Eros fire.” (Nonnus, "Dionysiaca" 48. 470 ff – a Greek epic of the 5th century AD) The story of Eros and Psyche has a longstanding tradition as a folktale of the ancient Greco-Roman world long before it was committed to literature in Apuleius' Latin novel, "The Golden Ass". The novel itself is written in a picaresque Roman style, yet Psyche retains her Greek name. Eros and Aphrodite are called by their Latin names (Cupid and Venus), and Cupid is depicted as a young adult, rather than a child. The story tells of the struggle for love and trust between Eros and
Agape and Eros two ancient Greek words for love, "eros" and "agape" (unconditional love). Nygren argues that "eros" is an egocentric and acquisitive kind of love, needs-based and desire-based. When we love out of "eros" - whether we love a god or another human being -, we love out of self-interest and in order to acquire and possess the object of our love. This form of love received its classic expression in the philosophy of Plato, particularly in his dialogue The Symposium. "Agape", by contrast, is a self-giving and self-sacrificial kind of love. It is based on God's unconditional love for all creatures.