Eros vs Cupid.
When I began writing my novel Midnight in the Garden with Eros I did a little research into exactly who Eros was, and discovered that in early Greek mythology Eros was depicted as a beautiful young adult male in his prime, it was only over time that the Greek myth was hijacked by the Romans and he became younger and was eventually depicted as a winged baby.
Eros is known as the Greek god of passionate love, romance and physical desire, from which the term erotic is derived.
I needed a beautiful male figure, as my hero sculptor John Ivers Mason, has sculpted a statue of Eros (based upon his own lithe physique) to grace the gardens of Wilmington Hall that was both beautiful and sensual. And after all, a statue of Cupid, a chubby baby in a diaper wasn’t going to cut it.
A beautiful statue many consider to be Eros has graced the center of Piccadilly circus for many years. Though as it turns out, the figure was meant to be Anteros, the brother of Eros and god of mutual and selfless love. Though he does wield a bow just like his brother.
Here is the statue from Picadilly Circus.
