The ‘Apuleian’ Cupid and Psyche before Apuleius

This paper focuses on the origin of the story of Cupid and Psyche, as embedded at the centre of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses. It contends that the narrative core of Psyche’s adventures can be traced back to some earlier Greco-Roman source(s) rather than – or more importantly than – to North-African folklore, which has recently been claimed to be the source of Apuleius. The analysis starts from an illustrated papyrus fragment from Oxyrhynchus (PSI VIII 919; second century AD), which portrays Psyche at the moment of disclosing the identity of her mysterious husband: the very scene depicted in Apul. Met. 5.22–23. This papyrus almost certainly predates Apuleius’ novel and, in any case, features the same tradition evidenced by a number of iconographic items earlier than the Metamorphoses. These materials include: (1) two terracotta oil lamps from Egypt and Lebanon; (2) a mosaic from Antioch; and (3) a substantial set of gems from Italy. Close scrutiny of this and further evidence compellingly suggests that a coherent narrative cycle on Cupid and Psyche already circulated in the Greco-Roman world before Apuleius, and that Apuleius refashioned part of it to mould his bella fabella (Met. 6.25.1) within the complex narrative frame of the Metamorphoses.