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Jeffery D. Long, Professor of Religion and Asian Studies, Elizabethtown College

This god shoots love darts – but no, it's not Cupid

Cupid Shiva Kamadeva
The love god Kamadeva prepares to shoot Shiva with a love dart. British Museum/Wikimedia Commons

With the coming of Valentine’s Day, images of a chubby Cupid aiming his arrows of love at unwary humans’ hearts seem to be everywhere.

The Cupid that Americans see splashed across greeting cards and chocolate boxes began life as a Roman God of love and desire, based on his Greek counterpart, Eros. The word erotic is even drawn from his name.

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