02:21 · The lyre was the attribute of the Greek god Apollo. Hermes, , who later became the messenger of the Greek gods and, as Mercury, became the god of merchants and thieves in Rome, stole some oxen from Apollo. The dispute was settled when Hermes gave Apollo his own musical instrument, the lyre.
    Between 600 and 400 B.C. the lyre and the flower were the attributes of Eros, the god of sexual love. The Greek Eros and his Roman counterpart Amor, and also Cupid (derived from a Latin word for desire or lust) later got the bow and arrow as their attributes.
    See in Group 53 for a modern ideogram that incorporates this myth inherited from antiquity.
    The sign , a main element of this entry's sign structure, is a basic element in Western ideography.