Mythology Book

53

See also: Hades and the Underworld 48–49 ■ The abduction of Persephone

50 –51 ■ The descent of Inanna 182–87 ■ Osiris and the Underworld 276–83

G

reek mythology’s great

bard, Orpheus, was born of

the relationship between

Calliope, the Muse of poetry, and

Oeagrus, a Thracian river god.

Orpheus’s most heartfelt verses

were dedicated to Eurydice, who

became his wife—only to be killed

by a snakebite on her wedding day.

Lyrical lamentation

Wandering through the woods,

Orpheus mourned Eurydice in

impassioned song, which surpassed

anything he had ever composed.

The music was so moving that the

nymphs and gods wept to hear it.

Eventually, Orpheus decided to

travel to the Underworld to beg

Hades and his queen to take mercy

on him and return Eurydice to life.

In the Underworld, Orpheus

played for Hades and Persephone.

The queen was so touched by the

music that she begged her husband

to break the rules of the Underworld

and release Eurydice. Hades agreed,

on the condition that Orpheus not

lay eyes on Eurydice while she

remained in the Underworld.

Orpheus led his bride through the

caverns of darkness and despair,

slowly winding upward toward the

earth’s surface. Eurydice followed

after him at a distance, so that he

would not look upon her.

At last, Orpheus caught a

glimpse of daylight up ahead.

Happily, he glanced back at his

wife, only to realize even as he

saw her that she was lost to him—

pulled back down, despairing, into

the realms of death. ■

ANCIENT GREECE

TURNING ’ROUND, HE

CAUGHT A GLIMPSE OF

HIS WIFE AND SHE HAD

TO RETURN BELOW

ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE

IN BRIEF

THEME

The finality of death

SOURCES

Argonautica, Apollonius of

Rhodes, ca. 250 bce; Library,

Pseudo-Apollodorus, ca. 10 0 ce.

SETTING

Greece and the Underworld.

KEY FIGURES

Orpheus A renowned

musician; the son of Calliope

and Oeagrus.

Eurydice The bride of

Orpheus; killed on her

wedding day.

Hades The king of the

Underworld.

Persephone The young

wife of Hades and queen

of the Underworld. Orpheus plays his lyre in a

3rd-century ce Roman mosaic

from Antakya, Turkey. The bard is

surrounded by wild animals that

are entranced by his sublime music.

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