[6] She was born a mortal woman and eventually granted immortality, with beauty that rivaled even Aphrodite, goddess of love.

[8] In the myth, she was given multiple trials to be with her beloved, Cupid (the Roman counterpart of the Greek Eros), god of physical love and desire and son of Venus.

The youngest, Psyche, possessed beauty that surpassed that of her sisters which resulted in those around her, including priests, comparing her to Aphrodite (referred to as Venus in The Golden Ass).

[citation needed] Psyche's beauty attracted people from all over distant lands to give gifts and offerings.

Although everyone kept admiring Psyche's beauty, it became apparent that she couldn't find a suitor because they were happy to merely worship her instead of asking her hand in marriage[citation needed] The king and queen, deeply disturbed by this, decided to consult the Oracle of Delphi, also known as Pythia[7] at the Temple of Apollo for answers.

[citation needed] Zephyrus, the Greek lord of the west wind, carried her away from the rock and moved her to a place where she fell into a deep sleep.

[15] Psyche's first weeks within the palace were filled with pleasures, and although she feared him at first, she eventually came to fall in love with the invisible man and soon fell pregnant.

In anger and jealousy, they recalled the Oracle's words and claimed that Psyche's husband was not a kind man but in fact a monster, and that she should approach him in his sleep and kill him.

[citation needed] Psyche, although doubtful, was eventually swayed by her sisters' words and looked upon Cupid while he was sleeping, sneaking into his room with an oil lamp and a knife.

Betrayed by his wife's actions, Cupid took off in flight to be attended to by his mother, due to his burns from the oil lamp.

Psyche broke down in despair, but ants sent by Demeter witnessed the exchange and took pity on the girl, instructing her colony to help sort the grain.

[10] This time, she was ordered to approach a pack of rams known for being violent and shear their golden fleece to bring back to the goddess.

Psyche listened to the river god and waited until it got cooler before she was able to safely shear the fleece off the backs of the rams.

This time, it was Zeus who took pity on the girl and sent his eagle to retrieve the water for her in the crystal cup, thus successfully completing the third task.

When he found Psyche, he gently awoke her with an arrow and took the box to Aphrodite before going in search of Zeus to plead his case.

At this assembly, Zeus warned Aphrodite not to ever bring harm to Psyche again before handing the girl the drink of the gods, ambrosia, which granted her immortality.

According to the writer Fulgentius, the story could be read through a Christian lens in which Psyche is compared to Adam because both had curiosities that led them to be banished from paradise.

[10] The Italian poet Giovanni Boccaccio proposed that the marriage between Psyche and Cupid could be seen as the bond between the soul and God.