Valentine and Cupid
(c) Landessammlungen NÖ, Archäologischer Park Carnuntum (Foto: N.Gail)
St Valentine
St Valentine was Bishop of Terni, a city north of Rome. He was held in high esteem by both Christians and people of other faiths. When Emperor Claudius II demanded that he convert to the pagan faith, he resisted, was imprisoned and executed by beheading on 14 February 269 AD. Since, according to tradition, he married a couple against their parents' wishes and the goddess's followers gave each other flowers on 14 February at the festival of Juno in Rome, Valentine's Day became associated with the gift of flowers that is customary today.
Cupid with bow and arrow
Eros, Cupid or Cupid was the personification of love and sexual desire. The boy was regarded as the son of Aphrodite/Venus and Ares/Mars and is understood as the winged helper of the goddess of love, who acts childishly and playfully and occasionally causes unintentional damage with his father's bow and arrow.
Omnis amans amens - every lover is out of his mind. Plautus mercator 81.
Omnia vincit amor, et nos cedamus amori - everything conquers love, and so we too want to give in to love. Virgil Buc 10,69.
(c) Landessammlungen NÖ, Archäologischer Park Carnuntum (Foto: N.Gail)