- Psyche

The Myth of Psyche and Eros has been proven to have been just a myth, and first appeared in Lucius Apuleius’ novel, The Golden Ass, which was written in the 2nd Century AD. It is a story about Psyche, a princess - of Sicily - so beautiful that she could have rivalled the Goddess of beauty, Aphrodite. Aphrodite was jealous of Psyche’s beauty, and sent her son, Eros (Cupid) to shoot her with an arrow and make her fall in love with the ugliest creature on earth. Eros went to Psyche’s room, pulled out his bow and golden arrows, and accidentally scratched himself when Psyche woke up and looked right into his eyes. Enraged, Aphrodite cursed Psyche with never being able to find a suitable husband. Her father, the King of Sicily, gets worried and consults an oracle, who tells him to take her to a mountaintop and leave her. Eros took her to a secret palace and eventually ended up marrying her. Zeus, the King of Olympus, makes her Psyche the Goddess of Soul. She and Eros have one child; Voluptas the Goddess of Sensual Pleasures.

birdsofrhiannon:

Children of Lir illustration by PJ Lynch

wetalkedasgirlsdo:

illustration of Pandora, Helen Stratton 

liquidnight:

Bertram Park and Yvonne Gregory

Andromeda

From The Beauty of the Female Form, 1938

tatteredbanners:

The art of John Liston Byam Shaw

wetalkedasgirlsdo:

Pygmalion, Helen Stratton 

wetalkedasgirlsdo:

illustration of Echo from A Book of Myth, Helen Stratton

“I propose that we go in quest of this grail, each to behold it.”

Sir Gawain (via lenkody)

kisaya:

Brünnhilde the Valkyrie by Arthur Rackham (1910)

garrycalderwood:

Sigurd and Fafnir

bytaleorhistory:

William Bell Scott, Una and the Lion (1860)

Frey had himself seated on the throne of Odin by Frederic Lawrence

Freyr sits on Hlidskjálf, Odin’s throne, and looks out over the world.  Far in the north, he sees a beautiful woman, Gerðr.  He falls in love with her immediately.

gorgeous woodcut