was tempted by the box though and opened
it, to find not beauty at all, but a Stygian sleep and she fell
to the ground.
Cupid finally recovered from his burn and escaped from Venus while she was preoccupied. He went to Psyche and recovered her. He then delivered the box to Venus and went to Jupiter (Zeus) to beg him to intervene on behalf of the woman he loved. Jupiter took pity on her and gave her a cup of nectar to drink, thus making her a goddess. Venus was far less appalled by the thought of her and Cupid being joined now that she was no longer a mortal and the pair were wed. The union was celebrated by all of the gods and welcomed to the heavens.
Psyche Today
Psyche was played by Lousiana native Susan Ward on
Hercules. Susan, a former model, was born on April 15, 1976.
Susan had aspired to be a vetrinarian as a child before being
spotted by a modeling agent at the age of 13. The picture of
Susan on this page is cropped from a racy image shown in Maxim
magazine. Susan was voted the 14th most beautiful woman in the
world (by Maxim), and it's easy to see why, she really is quite
lovely.
The Psyche Episode
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
Season Three: Green-Eyed Monster, played by Susan Ward
Susan Ward's Filmography
Susan Ward Links
a href ="a href="http://www.fansites.com/susan_ward.html">
Susan Ward - This page has a nice bio of Susan
The Susan Ward Fan Page will have lots of info, images, and links to all things Susan,
The In Crowd Official Site has stills, trailers, links and more, a 'flashy' site.
An Interview with Susan by Celebrity Blvd.com
Psyche Links
Artcyclopedia has about a dozen links to images of Psyche.
Home Guestbook E-mail Shop Links NMDP Banshee Sitemap
The Bath of Psyche by Lord Frederic Leighton and Eros and Psyche by Antonio Canova courtesy of Artcyclopedia.com
Visitors to www.shrinkingbanshee.com