Orpheus, a Thracian man and son of Calliope, was a renowned musician who sailed with Jason and saved his crew from the Sirens. He tried to bring back his wife Eurydice from Hades but failed when he looked back. Some traditions say he was killed by Dionysus’ followers.
In Greek mythology, Orpheus is a well-known figure with several divergent histories. He is said to be both a Thracian man who was a follower of Dionysus, and the son of the Muse, Calliope, who is said to represent epic poetry. It is sometimes said that his father was Apollo.
Orpheus was the outstanding musician of his time, moving both people and creatures with the sweetness of his music. In Apollonius Rhodius’ Argonautica, when Jason and the Argonauts set sail in search of the Golden Fleece, Orpheus is among the company, along with other heroes, such as Hercules. It is Orpheus who sings the beginning of the expedition, and he too encourages others to learn about the protection for sailors afforded by the goddess Persephone when they land in Samothrace.
When they have to sail alongside the Sirens – the bird-women whose songs ineluctably lure men to their deaths – as Odysseus and his crew did on their way home from Troy in the Odyssey, it is Orpheus who saves them. His song is sweeter than that of the Sirens, and thus their power is surpassed.
The other well-known story of Orpheus concerns his love for Eurydice, a dryad. Both Orpheus and Aristaeus tried to conquer her, but Eurydice was Orpheus’ wife. Aristaeus did not give up, however, and Eurydice died of a venomous snake bite while she was running away from Aristaeus one day.
Orpheus was desolate and determined to try and bring Eurydice back from Hades. He managed to charm Charon, the ferryman of the dead, with his music, and his music also appeased Cerberus, the three-headed watchdog of Hades, who let him pass. His music also prompted Persephone, wife of Hades, to plead with Hades on behalf of Orpheus for the release of Eurydice.
Hades agreed, but on one condition: Orpheus didn’t have to look back to check that Eurydice was following him: he simply had to return to Earth, otherwise he would have lost it forever. And, in his despair, Orpheus looked back, and thus lost Eurydice again.
Some traditions have Orpheus offending Dionysus and being snatched to death by his followers, the maenads. The story of Orpheus was used as material for operas by Gluck and Monteverdi, and as the basis of a play and later a film by Jean Cocteau.
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