Orpheus and Eurydice

Have you ever ended a relationship with someone, only to find that you cannot
stop thinking about him or her? Have you ever gotten a second chance and then totally
blown it? Well then, the story of Orpheus and Eurydice might just be for you.

The story of Orpheus and Eurydice is the ultimate tragic love story. Perhaps one
of the most famous Greek myths, it has inspired many important painters, such as Peter
Paul Rubens and Nicolas Poussin. Moreover, many operas, songs and plays have been
composed to honor two great lovers who tragically lost the chance to enjoy their love.
The story of Orpheus and Eurydice has been told in many versions with a few differences
between them. The earliest account comes from Ibycus (circa 530 BC), a Greek lyric
poet.

The comparison to a Bible scene 

The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is similar to the story of Lot. The analogy of
‘not looking back’ is of great importance to both stories. In the Book of Genesis, when
God decided to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, two cities drowned in sins, he ordered a
good man, Lot, to take his family and leave the area. God told them to head for the
mountains without looking back the city being destroyed. While they were leaving the
city, Lot’s wife could not resist and turned around to see the burning cities. She was
immediately transformed into a pillar of salt! This may be inferred as a direct and
terrifying consequence of disobedience towards God.

Who is Orpheus?
He was 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. In
his early days, he sailed around with Jason and the Argonauts, encountering one
adventure after another as they searched for the Golden Fleece. Orpheus served as the
entertainment on their ancient cruise ship. Whenever the men needed a little pump-up
music, Orpheus would whip out his lyre and lay down some sweet tracks. He also used
his music to get the men out of sticky situations. Once, when they sailed past the Sirens—
known for luring men to their deaths with beautiful; music—Orpheus saved the crew’s
lives by drowning out their songs with a ballad of his own.
Who is Eurydice?
Eurydice in Greek mythology, was an oak nymph or one of the daughters
of Apollo (the god of light). She was the wife of Orpheus, who tried to bring her back
from the dead with his enchanting music.

Characters and important places and names in the story:

 Hymen: god of marriage who is supposed to attend every wedding; if he did not,
then the marriage would supposedly prove disastrous.
 Taenarus: the path of Taenarus leads to the Underworld of king Hades.
 Stygian: related to River Styx; an adjective used to describe something that was
dark and gloomy.
 Tartarus: it is the darkest, deepest part of the Underworld.
 Tantalus: most famous for his eternal punishment in Tartarus; he was made to
stand on a pool of water beneath a fruit tree with low branches, with the fruit ever
eluding his grasp, and the water always receding before he could take a drink.
 Ixion: he killed his father-in-law (Deioneus) by pushing him into a bed of burning
coals and wood. Zeus ordered Hermes to blind Ixion to a winged fiery wheel that
is always spinning. Ixion is bound to a burning solar wheel for all eternity. It just
stop for a while when Orpheus played his lyre during his trip to the Underworld to
rescue Eurydice.
 Sisyphus: sly and evil; in the realm of the dead, he is forced to roll a block of
stone against a steep hill, which tumbles back down when he reaches the top.
Then the whole process starts again lasting all eternity.
 Furies: their home was at the entrance of Tartarus.
 Ferryman: (Charon) carries the newly deceased to the Underworld in his boat.
 Erebus: representing the personification of darkness; primeval god of darkness.
 Hebrus: the river god.
 Bulfinch Mythology
Age of Fable
Stories of Gods & Heroes

by Thomas Bulfinch
(1796-1867)

ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE

ORPHEUS was the son of Apollo and the Muse Calliope. He was presented by
his father with a lyre and taught to play upon it, which he did to such perfection that
nothing could withstand the charm of his music. Not only his fellow–mortals, but wild
beasts were softened by his strains, and gathering round him lay by their fierceness, and
stood entranced with his lay. Nay, the very trees and rocks were sensible to the charm.
The former crowded round him and the latter relaxed somewhat of their hardness,
softened by his notes.

