EROS AND PSYCHE – THE BLOGCHATTERA2ZCHALLENGE

 

Eros - The Cleveland Museum of Art - Unsplash

When the name of Eros is mentioned, the image that comes up is that of a beautiful young boy with a bow and quiver full of arrows. Eros was considered the Greek god of love and sexual favours. Apparently, he had two types of arrows – one was the golden, sharp tipped variety that could make people fall in love when used, and a blunt one that could go the opposite way – make people immune to advances of love.

Legend goes that Apollo once mocked Eros. To teach him a lesson, Eros shot a golden arrow at him, making him fall hopelessly in love with the wood nymph, Daphne. He then shot a blunt arrow at Daphne, turning her immune to the god’s advances, a worthy revenge indeed.

Apollo and Daphne 

                                                                          The Cleveland Museum of Art - Unsplash

Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of beauty, had her moments of envy. She turned her gaze at the exquisitely beautiful mortal, Psyche, who was famed for having hundreds of suitors. The reason for the goddess’ ire was that people started mistaking Psyche for Aphrodite and began to worship her. Aphrodite ordered Eros to induce Psyche to fall in love with an ugly creature.

An oracle had prophesied that Psyche was destined to marry a hideous sea monster with wings. Psyche’s heartbroken father, who had given up hope of seeing his beautiful daughter married, tied her to a mountain crag, dressed in bridal finery.

Eros went down to the mountain and prepared to shoot his arrow at Psyche. However, he inadvertently pricked himself with his arrow and fell head over heels in love with the beautiful girl. He wanted to keep his passion a secret from Aphrodite, and hence, he persuaded Psyche to meet him for secret trysts in a grove at night. They kept meeting under the cover of darkness.

However, Psyche’s sisters, who were plain and lived mundane lives, who were envious of her happiness, urged her to look at the face of her secret lover. So, one night, she lit a candle and discovered to her delight that Eros was her lover. As she bent nearer, some drops of hot wax fell on Eros, rousing him. He leapt up in dismay, accusing her of having ruined everything and fled from her in a fit of anger.

Psyche, who was now in love with Eros, was repentant and heartbroken. She prayed to the gods to reunite her with him. She prayed to Aphrodite who set a series of tasks that were almost unmanageable, like sorting out a big pile of mixed grains and collecting the fleece from a special flock of dangerous sheep.

One almost impossible task was travelling to Hades to gather some of Persephone’s beauty in a little box of ‘beauty’. Psyche managed to slip past Cerberus, the three headed sentinel of Hades by feeding him seedcake. She had been warned not to open the box and look at its contents. However, curious as she was, Psyche, did just that, and instead of beauty, she found herself overpowered by a deathly sleep which rendered her unconscious.

It was now that Eros took pity on Psyche and prayed to Zeus to awaken her and make her immortal with a sip of ambrosia. Even Aphrodite relented as Psyche had braved death itself to be reunited with Eros, and their love story ended happily ever after.

                                                                         Cupid and Psyche - Getty images

Trivia

Phonetic pronunciation: Psyche - /ˈsʌɪki/

The Greek myth of Eros and Psyche is an enduring allegory as the names of the two main characters mean ‘desire’ and ‘soul’. Psyche also means ‘butterfly’ and it could also refer to the mundane existence of a caterpillar which finally blossoms forth into a vibrant butterfly, reminiscent of the trials of human life which finally look forward to a blissful eternity.

Eros is known as Cupid in Roman mythology.

 This post is a part of Blogchatter A2Z Challenge 2026.

 

DEMETER, THE GRAIN MOTHER OF MOUNT OLYMPUS - #BlogchatterA2Z2026

 

                                                                                                           Demeter

In Greek mythology, the myth of Demeter and Persephone brings out the love of a mother for her daughter. Demeter was the Olympian goddess of harvests and agriculture, with total control over grains, plants, food and the fertility of the earth. She was also considered the goddess of health, birth and death.

