In other legends in which Love plays a part, such as the stories of Jason and Medeia,[[477]] Phaidra and Hippolytos,[[478]] Peleus and Thetis (or Theseus and Ariadne),[[479]] Pelops and Hippodameia,[[480]] Paris and Helen,[[481]] he is also to be seen; as also at the carrying off of Persephone.[[482]] Moreover, he occurs in several scenes where the reason is not so apparent, as at the birth of Erichthonios,[[483]] in the Garden of the Hesperides,[[484]] at the suckling of Herakles by Hera,[[485]] with Herakles and a Centaur,[[486]] and in the nether world[[487]]; also with deities such as Zeus, Athena, Nike, Helios and Selene, and Dionysos[[488]]; anointing the head of Apollo.[[489]] The cosmogonic conception of Eros and his connection with Gaia is referred to in the next chapter under the latter heading (p. [73]). Two Erotes draw the chariot of Demeter and Persephone[[490]]; and he is also seen in company with the Nereids.[[491]] His presence in Dionysiac scenes, especially on the later vases, is often to be noted, though without any special meaning to be attached to it[[492]]; in one instance he is carried on the back of a Seilenos.[[493]] In many of these scenes he merely accompanies Aphrodite, and they do not therefore require enumeration. Lastly, he is seen in company with Sappho,[[494]] the great poetess of Love.
In non-mythological scenes he is found almost as frequently, especially in toilet scenes,[[495]] or what we may regard as “scenes of courting”; but on the later vases these exhibit little or no action, and are not worth considering in detail, with a few exceptions. Thus we see Eros in marriage processions,[[496]] in musical scenes,[[497]] and at banquets[[498]]; at a sacrifice to a term[[499]]; watching girls play the game of morra[[500]] (“How many fingers do I hold up?”); swinging them, or being danced on their feet[[501]]; in scenes of fruit- and incense-gathering[[502]]; or pouring wine into a krater.[[503]] He appears with Agon (see p. [89]) training in the palaestra.[[504]] He pursues a youth or a girl,[[505]] embraces a girl,[[506]] or is carried by her pick-a-back[[507]]; offers a hare to a youth,[[508]] or drives a youth with a whip from an altar[[509]]; and in one instance is about to chastise with a slipper two youths who are playing with a top and hoop[[510]]; these two latter scenes may be regarded as implying the power of Eros over youth. He is also seen shooting an arrow at a woman,[[511]] an idea characteristic of Anacreontic and Alexandrine poetry. Another scene which recalls the wall-paintings of the Hellenistic Age is on a vase in the British Museum, representing two Erotes being weighed in scales.[[512]]
As a single figure he pursues a hare or kills a snake[[513]]; crouches before a plant[[514]]; is represented armed with shield and spear[[515]]; or places a sash or wreath on a tripod.[[516]] He is borne in a chariot by horses or swans,[[517]] or rides on a horse, deer, dog, or swan.[[518]] He is also seen playing various games, such as the kottabos or morra,[[519]] see-sawing or playing knucklebones,[[520]] or with a ball or hoop or toy-boat.[[521]] Or he plays the flute or lyre[[522]]; or plays with animals, such as a deer, dove, swan[[523]]; or finally (on Apulian vases) with a toy which resembles a wheel, and was probably used for magic purposes, as several passages of literature indicate.[[524]]
FIG. 118. EROS WITH KOTTABOS-STAND (BRIT. MUS.).
Lastly, we must give a survey of the frequent representations of Eros flying through the air carrying some attribute, which are so universal on the Italian vases, though some of the earliest types also represent him in this manner. Thus he carries a hare, or dove or other bird[[525]]; fruit (such as grapes or pomegranates), flowers, and branches[[526]]; wreaths, dishes of fruit, baskets, vases of various forms, and a spit of meat[[527]]; thyrsi, tambourines, lyres, torches, incense-burners, strigils, and ladders[[528]]; fans, parasols, mirrors, toilet-boxes, strings of beads, and sashes, or balls.[[529]]
Among the other associates of Aphrodite the chief are Peitho, Pothos, and Himeros, of whom mention has already been made. Peitho, except where her name is given, is not always easy to identify; the other two are not differentiated from Eros in form, and are, in fact, only variations of the conception of Love, as are the more rarely occurring Phthonos (Amor invidiosus)[[530]] and Talas (Amor infelix), the latter of whom is associated with Sappho.[[531]] Peitho is found with Himeros in one instance,[[532]] and in another with Eukleia[[533]]; she also accompanies Aphrodite in Eleusinian and other scenes,[[534]] at the deliverance of Andromeda,[[535]] in the Garden of the Hesperides,[[536]] and at the rape of Helen[[537]] and the Leukippidae,[[538]] and at the recovery of Helen by Menelaos[[539]]; she consoles her when mourning for Adonis[[540]]; and is present at the moment of her birth.[[541]] Like Eros, she is seen in company with Sappho,[[542]] and she also appears with Meleager and Atalante.[[543]]
Pothos and Himeros are seen floating over the sea with Eros on a fine R.F. vase in the British Museum,[[544]] and at the Judgment of Paris[[545]]; and grouped together generally as Erotes, they may be distinguished on some late vases. Pothos attends at the toilet of Helen,[[546]] and plays the flutes in a Dionysiac scene.[[547]] Himeros is seen swinging Paidia (another of Aphrodite’s following)[[548]]; at the marriage of Herakles and Hebe[[549]]; presenting a crown to Dionysos,[[550]] or removing his shoes,[[551]] and accompanying him in a scene of preparation for the Satyric drama.[[552]]