Etymology: N/a
Geographic Association: Withdraws to Thrace after the loss of Eurydice.
Origin: Apollo + Calliope (muse of Music)/Oeagrus (Thracian River God) + Calliope
Claim to Fame: Beautiful voice and lyre-playing, can soothe the beastliest of beasts, can make the inanimate animate. Tragic love story. Archetype of poet/musician.
Literature: Ovid's Metamorphosis, Vergil's Georgics,
Underworld Myth
Orpheus is married to Eurydice, a dryad (wood-nymph), but on their wedding night Eurydice dies from a snake bite. Orpheus is determined to bring her back, so he descends to the underworld, using his musical skill to charm the gatekeepers into letting him in. He performs for Hades and Persephone who allow him to take Eurydice home on the condition that he does not look back. Overcome with yearning, he glances back once and she is taken from him forever.Inconsolable, Orpheus retreats to Thrace with only music as his solace (chooses music over women, ie. Apollo, in the land of Dionysus). When he rejects the Maenads, they slaughter him, consume his flesh, and scatter his remains in the Hebrus River. It is said that his head kept singing and prophetizing, and his lyre kept playing, while he was united in spirit with his beloved in death.
Orphism (6th C. BCE)
Claimed as a prophet and a religious teacher, a hero-cult is established by his son Musaeus based on music, magic, and prophecy - worshipping both Apollo and Dionysus. In 5th C. BCE, Orphism becomes accepted as a mystery religion.
