What time is love?

I have a puzzle and I wonder if anyone knows the answer.

Was there a Roman or Greek precursor to Valentine’s Day AND what would be the ancient source that talks about it?

There’s the Lupercalia in Rome around the 15th of February, but I’m not sure there’s much reason to assume there’s a connection, and Bill Thayer seems even less convinced.

I know Wikipedia suggests that it relates to the Athenian month of Gamelion, celebrating the marriage of Zeus and Hera. I’m not sure about that either. I strongly suspect that our February 14 would be more likely to fall in Anthesterion than Gamelion, as I currently think Gamelion started with the first New Moon after the Winter Solstice.

The festival with the best name for an ancient Valentine’s Day is the Aphrodisia, but this falls in the middle of summer in the Greek Calendar. There’s also said to be a whole month of Aphrodision in Iasos, Caria according to Catherine Trümpy. I don’t know anything more about it, but it sounds like fun.