Hymen had been called to bless with his presence the nuptials of Orpheus with
Eurydice; but though he attended, he brought no happy omens with him. His very torch
smoked and brought tears into their eyes. In coincidence with such prognostics, the
shepherd Aristaeus, who was struck by her beauty and made advances to her, saw
Eurydice, shortly after her marriage, while wandering with the nymphs, her companions.
She fled, and in flying trod upon a snake in the grass, was bitten in the foot, and died.
Orpheus sang his grief to all who breathed the upper air, both gods and men, and finding
it unavailing resolved to seek his wife in the regions of the dead. He descended by a cave
situated on the side of the promontory of Taenarus and arrived at the Stygian realm. He
passed through crowds of ghosts and presented himself before the throne of Pluto and
Proserpine. Accompanying the words with the lyre, he sung, “O deities of the under–
world, to whom all we who live must come, hear my words, for they are true. I come not
to spy out the secrets of Tartarus, nor to try my strength against the three–headed dog
with snaky hair that guards the entrance. I come to seek my wife, whose opening years
the poisonous viper’s fang has brought to an untimely end. Love has led me here, Love, a
god all-powerful with us who dwell on the earth, and, if old traditions say true, not less so
here. I implore you by these abodes full of terror, these realms of silence and uncreated
things unite again the thread of Eurydice’s life. We all are destined to you, and eventually
must pass to your domain. She too, when she shall have filled her term of life, will rightly
be yours. Nevertheless, till then grant her to me, I beseech you. If you deny me, I cannot
return alone; you shall triumph in the death of us both.”
 As he sang these tender strains, the very ghosts shed tears. Tantalus, in spite of his
thirst, stopped for a moment his efforts for water, Ixion’s wheel stood still, the vulture
ceased to tear the giant’s liver, the daughters of Danaus rested from their task of drawing
water in a sieve, and Sisyphus sat on his rock to listen. Then for the first time, it is said,
the cheeks of the Furies were wet with tears. Proserpine could not resist, and Pluto
himself gave way. Eurydice was called. She came from among the new–arrived ghosts,
limping with her wounded foot. Orpheus was permitted to take her away with him on one
condition, that he should not turn around to look at her till they should have reached the
upper air. Under this condition they proceeded on their way, he leading, she following,
through passages dark and steep, in total silence, till they had nearly reached the outlet
into the cheerful upper world, when Orpheus, in a moment of forgetfulness, to assure
himself that she was still following, cast a glance behind him, when instantly she was
borne away. Stretching out their arms to embrace each other, they grasped only the air!
Dying now a second time, she yet cannot reproach her husband, for how can she blame
his impatience to behold her? “Farewell,” she said, “a last farewell,”– and was hurried
away, so fast that the sound hardly reached his ears.

Orpheus endeavored to follow her, and besought permission to return and try once
more for her release; but the stern ferryman repulsed him and refused passage. Seven
days he lingered about the brink, without food or sleep; then bitterly accusing of cruelty
the powers of Erebus, he sang his complaints to the rocks and mountains, melting the
hearts of tigers and moving the oaks from their stations. He held himself aloof from
womankind, dwelling constantly on the recollection of his sad mischance. The Thracian
maidens tried their best to captivate him, but he repulsed their advances. They bore with
him as long as they could; but finding him insensible one day, excited by the rites of
Bacchus, one of them exclaimed, “See yonder our despiser!” and threw at him her
javelin. The weapon, as soon as it came within the sound of his lyre, fell harmless at his
feet. So did also the stones that they threw at him. Nevertheless, the women raised a
scream and drowned the voice of the music, and then the missiles reached him and soon
were stained with his blood. The maniacs tore him limb from limb, and threw his head
and his lyre into the river Hebrus, down which they floated, murmuring sad music, to
which the shores responded a plaintive symphony. The Muses gathered up the fragments
of his body and buried them at Libethra, where the nightingale is said to sing over his
grave more sweetly than in any other part of Greece. Jupiter placed his lyre among the
stars. His shade passed a second time to Tartarus where he sought out his Eurydice and
embraced her with eager arms. They roam the happy fields together now, sometimes he
leading, sometimes she; and Orpheus gazes as much as he will upon her, no longer
incurring a penalty for a thoughtless glance.
 Love at first sight
Orpheus used to spend much of his early years in the idyllic pursuits of
music and poetry. His skill had far surpassed the fame and respect of his music.
Humans and beasts alike would be enchanted by it and often even the most
inanimate of objects would yearn to be near him. Well into his youth, he had
mastered the lyre and his melodious voice garnered him audiences from near and
afar. It was at one such gathering of humans and beasts that his eyes fell on a
wood nymph. The girl was called Eurydice, she was beautiful and shy. She had
been drawn to Orpheus enamored by his voice and such was the spell of beauty in
music and appearance that neither could cast their eyes off each other. Something
inexplicable tugged the hearts of the two young people and soon they felt dearly
in love, unable to spend a single moment apart. After a while, they decided to get
married.
Their wedding day dawned bright and clear. Hymen, the god of marriage,
blessed their marriage and then a great feast followed. The surroundings were
filled with laughter and gaiety. Soon the shadows grew large, signaling an end to
the revelry that had lasted much of the day and the wedding guests all took leave
of the newly-weds, who were still sitting hand-in-hand and starry eyed. They soon
both realized that it was time they were on their way and departed for home. 