Demeter was the second child of the Titans, Rhea and Cronus, and lived in Mount Olympus. Her siblings were Hestia, Hera, Zeus and Poseidon. When Zeus overthrew Cronus and became the King of the gods, Demeter turned into one of the major goddesses in Mount Olympus.

Demeter’s beautiful daughter, Persephone, was the Greek goddess of spring as well as a fertility goddess. One day, as she was picking flowers in the field, Hades' eyes fell on her. He abducted her with Zeus’s permission and took her to Hades where he made her the Queen of the Underworld.

                                                                              The Abduction of Persephone by Hades

Adobe Stock

A distraught Demeter hunted high and low for her beloved daughter. She searched for nine days, neglecting her duties as the goddess of agriculture. The earth grew dark, seasons ceased, living things stopped growing and withered away. The world went through a dreadful famine, and mortals began dying in hordes.

Meanwhile, Demeter kept up her desperate search, and with the help of Hecate, another goddess, she went to the sun god, Helios, who could see all that ensued on earth from his heavenly position. It was he who informed her of Hades’ abduction of Persephone.

As all things living began to die, Zeus ordered Hades to return Persephone to her mother. He sent his messenger, Hermes, to escort her back to earth. With her daughter back with her, Demeter was overjoyed. However, while in Hades, Persephone had eaten a few pomegranate seeds, and hence, she had to divide her year between her mother and her husband.

                                                                    The Reunion of Demeter and Persephone

So, for six months. Persephone spent time with Demeter on earth, a period when her happy mother ensured that crops, fruits and plants flourished and the world turned into a bountiful place. However, when she left for Hades, Demeter would not encourage agricultural growth, and the earth would remain fallow. This was the explanation for the seasonal cycle and at the start of autumn, the old crops would be reunited with the new seeds, symbolising the reunion of Demeter and Persephone.

Demeter’s emblem was the red poppy, a crimson flower that grew amidst barley. As Theocritus wrote in Idyll vii. 157,

“For the Greeks, Demeter was still a poppy goddess

Bearing sheaves and poppies in both hands.”

Demeter was often depicted as full figured and broad, a matronly goddess with a mild expression, wearing a veil and carrying sheaves of corn. Sometimes, she was shown riding a chariot drawn by dragons or horses; at other times sitting on a throne along with her daughter, Persephone.

Trivia:

Phonetic pronunciation: Demeter -ˈdɛmɛtɛr; Persephone - pəˈsɛfənɪ or puh seh fuh nee with the stress on the second syllable

Demeter is known as Ceres in Roman mythology. This is the base for the word ‘cereal’, proving that she was the goddess who sustained humanity.

 This post is a part of Blogchatter A2Z Challenge 2026.

CHARON, FERRYMAN OF HADES AND CERBERUS, HOUND OF THE UNDERWORLD - #BLOGCHATTERA2Z2026

  

Image by u_0xqcqp9f6q from Pixabay

Charon is known as the Ferryman of Hades (the Underworld) whose duty was to carry the souls of the dead after they had completed their funeral rites across the Acheron and Styx, the rivers that were a boundary between the living and the dead worlds. Legend goes that those souls who could not pay the fee, or had not received their funeral rites, would have to wander along the shores of the Styx for a hundred years before they could cross the river.

Charon was the son of Erebus and Nyx (Night). He was often depicted as a rough Athenian seaman dressed in a foul reddish-brown garb, haggard cheeks and an unkempt beard. Dante referred to him in his Divine Comedy as having “eyes of fire”. He held his ferryman’s pole or oar in his right hand and used his left hand to receive the souls that he needed to ferry. Charon is not evil, just gloomy, which was not surprising given the atmosphere in the Underworld. His cloak was adorned with the stars and the moon which symbolise night and day, the torch on it depicting wonder and light and Charon himself was looked upon as the guide to the soul.

