Eros and the Immortal Tales of Love and Loss

The Power of Love/Eros

Eros, invincible in battle...
Love has been celebrated, glorified, turned into mourning, memory, worship. Sometimes it conquers time, other times it leaves only silence behind.

2nd century AD – The Roman emperor Hadrian falls in love with the young Antinous. They travel together, until the day Antinous is lost in the waters of the Nile. From grief, immortality is born; Hadrian creates statues of him, founds a city in his name, and elevates the young Antinous to the status of a demi-god. A love that became a religion...

And up high, in the same celestial sphere, another story. Phaethon, the son of the Sun, falls from his father’s chariot, struck by a lightning bolt. Cygnus, his most devoted friend, grieves so deeply that the gods take pity on him. They transform him into a swan and place him in the heavens, where he still shines as a constellation.

But love is not always tragedy. In the Song of Songs, one of the most lyrical texts in the Bible, the language is a celebration, and the lovers paint unique pictures with their dialogues:

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—
for your love is more delightful than wine.
Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes;
your name is like perfume poured out.
[…]
How beautiful you are, my darling!
Oh, how beautiful!
Your eyes behind your veil are doves.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
descending from the hills of Gilead.
[…]
Your breasts are like two fawns,
like twin fawns of a gazelle
that browse among the lilies.
[…]


From antiquity to the present, through poetry, music, and art in general, love remains the greatest creator. But above all, it is what makes us remember, mourn, celebrate, and live.

[image: Antinous from the Delphi Museum]