Eros important than that of Aphrodite. However, in late antiquity, Eros was worshiped by a fertility cult in Thespiae. In Athens, he shared a very popular cult with Aphrodite, and the fourth day of every month was sacred to him (also shared by Herakles, Hermes and Aphrodite). According to Hesiod's "Theogony" (c. 700 BC), one of the most ancient of all Greek sources, Eros (the god of love) was the fourth god to come into existence, coming after Chaos, Gaia (the Earth), and Tartarus (the abyss). Homer does not mention Eros. However, Parmenides (c. 400 BC), one of the pre-Socratic philosophers,
Ancient Greek eros the primordial deity, the first god, older than all the others. Ancient Greek philosophers were also interested in the conception of eros, which became a central issue in their analyses. In particular, Plato devoted two of his dialogues, "Phaedrus" and "Symposium", to the philosophical dimensions of love, and in particular pederastic love. In "Phaedrus", the best eros of a man for a boy is said to be a form of divine madness that is a gift from the gods, and that its proper expression is rewarded by the gods in the afterlife; the "Symposium" details the method by which love