Large Blue
Phengaris arion
Status: Endangered, unknown factors causing population decrease, possibly pollution, insecticides, collectors. Many species of butterflies that are not currently threatened are under close watch as predicted climate change models put them in danger of sharp population declines.
In the ancient Roman novel by Apuleius, is the tale of the romance of Psyche and Cupid.
Psyche was born a mortal woman who was so beautiful that Venus, goddess of love and beauty, became envious. Other mortals started worshiping Psyche instead of Venus, and so the goddess became wrathful and sent her son Cupid, god of love and desire, to make the mortal girl fall in love with an ugly monster. Instead, Cupid, stunned by her beauty, accidentally pricked himself with his arrows, and fell in love with her.
Told by an oracle that she must be left alone upon a mountain, she was spirited away to live alone, only visited by her invisible bridegroom (Cupid) in the darkness of night. Tempted by her jealous sisters who insisted he remained hidden because he was a monster, she defied her husband's instructions that she must never look upon him. By furtive lamplight as he slept, she discovered it was not some horribly disfigured monster she was married to, but the most beautiful of gods.
As hot oil spilled upon him, Cupid instantly sprang awake and fled from her, and thus Psyche began a series of tasks set upon her by Venus, to win him back. Psyche persisted through grueling labors and eventually won divinity, taking her place at Cupid's side as a goddess.
References:
Apuleius. "Metamorphoses", Book Six. (Ancient Roman novel)
"Psyche", Encyclopedia Britannica, 2023. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Psyche-classical-mythology
Edwards, M. J. (1992). The Tale of Cupid and Psyche. Zeitschrift Für Papyrologie Und Epigraphik, 94, 77-94. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20188784