It is believed that when a person died on earth, one obol/ obolos (a coin) was placed on the lips of the corpse before burial. This was the payment or bribe that was offered to Charon for his ferryman services.

Speaking of Hades, Cerberus was the hound of the Underworld, the offspring of monsters Echidna and Typhon. He was depicted as possessing three heads on long worm-like necks, a serpent’s tail and lion claws. He was a fierce watchdog, loyal to his master, Hades, and it is said that his fearsome howl sent a shiver down the spines of the living, warning them not to enter the Underworld.

     Cerberus - Greek Mythology

The myth of Cerberus comes into prominence when Hercules, the strongest Greek hero, was set twelve supposedly impossible tasks (labours) by King Eurystheus, the last one being to bring Cerberus back to the world from Hades. Hercules entered the Underworld and asked for permission from the Lord of the Underworld, Hades, to borrow Cerberus to fulfil his task. Hades agreed on the condition that Hercules would overpower the hound without the use of his weapons (“without shield or iron”).

Hercules acceded to the condition. Using his lion-skin as a shield, and a wooden club, he squeezed the head of the hound till he turned submissive. He then chained him, and led him to the edge of the Underworld. At the sight of daylight, Cerberus reacted violently and struggled till he was dragged out by Hercules. Once back on earth, Hercules paraded Cerberus through the streets of Greece as people quailed at the sight of the fearsome hound.

               The Twelfth Labour of Hercules - Mythical Realm

Another myth that mentions Cerberus is that of Orpheus, the wonderful musician, who went down to Hades to bring back his beloved wife, Eurydice. When he encountered Cerberus, he played on his lyre so beautifully that the hound was lulled to sleep, and Orpheus was able to cross into Hades.

The concept that Cerberus reveals is that of death being final and inevitable, an inescapable truth. A Cerberus personality is also one who is steadfast and loyal, the epitome of vigilance, just like the Hound of Hades who sits at the gates of the Underworld, a devoted sentinel, and a faithful acolyte of Hades himself.  

Trivia: Phonetic Pronunciation: Charon - /ˈkeə.rən/;  Cerberus - /ˈsəːbərəs

Charon’s Quest by Eva Pohler

                                                                                            Goodreads

Cerberus The Dog of Hades by Maurice Bloomfield

                                                                                                 Amazon.com

This post is a part of Blogchatter A2Z Challenge 2026.

BELLEROPHON, THE SLAYER OF THE CHIMERA - #BLOGCHATTERA2Z2026

 

Bellerophon Vanquishing the Chimera -

Wikipedia Commons - Wikimedia.org

Bellerophon was the divine Corinthian hero best known as the one who tamed the winged horse, Pegasus, and slew the dreadful Chimera. He was second only to the mighty Hercules.

Born to the sea god, Poseidon, and Euronome, Bellerophon was also considered a demigod. While practising knife throwing with his friends, he killed his brother, Deliades, by mistake. To atone for fratricide, he made a plea to King Proetus, whose wife, Queen Anteia tried to seduce him. When he rejected her advances, she turned the tables on him, and accused him of having tried to seduce her instead.

Proetus was aware that he could not harm Bellerophon as he was a guest. Hence, he exiled him to his father-in-law, King Iobates’ kingdom, along with a sealed letter in a tablet in which he asked him to kill Bellerophon for his misdemeanour.

King Iobates took care of Bellerophon for many days before he opened the letter. Since he too did not want to harm a guest, he instead sent Bellerophon away to Caria, to vanquish the mighty Chimera, a monster depicted with a lion’s head, a goat’s body and a serpent’s tail. The Chimera’s breath came out in intense blasts of burning flame.

On his way to Caria, Bellerophon met a soothsayer, Polyeidos, who warned him that he would need the help of the untamed winged horse, Pegasus, to overpower the Chimera. Polyeidos told him to sleep in the temple of Athena that night. In the middle of the night, Bellerophon dreamt of Athena’s golden bridle being placed next to him. When he awoke, the bridle was, indeed, next to him. The soothsayer had also given him the location of the fountain Peirene from which Pegasus would drink water. Bellerophon approached the winged horse, slipped the golden bridle over its neck, and lo, the spirited steed became docile.