 The snake-bite 
However, things would soon change and grief would ensue happiness.
There was one man who was despising Orpheus and desired Eurydice for his own.
Aristaeus, a shepherd, had plotted a plan to conquer the beautiful nymph.
Moreover, there he was, waiting in the bushes for the young couple to pass by.
Seeing that the lovers were approaching, he intended to jump on them and kill
Orpheus. As the shepherd made his move, Orpheus grabbed Eurydice by the hand
and started running pell-mell through the forest. The chase was long and
Aristaeus showed no signs of giving up or slowing down. On and on they ran and
suddenly, Orpheus felt Eurydice stumble and fall, her hand slipping from his
grasp. Unable to comprehend what had just happened, he rushed to her side but
stopped short in dismay, for his eyes perceived the deathly pallor that suffused her
cheeks. Looking around, he saw no trace of the shepherd for Aristaeus had
witnessed the event and had left. A hand’s reach away, Eurydice had stepped on a
nest of snakes and had been bitten by a deadly viper. Knowing that there was no
chance of survival, Aristaeus had abandoned his try, cursing his luck and
Orpheus.

 A supernatural plan 
After the death of his beloved wife, Orpheus was no more the same
carefree person he used to be. His life without Eurydice seemed endless and could
 do nothing more than grief for her. This is when he had a great but yet crazy idea:
he decided to go to Underworld and try to get his wife back. Apollo, his father,
would talk to Hades, the god of the Underworld, to accept him and hear his plea.
Armed with his weapons, the lyre and voice, Orpheus approached Hades
and demanded entry into the underworld. None challenged him. Standing in front
of the rulers of the dead, Orpheus said why he was there, in a voice both
mellifluous and disquieting. He played his lyre and sang out to King Hades and
Queen Persephone that Eurydice was returned to him. Not even the most
stonehearted of people or Gods could have neglected the hurt in his voice. Hades
openly wept, Persephone’s heart melted and even Cerberus, the gigantic three-
headed hound guarding the entry to the underworld, covered his many ears with
his paws and howled in despair. The voice of Orpheus was so moving that Hades
promised to this desperate man that Eurydice would follow him to the Upper
World, the world of the living. However, he warned Orpheus that for no reason
must he look back while his wife was still in the dark, for that would undo
everything he hoped for. He should wait for Eurydice to get into the light before
he looked at her. 

With great faith in his heart and joy in his song, Orpheus began his
journey out of the underworld, joyful that he would once again be reunited with
his love. As Orpheus was reaching the exit of the Underworld, he could hear the
footfalls of his wife approaching him. He wanted to turn around and hug her
immediately but managed to control his feelings. As his was approaching the exit,
his heart was beating faster and faster. The moment he stepped on the world of the
living, he turned his head to hug his wife. Unfortunately, he got only a glimpse of
Eurydice before she was once again drawn back into the underworld. When
Orpheus turned his head, Eurydice was still in the dark, she had not seen the sun
and, as Hades had warned Orpheus, his sweet wife was drowned back to the dark
world of the dead. Waves of anguish and despair swept over him and shuddering
with grief he approached the Underworld again but this time, he was denied entry,
the gates were standing shut and god Hermes, sent by Zeus, would not let him in.

 The death of Orpheus 

From then on, the heart-broken musician was wandering disoriented, day
after day, night after night, in total despair. He could find no consolation in
anything. His misfortune tormented him, forcing him to abstain from contact with
any other woman and slowly but surely he found himself shunning their company
completely. His songs were no more joyful but extremely sad. His only comfort
was to lay on a huge rock and feel the caress of the breeze, his only vision were
the open skies. Therefore, it was that a group of irate women, furious for his scorn
towards them, chanced upon him. Orpheus was so desperate that he did not even
 try to repulse their advances. The women killed him, cut his body into pieces and
threw them and his lyre into a river. It is said that his head and his lyre floated
downriver to the island of Lesvos. There the Muses found them and gave Orpheus
a proper burial ceremony. People believed that his grave emanated music,
plaintive yet beautiful. His soul descended down to Hades where he was finally
reunited with his beloved Eurydice.

