Cupid and His Famous Arrow Shots

Here we have a first example of Greek bunkum that better belongs six feet under rather than on our bookshelves or in our libraries.

We know Cupid as a delightful little fellow, who makes people fall in love by striking them with his arrows.

Cupid, also known as Cupido, Cupidus or Amor, is the Roman clone of the Greek figure Eros and the god of love, or better yet, the god of uncontrollably falling in love, because he has no control over what comes thereafter.

This story was at first constructed by the Greeks and the Romans – as they always did – have copied it from them. In order to limit the confusion, we will stick to the Greek original story, but will call the chief character by his Roman name Cupid and not by his Greek name Eros, because this label is more familiar to us.

According to Homer, Cupid (Eros in his Greek version) was one of the five earliest gods (the god of desire), who emerged through time from gaping emptiness and chaos together with his god-colleagues ‘Gaia’ (Earth), ‘Nyx’ (Night), ‘Tartaros’ (Underworld) and ‘Erebos’ (Darkness).

As time passed, he sank to the level of a handsome, but still godlike young man, up until the time of the Greek classic. Later, in the Hellenistic period, he became the figure that we know today – a small child with bow and arrow. He kept this equipment from his time as deity, because it is a divine symbol and trademark of mythological figures.

Bow and arrow served him well for his long-distance transfer of love. The gods had flash and thunder and this little fellow used the most powerful hand weapon of its time. There was also this contrast between the harmless little lad and the power he was able to exercise with the help of his archery equipment.

Cupid did...

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...n and the arrow is pointing to the restrooms, marked ‘00’.

The standard indication you usually find on the doors of restrooms is the ‘WC’-sign for water closet. The ‘00’ in turn is the sign you often see on doors of lower level toilets behind beer tents and similar locations.

Like many words in the domain of hygiene, the word ‘toilet’ comes from the French language and likewise the indication ‘00’.

In the old days, the large hotels in France already had the toilets inside the building, but usually just one on each floor, close to the elevators and the stairways. As the numbering of the rooms started from there, the toilets had been given the number ‘00’.

Could we not follow the Oktoberfest-example – in a slightly modified fashion – and put antique Greek gods on posts, with a book of Greek myths in their hand, pointing the way to waste disposal sites?