Eros - Cupid

A Roman fresco from Herculaneum with cupids around a lyre. It dates to the 1st century AD and is now on display in the National Archeological Museum in Naples, Italy. In early Greek art, Eros wasn’t an infant. He was a winged adolescent, representing powerful desire. He was sometimes depicted as small and shown annoying his mother Aphrodite. By the Hellenistic period, Eros had grown much softer and childlike. In Roman culture, Eros turned into the Cupid we recognize today.