                                                                       The Myth of Bellerophon and Pegasus

 Greek Myths - Greek Mythology

Seated on Pegasus, Bellerophon made his way to Lycia, the abode of the fearsome Chimera. Aware that the monster had immense strength, Bellerophon mounted a huge block of lead at the end of his spear. Charging at the monster, he speared it, lodging the lead in its throat. The fiery breath of the Chimera melted the lead, thereby blocking its air passage and suffocating it, which led to the end of the so-called invincible monster.

                                                                                  Chimera Images - Adobe Stock

When Bellerophon returned to Iobates’ kingdom, the king relented and allowed him to marry his younger daughter, Philonoe, the sister of Queen Anteia. However, Bellerophon had not forgotten the insult. He pretended to accept Anteia’s advances, persuading her to fly with him on Pegasus over the vast ocean. He threw her in the middle of the expanse of water where she drowned, an act of revenge for the humiliation she had caused him in the past.

However, hubris and false pride blinded Bellerophon, the slayer of the mighty Chimera. He believed that he deserved to fly to Mount Olympus, the abode of the gods. An irate Zeus, the King of the gods, sent a gadfly to sting Pegasus, which caused the horse to swerve, knocking Bellerophon off its back, and he plummeted down to earth and lived, forever crippled and blinded, a tragic end for a hero who dared to overstep his mortal limits. This is a premise seen often in Greek mythology, the combat between the gods and the mortals.

Pegasus continued his flight to Olympus where he was chosen by Zeus as a pack horse for his powerful thunderbolts.

 Trivia:

Phonetic pronunciation: Bellerophon - /bəˈler.ə.fən/, Chimera: /kaɪˈmɪə.rə/

Chimera - the modern meaning is "an illusion of the mind, especially an unrealised dream'.

Madeline Miller's guest post on Bellerophon and Pegasus - https://madelinemiller.com/myth-of-the-week-pegasus-and-bellerophon/

The Reluctant Hero - The Story of Bellerophon and the Chimera by Adam Alexander Haviaras

                                                                                              Amazon.in

 This post is a part of Blogchatter A2Z Challenge 2026.

ACHILLES, THE GREATEST GREEK HERO - BLOGCHATTERA2Z2026

                                

Thetis dipping the baby Achilles into the river Styx - World History Encyclopaedia

Greek mythology can never be complete without the mention of Achilles, the hero of the Trojan war, who was the son of the Nereid (sea nymph) Thetis and the mortal King Peleus, the head of the Myrmidons, which made him a demigod.

The legend goes that when Achilles was an infant, his mother, Thetis, dipped him in the river Styx to make him immortal. However, she held him by the ankle, and hence, that part remained untouched, and proved to be his vulnerable area. This is where the term ‘Achilles’ Heel’ comes from, which means a point of weakness despite overall strength, which could lead to downfall.

Thetis foretold her son’s fate which could go in two ways… he could either attain glory and die young or live a long mundane life doing nothing remarkable. Achilles chose the former.

Achilles and his friend, Patroclus, were trained in the arts of war and medicine by the centaur Chiron.

The Iliad deals with the war between the Greeks and the Trojans, where Achilles fought fiercely, and killed Prince Hector, the brave son of King Priam of Troy. One reason was that Achilles’ wrath knew no bounds when his beloved friend, Patroclus, was killed in battle. According to legend, it was the infamous prince Paris who killed Achilles to avenge the death of his brother, Hector. It is believed that Apollo, the guardian deity of Troy, helped him to direct his arrow at Achilles’ heel, his vulnerable spot.

                                                                               Achilles and Patroclus - Pinterest

Homer’s Iliad does not mention the death of Achilles. However, there is a mention of his funeral in the Odyssey.

