Eros Sleeping

Eros, the Greek god of love, was capable of overpowering the minds of all gods and mortals. According to an early myth, Gaia (goddess of the Earth) and Eros were the source of all creation. Literary references of the sixth and fifth centuries BCE. often portray Eros as a cruel, capricious being who causes burning desire. In Classical art he is usually represented as a beautiful winged youth. During the Hellenistic period (323–31 BCE) a new image of the god as a baby took hold. The popularity of that iconography is linked to the myth of Eros being the son of Aphrodite, born of her affair with Ares (god of war). The most innovative and influential representation of Eros during the Hellenistic and the Roman periods was of Eros sleeping.  Variations of the type are known from hundreds of sculptures, which, to judge from the number of extant replicas and adaptations, was one of the most popular ever produced in Roman Imperial times. It was also among the earliest of the ancient statues rediscovered during the Renaissance, when artists revisited the theme.  - Metropolitan Museum of Art


Small statuette of Eros sleeping, Roman 1st century BCE - 2nd century CE at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, courtesy of the museum.

Full length and closeup of Eros sleeping, his torch turned down symbolizing death on Roman funerary monuments 100-200 CE that I photographed at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England. 

Another sleeping eros from a funerary monument that has been heavily restored between 1650-1700 CE, the lower body, however, is Roman, 100-200 CE, that I also photographed at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.  


Silver Box with Sleeping Eros, Roman or Byzantine, said to have been found in Tartus, Syria, 300-400 CE that I photographed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  


Bronze statue of Eros sleeping, Greek Hellenistic or Augustan, 3rd century BCE-early 1st century CE said to be from Rhodes that I photographed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 


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