Orpheus is a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in
ancient Greek religion and myth. The major stories
about him are centered on his ability to charm all
living things and even stones with his music, his
attempt to retrieve his wife, Eurydice, from the
underworld, and his death at the hands of those who
could not hear his divine music. As an archetype of the
inspired singer, Orpheus is one of the most significant
figures in the reception of classical mythology in
Western culture, portrayed or ...(+)
Orpheus is a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in
ancient Greek religion and myth. The major stories
about him are centered on his ability to charm all
living things and even stones with his music, his
attempt to retrieve his wife, Eurydice, from the
underworld, and his death at the hands of those who
could not hear his divine music. As an archetype of the
inspired singer, Orpheus is one of the most significant
figures in the reception of classical mythology in
Western culture, portrayed or alluded to in countless
forms of art and popular culture including poetry,
film, opera, music, and painting.
Orpheus was born as a son of the Muse Calliope and the
Thracian king Oeagrus. Orpheus, towards the end of his
life, disdained the worship of all gods except the sun,
whom he called Apollo. One early morning he went to the
oracle of Dionysus at Mount Pangaion to salute his god
at dawn, but was ripped to shreds by Thracian Maenads
for not honoring his previous patron (Dionysus) and
buried in Pieria. Pausanias writes that Orpheus was
buried in Dion and that he met his death there. He
writes that the river Helicon sank underground when the
women that killed Orpheus tried to wash off their
blood-stained hands in its waters. Feeling spurned by
Orpheus for taking only male lovers, the Ciconian
women, followers of Dionysus, first threw sticks and
stones at him as he played, but his music was so
beautiful even the rocks and branches refused to hit
him. Enraged, the women tore him to pieces during the
frenzy of their Bacchic orgies. In Albrecht
Dürer's drawing of Orpheus' death, based on an
original, now lost, by Andrea Mantegna, a ribbon high
in the tree above him is lettered Orfeus der erst
puseran ("Orpheus, the first pederast"). His head and
lyre, still singing mournful songs, floated down the
swift Hebrus to the Mediterranean shore. There, the
winds and waves carried them on to the Lesbos shore,
where the inhabitants buried his head and a shrine was
built in his honour near Antissa.
The lyre was carried to heaven by the Muses, and was
placed among the stars. The Muses also gathered up the
fragments of his body and buried them at Leibethra
below Mount Olympus, where the nightingales sang over
his grave. Orpheus' soul returned to the underworld
where he was reunited at last with his beloved
Eurydice.