                                                                                                 AbeBooks

Trivia:  

 Phonetic pronunciation of Achilles: əˈkɪliːz 

Apollo is the god of archery, music and dance, truth and prophecy, healing and diseases, the Sun and light, poetry and more. He is one of the Olympian deities. (Wikipedia)

In the 2004 movie ‘Troy’, Brad Pitt plays Achilles and the scene in which he rides up to the cityof Troy and fights Hector ( Eric Bana) is a scene that remains a highlight of the movie.

'The Song of Achilles' by Madeline Miller retells the story of the friendship of Achilles and Patroclus set in the background of the Trojan war.

                                                                                          Goodreads

This post is a part of Blogchatter A2Z Challenge 2026.

BLOGCHATTER A2Z 2026 - THEME REVEAL

 
The Process of Writing - #BlogchatterA2Z

When I was young, (literally, and not just at heart!) the stories that fascinated me the most were the Greek legends that were replete with adventure, fantasy and magic realism. The Greek heroes and heroines appeared larger than life, their monsters horrific, and the jealousy and the passion of their gods made them seem more childish than humans.

The Iliad and the Odyssey were replete with adventure and action, but what drew my eye was the little back stories and the myths that came alive within the lines of the two epics, just as intriguing as those within our own epics – The Ramayana and The Mahabharata.

                                                                                The New York Public Library - Unsplash

When I was preparing for the Blogchatter A2Z challenge this year for the fifth time, the only alphabet I could not find any myths for the letters W and X, and I knew that I had to let my imagination run riot for those. However, by the time I reach there, I am sure a timely bulb will flicker in my mind. 😊

The #BlogchatterA2Z Challenge has writers sharpening their pens to write 26 posts across the month of April on all days except Sundays, which are rest and cheat days! 😊The process is fascinating as they can choose any theme under the sun, (and elsewhere!), or just write about anything off the top of their heads without an actual theme. The only stipulation is that every letter of the alphabet must be covered over the month.

April, not being the cruellest month, as TS Eliot termed it, is a month when I can sit back and attempt this challenge mindfully. Like all my students, I revel in the freedom that brings my spirits alive as I start my vacation along with them, and what better way to do so than by diving into an enjoyable activity that keeps my mind and body ticking?

So, as I sit down and pen my 26 posts, along with other deadlines which, I hope, will not whoosh away into the horizon, I look forward to rereading content that I have always loved, which, I again hope, will intrigue my readers and compel them to get lost in an ancient Grecian world.

Looking forward to #BlogchatterA2Z2026 over a period of frenetic writing and reading!

This post is a part of Blogchatter A2Z Challenge 2026.

FINDING THE PLOT IN A WORLD OF BOOKS!

 

My Book World

I still remember the first time in my life I could not put a book down. It was my Enid Blyton phase, and the book was ‘The Secret of Moon Castle’. Eerie dim lit rooms, clanking suits of armour, paintings flying off the wall and eyes moving within portraits… all designed to leave me awake, my heart in my mouth all night. The next morning would find me racoon-eyed, yet desperately needing to go and scare my friends with the story that had left me so.

                                                                                              World of Blyton

 Of course, I was no stranger to tales that sent a chill up my little spine. Before I began to decipher words on my own, my maternal grandfather, a litterateur in his own right, would seat me beside him and describe the events of poems as eventful as ‘The Highwayman’, The Lady of Shalott’ and ‘Lord Ullin’s daughter’, all of which were specially meant to scare the heebie-jeebies out of impressionable young minds. After all, they all had elements of suspense, violence and death. However, the way in which he recounted the stories made me hang on to his every word and fall in love with English poetry even at that age.

https://kathleenbaldwin.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Alfred-Noyes-The-Highwayman-on-blue-background.pdf

