How Cupid became the heart of Valentine’s Day

Each February, his face pops up everywhere. On greeting cards and chocolates. As balloon shapes, cartoon prints, and cake toppers. His eyes sparkle. His cheeks are round. He’s holding a golden bow, ready to spark new affection or rekindle old flames. This is Cupid—Valentine’s Day’s most recognizable icon. But how did a mischievous ancient god become the baby-faced ambassador of modern romance?

Cupid’s story is more than just myth—it’s a tale of transformation. Over centuries, he’s evolved from a powerful deity of desire to a soft-spoken symbol of love. And while his chubby, childlike form may seem innocent today, his origins are far more dramatic. Let’s go deeper into the history of Valentine Cupid—and uncover why this winged matchmaker still makes hearts flutter.

Cupid’s earliest incarnation wasn’t Roman. He began as Eros, the Greek god of love. In early Greek art and myth, Eros was no innocent cherub. He was a striking youth, often portrayed with strong wings, intense eyes, and arrows that inspired passion or rejection at his whim.

Eros could pierce mortals or gods. He was desire personified. In some stories, he helped bring lovers together. In others, he caused emotional havoc. He was both matchmaker and agent of chaos. One of his more famous myths involves making the sun god Apollo fall hopelessly in love with the nymph Daphne—only to make her run from him in terror.

But around the Hellenistic period (roughly 323 to 31 BCE), Eros began to change. Artists started depicting him as a plump, winged child. This wasn’t random cuteness. According to classics professor Dr. Catherine Connors, representing Eros as a child was a way to “limit the power that love was thought to have over us.” In other words, the more love was depicted as immature and silly, the less threatening it became.

The Romans borrowed and renamed much of Greek mythology. Eros became Cupidus, or Cupid, from the Latin word for “desire.” His story remained much the same—he was still the child of Venus (the Roman goddess of love) and Mercury (the messenger god). But the way he was represented became more fixed. Cupid became a single, iconic figure: a cherubic baby with golden wings, a bow and arrows, and a taste for meddling. Unlike his Greek origin, Cupid was rarely portrayed as dangerous. Instead, he was mischievous and playful—more prankster than destroyer.

His arrows came in two kinds: one tipped with gold to make people fall in love, and another tipped with lead to make them feel nothing. He could inspire a crush or extinguish it completely. The emotional implications were still serious. But by making Cupid look like a toddler, artists softened the impact of his power. He became love’s mascot.

Cupid’s wings aren’t just decorative. Like Eros, he was always shown with the ability to fly. But why? Wings symbolize the fleeting nature of love—how it can lift us, drift from us, or vanish in a moment. Love, the ancients believed, had wings because desire never settles for long.

And there’s more. In later depictions, Cupid is often shown with Psyche, his mortal lover. In Greek, “psyche” means soul—and also butterfly. So the image of two winged figures in love—Cupid and Psyche—represented not only romantic union, but a spiritual one. As Connors explains, “Images of Eros and Psyche in love are a way of expressing the idea that being in love transforms us as people.” Even today, we still echo this. We say someone is “swept off their feet” or that “love lifts us.” We imagine love as wings—not roots. And that, too, comes from Cupid.

Although he’s now inseparable from Valentine’s Day, Cupid wasn’t always a symbol of romantic love. In the myths, Eros and Cupid represented raw desire—not necessarily gentle romance. They were forces of attraction that could overwhelm logic and choice. And their love stories weren’t always sweet. In one Roman legend, Cupid falls in love with Psyche. But because of the jealousy of his mother Venus, the couple is torn apart. Psyche undergoes difficult trials to reunite with him. The tale ends happily—but not without tension. Love, the myth reminds us, often comes with struggle.

It wasn’t until the Middle Ages that Cupid began to shift into his current form—as a figure of courtly love. The poet Chaucer helped cement the idea that Valentine’s Day was a time for romantic pairing. Later, artists and writers fused the mythological Cupid with the more sentimental mood of the holiday. By the 19th century, when Valentine’s Day cards were being mass-produced, Cupid was fully reborn. His image—chubby, harmless, and endearing—became the go-to emblem of affection.

Cupid has long outlived his mythological roots. He’s not just a historical figure—he’s a cultural shape-shifter. In literature, one of his most famous appearances is in “The Golden Ass”, a novel written around 160 CE by Apuleius. The story includes the extended romance of Cupid and Psyche, filled with invisibility, betrayal, and redemption. It’s arguably the first fairy tale.

Centuries later, that same myth inspired “Beauty and the Beast”—first penned in 1740 and later adapted by Disney. According to Dr. Connors, the enchanted servants in Beauty and the Beast trace their origins to Cupid’s invisible helpers in Apuleius’s tale. Even the theme—love that sees beyond appearances—owes a debt to the Cupid myth. In modern times, Cupid appears everywhere: in movies, in memes, and even at Las Vegas wedding chapels. He’s more than a god now. He’s an aesthetic.

Cupid’s face has become one of the most enduring images of love—and not just on February 14. You’ll find him on everything from Valentine’s Day socks to flower delivery boxes. His form has become digital too: emojis, gifs, filters. Every year, he gets reimagined—sometimes gender-flipped, sometimes turned into a cartoon sidekick.

But despite the updates, his core symbolism remains the same: love as a sudden force, often beyond our control, occasionally inconvenient, and frequently beautiful. The reason Cupid persists is not because he’s adorable. It’s because he captures something deeply human. Love, like him, doesn’t always behave. It arrives uninvited, alters our plans, and challenges our routines. It’s soft, sharp, surprising. Just like an arrow.

There’s a quiet beauty in the way Cupid brings ritual into modern life. Decorating, gifting, card writing—these are all forms of intentionality, acts of making emotion visible. And that’s what Cupid has always represented: not just love, but the choice to name it.

Every year, people fold paper hearts, pour wax into scented molds, and string lights across spaces that feel sacred for just one night. These aren’t grand gestures. They’re micro-rituals—repeating traditions that give shape to feelings we don’t always know how to express in words. Even something as simple as a handwritten note becomes part of a seasonal rhythm—a pause in time, a quiet offering.

Love becomes tangible when we place the roses just so. When we brew a second cup. When we tuck a heart-shaped cookie into a lunchbox. These rituals don’t perform romance—they anchor it. Because in the end, design isn’t just how something looks. It’s how it feels, again and again.

There’s a quiet beauty in the way Cupid brings ritual into modern life. Decorating, gifting, card writing—these are all forms of intentionality, acts of making emotion visible. And that’s what Cupid has always represented: not just love, but the choice to name it. Every year, people fold paper hearts, pour wax into scented molds, and string lights across spaces that feel sacred for just one night. These aren’t grand gestures. They’re micro-rituals—repeating traditions that give shape to feelings we don’t always know how to express in words. Even something as simple as a handwritten note becomes part of a seasonal rhythm—a pause in time, a quiet offering.

What we sometimes forget is that rituals aren’t about perfection. They’re about presence. In a world where affection often becomes content, Cupid reminds us that the most enduring love stories are made not in spectacle—but in small, repeatable acts. A kiss. A candle. A card. That’s love in design.