Psyche
Psyche was a princess so beautiful that Aphrodite was jealous — she married Eros in darkness and lost him when she looked, then won him back through impossible labours.
The Legend of Psyche
A mortal princess whose beauty rivalled Aphrodite's, Psyche was so admired that Aphrodite's temples emptied. The goddess sent Eros to make Psyche fall for a monster, but Eros pricked himself and fell in love. He visited her nightly in darkness, forbidding her to see his face. Her jealous sisters convinced her to light a lamp; a drop of oil woke Eros and he fled. Aphrodite set Psyche impossible tasks — sorting seeds, fetching golden wool, descending to Hades for Persephone's beauty. Zeus finally granted her immortality, and she joined Eros on Olympus. Their union symbolises the soul's quest for divine love.
Parents
A mortal king and queen
Children
Voluptas (by Eros)
Symbols
Fun Fact
"Psychology" and "psychiatry" both come from Psyche — the Greek word for soul/mind, and this princess who embodied the soul's journey to love.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Anchises
🗡 heroLove, royalty, Troy
Trojan prince beloved by Aphrodite and father of Aeneas, the legendary founder of Rome
Ariadne
🗡 herolove
Cretan princess who saved Theseus with a ball of thread, was abandoned on Naxos, and became the immortal wife of Dionysus.
Semele
🗡 heroMortal mother of Dionysus
Semele was a Theban princess who became the mortal mother of Dionysus — destroyed when she insisted on seeing Zeus in his true divine form.
Ariadne
🗡 heroPrincess who saved Theseus from the Labyrinth
Daughter of King Minos who fell in love with Theseus and gave him the thread that allowed him to escape the Labyrinth after slaying the Minotaur.
Tyro
🗡 herolove
Beautiful princess who fell in love with the river god Enipeus, only to be seduced by Poseidon disguised as the river.
Deianeira
🗡 herolove, destruction
The wife of Heracles whose love inadvertently killed the greatest hero in Greek mythology when she used the poisoned shirt of Nessus.
Anaxibia
🗡 heroMarriage, royalty
Mycenaean princess who married Strophius of Phocis and raised the young Orestes in secret
Alcmene
🗡 heroMother of Heracles
Alcmene was the mortal woman whom Zeus seduced by disguising himself as her husband — she bore Heracles, the greatest hero of Greek mythology.
Peleus
🗡 heroMortal who married a goddess
The king of Phthia who wrestled and won the sea-nymph Thetis, fathering Achilles — the greatest warrior of the Trojan War.
Medea
🗡 heroSorceress who helped Jason, then destroyed him
A powerful sorceress and princess of Colchis who betrayed her family to help Jason win the Golden Fleece, only to be abandoned by him and take catastrophic revenge.
Peleus
🗡 heroheroism
King of Phthia, Argonaut, and father of Achilles who wrestled the shape-shifting sea goddess Thetis to win her as his bride.
Heracles
🗡 heroGreatest of all Greek heroes
The son of Zeus and Alcmene who performed twelve impossible labours and was the only hero to achieve full godhood after death.