                                                                          The Lady of Shalott - Wikipedia

My mother, his daughter after all, took the baton from him. On balmy nights, we would sit in the garden where she would transport me into a world that seemed so far from what I was used to. The two images that still remain in my mind are from two of my favourite classics of all times – The Count of Monte Cristo where a young Edmond Dantes is shipped off to the Château d'If, a grim prison, that looms before him, where he is sentenced to spend the rest of his life for a crime that he has not committed. The second image that populated my dreams for ages was that of Quasimodo, the mishappen hunchback of Notre Dame, who falls in love with the exquisite Esmeralda and discovers that he has a heart after all. Two brilliant stories that carried the gamut of all human experiences - love, betrayal, greed, passion and retribution.

                                                                                                DC Books

                                                                                                 Goodreads

I had the opportunity to spend two years with my paternal grandparents while in school since my father was posted in a station that had not many good schools. While there, I discovered myriad books on Indian mythology, including the seven volumes of Krishnavatara by K M Munshi. While I was aware of the epics, having read them in their simplest form, I understood that there was so much more to the playful Krishna than I had ever imagined. Like a wonderstruck Arjuna witnessing him in his resplendent Vishwaroopa, I peeled off the layers, my young mind delighting in nuggets of wisdom disguised as wonderful stories.

                                                                                                           Hindu

Amar Chitra Katha nestled beside Archie comics, Greek and World folktales opened new worlds and Little Women and Pride and Prejudice found space alongside Ruskin Bond, Tagore and RK Narayan. What was amazing was that my parents bought me (and my sisters) books every month, not based on their prices but on the content they had to offer. Birthdays found us waiting to tear open our gifts and to squeal in glee when we found the exact books that we had been longing to read. It was a beautiful childhood, indeed!

                                                                                                    The Statesman

                                                                                                          Unsplash

Humour came in the form of the inimitable PG Wodehouse, who regaled us with his witticisms, his sagas on Bertie Wooster and his stoic Jeeves, his adventures of witty damsels, absent minded earls, indomitable aunts and frankly ‘dodgy’ characters who could not be trusted. Many a time I found myself chuckling to myself on a train, or in my balcony, over the descriptions which only Wodehouse, with a straight face, could come up with.

 

Waterstones

From very early in life, I realised that I wanted to be a writer. I began with writing my first poem at the age of ten, and today, many decades later, I needed to give back something to the world of literature, albeit in a small way, a kind of homage, perhaps. That is how, with the help of Readomania Publishers, I brought out three adaptations for young readers, just so they could delve into them and decide whether they need to go the whole hog and dive into the originals. Needless to say, these adaptations are extremely close to my heart. 

                                                                                    Amazon.in

Today, my greatest regret is that reading sometimes takes a back seat, with life having decided to butt in, in so many ways. I take longer to finish a book, and sometimes, I do need to re-read certain parts to take the essence in. While the books I had read in my youth and childhood stay on, firmly entrenched in my imagination, some of the books I read recently do not. Is that because my concentration levels have come down, or are the books to blame? Maybe more the former, I guess!

Dan Brown, Khaled Hosseini, Arundhati Roy, Coleen Hoover, Kristin Hannah, Chitra Banerjee, JK Rowling, Haruki Murakami, Kazuo Ishiguro, Shashi Tharoor, Abraham Varghese, Ashwin Sanghi, Amish Tripathi… the list of popular writers is open-ended. Readomania Publishers helmed by the intrepid Dipankar Mukherjee, is one publishing house bringing out interesting and intriguing books in myriad genres for adults and children.

Today, more people are writing than ever before, and it is impossible to get your head around all the books written across the world.

 So finally, when a window opens, I read what I can, and when the going gets too tough, I fall back on my favourite genre – mystery and thrillers – and pick up either Agatha Christie, Stephen King or Mary Higgins Clark.

 This post is a part of ''Plot Twist Blog Hop hosted by Manali Desai and Sukaina Majeed under #EveryConversationMatters.