Orpheus tried to return to the underworld but was unable to, possibly because a person cannot enter the realm of Hades twice while alive. Only a few feet away from the exit, Orpheus lost his faith and turned to see Eurydice behind him, sending her back to be trapped in Hades' reign forever. Eurydice might have been behind him, but as a shade, having to come back into the light to become a full woman again. Unable to hear Eurydice's footsteps, however, he began to fear the gods had fooled him. Thinking it a simple task for a patient man like himself, Orpheus was delighted he thanked Hades and left to ascend back into the living world. The god told Orpheus that he could take Eurydice back with him, but under one condition: she would have to follow behind him while walking out from the caves of the underworld, and he could not turn to look at her as they walked. Orpheus played with his lyre a song so heartbreaking that even Hades himself was moved to compassion. He presented himself in front of the god of the Greek underworld, Hades and his wife, Persephone. ![]() He also managed to attract Cerberus, the three-headed dog, with a liking for his music. Any other mortal would have died, but Orpheus, being protected by the gods, went to Hades and arrived at the Stygian realm, passing by ghosts and souls of people unknown. Orpheus sang his grief with his lyre and managed to move everything, living or not, in the world both humans and gods learnt about his sorrow and grief.Īt some point, Orpheus decided to descend to Hades by music to see his wife. While fleeing or dancing, she was bitten by a snake and died instantly. Other versions of the story relate that Eurydice was merely dancing with the Nymphs. In some versions of the story, the shepherd Aristaeus saw her, and beguiled by her beauty, made advances towards her and began to chase her. However, when Hymen was called to bless the marriage, he predicted that their perfection was not meant to last.Ī short time after this prophecy, Eurydice was wandering in the forest with the Nymphs. It had been said that "nothing could resist Orpheus's beautiful melodies, neither enemies nor beasts." Orpheus fell in love with Eurydice, a woman of beauty and grace, whom he married and lived with happily for a short time. ( October 2019) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Īpollo gave his son Orpheus a lyre and taught him how to play. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. This section needs additional citations for verification. As his love was not "true"-meaning that he was not willing to die for it-he was punished by the deities, first by giving him only the apparition of his former wife in the underworld and then by having him killed by women. Plato's representation of Orpheus is in fact that of a coward instead of choosing to die in order to be with his love, he mocked the deities in an attempt to visit Hades, to get her back alive. According to Phaedrus in Plato's Symposium, the infernal deities only "presented an apparition" of Eurydice to him. Other ancient writers treated Orpheus's visit to the underworld more negatively. In the Bibliotheca by Pseudo-Apollodorus Eurydice is simply bitten by a snake before dying and Orpheus going to Hades to retrieve her. ![]() It relates that Eurydice's death was not caused by fleeing from Aristaeus, but by dancing with naiads on her wedding day. Ovid's version of the myth, in his Metamorphoses, was published a few decades later and employs a different poetic emphasis and purpose. Here the name of Aristaeus, or Aristaios, the keeper of bees, and the tragic conclusion was first introduced. In Virgil's classic version of the legend, it completes his Georgics, a poem on the subject of agriculture. Their names are in Greek, ΟΡΦΕΥΣ (Orpheus) and ΕΥΡΥΔΙΚΗ (Eurydice). Versions Orpheus and Eurydice in Palais Garnier, Paris. The subject is among the most frequently retold of all Greek myths, being featured in numerous works of literature, operas, ballets, paintings, plays and more recently, films and video games. ![]() It may be a late addition to the Orpheus myths, as the latter cult-title suggests those attached to Persephone. Orpheus was the son of Apollo and the muse Calliope. The ancient legend of Orpheus and Eurydice ( Greek: Ὀρφεύς, Εὐρυδίκη, Orpheus, Eurydikē) concerns the fateful love of Orpheus of Thrace for the beautiful Eurydice. Egyptian tapestry roundel with Orpheus and Apollo, 5th–6th century CE For the opera by Gluck, see Orfeo ed Euridice.
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