View source for Anteros

{{short description|Ancient Greek god of returned love}}
{{other uses}}

{{Infobox deity
| type             = Greek
| name             = Anteros
| image            = File:Eros-piccadilly-circus.jpg
| alt              = 
| caption          = ''Anteros'' by [[Alfred Gilbert]], 1893; from the [[Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain]] in [[Piccadilly Circus]].
| god_of           = God of [[love|requited love]], avenger of [[unrequited love]]
| symbol           = golden club with arrows of lead
| consort          = 
| parents          = [[Ares]] and [[Aphrodite]]
| children         = 
| mount            = 
| Roman_equivalent = 
}}
In [[Greek mythology]], '''Anteros''' ({{IPAc-en|'|æ|n|t|ə|r|ɒ|s}};<ref>{{cite book |page=136 |title=Universal Pronouncing Dictionary of Biography and Mythology| first=J. |last=Thomas |year=1870 |publisher=J. B. Lippincott |location=Philadelphia |volume=i |hdl=2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t59c6sd4v?urlappend=%3Bseq=150 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t59c6sd4v?urlappend=%3Bseq=150}}</ref> {{langx|grc|Ἀντέρως|Antérōs}}) is the god of requited love (literally "love returned" or "counter-love") and also the punisher of those who scorn love and the advances of others, or the avenger of [[unrequited love]].<ref>Graf, para. 1.</ref>

==Myth==
[[File:Eros and Antieros, Marble relief, Knossos, 2nd century AD, AMH, 145406.jpg|thumb|Eros and Anteros on a second-century AD marble relief from [[Knossos]], Crete.]]

Anteros was the son of [[Ares]] and [[Aphrodite]] in Greek mythology, given as a playmate to his brother [[Eros (god)|Eros]], who was lonely&nbsp;– the rationale being that love must be answered if it is to prosper. Alternatively, he was said to have arisen from the mutual love between [[Poseidon]] and [[Nerites (mythology)|Nerites]].<ref>[[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], ''On Animals'', 14. 28</ref> Physically, he is depicted as similar to Eros in every way, but with long hair and [[Plumage|plumed]] butterfly wings.{{cn|date=March 2025}} He has been described also as armed with either a golden club or arrows of lead. Anteros and Eros are usually depicted as winged boys in the company of Aphrodite or her attendant goddesses. 

According to [[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyrius]], Aphrodite once complained to [[Themis]] that Eros remained a perpetual child, so Themis advised her to give him a brother. Aphrodite then gave birth to Anteros, and whenever he was near Eros, Eros grew. But if Anteros was away, Eros shrank back to his previous, smaller size.<ref>{{cite book | page = [https://archive.org/details/cu31924029135651/page/n269/mode/2up 266] | last1 = Dwight | first1 = Mary Ann | last2 = Dickson White | first2 = Andrew | title = Grecian and Roman mythology | location = New York | publisher = Putnam | date = 1849 | url = http://archive.org/details/cu31924029135651}}</ref>

An altar to Anteros was put up by the [[metic]]s in [[Athens]] in commemoration of the spurned love of the metic [[Timagoras]], who was rejected by the Athenian [[Meles (mythology)|Meles]]. According to the myth, upon hearing Timagoras' declaration of love for him, the young man mockingly ordered him to throw himself down from the top of a tall rock. Seeing Timagoras dead, Meles repented and threw himself down from the same rock.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'', 1.30.1.</ref>

Describing the nature of the emotion, [[Plato]] asserts that it is the result of the great love for another person. The lover, inspired by beauty, is filled with divine love and "filling the soul of the loved one with love in return." As a result, the loved one falls in love with the lover, though the love is only spoken of as [[friendship]]. They experience pain when the two are apart, and relief when they are together, the mirror image of the lover's feelings, is anteros, or "counter-love".<ref>Phaedrus, 255.</ref>

==Legacy==
Anteros is the subject of the [[Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain]] in [[Piccadilly Circus]], London, where he symbolises the selfless philanthropic love of the [[Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury|Earl of Shaftesbury]] for the poor. The memorial is sometimes given the name The Angel of [[Charity (virtue)|Christian Charity]] but is popularly mistaken for Eros.<ref>{{cite book |first1=John |last1=Lloyd |first2=John |last2=Mitchinson |year=2006 |title=The Book of General Ignorance |location=London |publisher=Faber |isbn=9780571233687 |quote=Because of the bow and the nudity... everybody assumed it was Eros, the Greek god of love.}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Himeros]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|25em}}

== References ==
* Graf, Fritz, "Anteros", in ''[[Brill's New Pauly]]: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Antiquity, Volume 1'', A &ndash; Ari, edited by Hubert Cancik and Helmuth Schneider, Brill, 2002. {{ISBN|9004122583}}.

{{Ancient Greek personifications}}
{{Greek mythology (deities)}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Avian humanoids]]
[[Category:Children of Aphrodite]]
[[Category:Children of Ares]]
[[Category:Children of Poseidon]]
[[Category:Deeds of Eros]]
[[Category:Greek love and lust gods]]
[[Category:LGBTQ themes in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Olympian deities]]
[[Category:Personifications in Greek mythology]]