There are many symbols associated with Valentine's Day. These include Cupid, the heart, roses, lovebirds and many more. Possibly the most famous of the Valentine's Day symbols is the image of a heart, which has been pierced by Cupid's arrow.
Cupid is the son of Venus, the Goddess of Love in Greek mythology. He is depicted as being responsible for people falling in love. According to legend, anyone hit by Cupid's arrow falls in love with the first person he sees. He is thought to have initially matched odd couples to see how they worked out.
The common heart symbol does not bear a great resemblance to the human heart, which raises the question: where did the image originate The heart shape is often red, which usually represents passion and strong emotions. There are three main theories pertaining to the origin of the heart shape, none of which have yet been proven.
The first theory is that it is modeled after an actual heart. The image more closely resembles a cattle heart, which, in the past, was more readily available for viewing. However, the resemblance is still slight. Finally, there has been speculation that the heart shape might be due to botched drawings of the human heart during medieval times after being inaccurately described by an artist.
The second theory is that it depicts the female body. Some believe that the traditional image of the heart represents body features of a female. Since the female gives birth there is also speculation that this could be the association with the heart shape as well as love.
The third theory is that the image was derived from the seed of the Silphium plant. The plant was often used as seasoning, but also used as a contraceptive in ancient