The Moral of the Myth

The moral of this myth depends upon the person reading it. For me, one of
the morals is TRUST; if Orpheus trusted Eurydice, he will not look around to
check if she is still following or not. Another moral is that you do not know what
you really have until it is gone; if Orpheus had realized how much he had loved
Eurydice, then he would not have doubted Hades and Persephone, which led him
looking back and eventually losing Eurydice forever. This moral can also show
that you should always be patient because when Orpheus got closer and closer to
the light, he became more and more impatient. Because of that, he lost his wife
forever.
You should always follow the instructions given to you; if Orpheus just
followed Pluto’s instructions, he will not lose his wife and will have the
opportunity to live with her for the second time on Earth.
I think was not able to write all the morals here, maybe you have
something to share. Dare to share it?

Name: ______________ Date:______________

Year and Section: ____________ Score:_____________
I. Answer the following questions correctly.

1. What instrument did Orpheus play?

2. Who was Orpheus's father?
3. Who was Orpheus's mother?

4. Whenever Orpheus made music

all earthly things were moved.

dead spirits came back to life.

the gods and goddesses were jealous.

5. How did Eurydice die?

 She drowned while swimming one day.

 A snake, while running away from an amorous shepherd, bit her.

 Drug overdose.

 She took ill.

 Zeus flung a thunderbolt down to earth in a fit of rage after having fought with
Hera, and it struck her.

6. What did Orpheus do when he learned of his wife's death?

 He cursed the heavens until Zeus struck him with a thunderbolt as well and he
could join his love.

 He vowed never again to play his instrument.

 He chased down the shepherd and beat him with his instrument
  He prayed to Aphrodite to bring her back.

 He traveled to the land of the dead to get her back.

7.  Orpheus missed Eurydice so much he

Forgot how to make music.

Could do nothing but think of her.

Begged Apollo to help him find her.

8. When Orpheus arrived at the entrance to the underworld he

Knew it was useless to enter.

Used music to tame the gatekeeper.

had to battle a three-headed monster

9. How did Hades and Persephone react to Orpheus's song?

 They were so touched by his song, that even they wept for him, and so agreed to
grant his request.

 They were furious and cast him out of Hades.

 They covered their ears and threw rotten tomatoes at him.

 They told him they sympathized with him, but were unable to help him.

 They said they would agree to help him if he could fetch a golden apple from
Hera's garden.

10. Queen Persephone helped Orpheus get

King Hades to let him stay.

Eurydice safely to their home.

 the chance to save his wife.

11.   What condition did Hades impose upon Orpheus in return for Eurydice's
life?

 He had to do a strip tease to the Macarena.

 He had to sacrifice his own life.

 He had to return to earth, never looking back the entire way.

 He had to replace her life with the life of another.

 He had to give up his instrument.

12. What would happen if Orpheus did not obey Hades's demand?

 They would both be trapped in Hades forever.

 They would be taken to civil claims court where they would be sued for breach
of contract.

 He would be forced to return to the world without Eurydice.

 They would be set upon by the beasts of Hades.

 Eurydice would return to the world, but Orpheus would have to stay in Hades.

13. Orpheus looked back at Eurydice because

he did not believe that he would lose her.

he thought she wasn't following him

she called for him to help her.

14. Because of his impatience, Orpheus was

without Eurydice until he too died.

held prisoner in the underworld.

 never again reunited with Eurydice.

15.   What happened to Orpheus at the end of the myth?

 He lived the rest of his days, singing sadly, and moving all who beheld him to
tears.

 He lived happily with Eurydice, and his songs reached the stars in heaven and set
them into motion.

 He became mad and began wandering in front of random women and looking
over his shoulder at them to make sure they were still there.

 He was torn limb from limb by a group of angry women when he thwarted their
advances.

 He sat at the edge of Hades without food or drink until he wasted away and died.

II. Essay. Answer the following questions briefly (3-4 sentences).

1. Would this story have turned out differently if Hymen had been in a better
mood at Orpheus and Eurydice's wedding? On the other hand, if Eurydice
had never been chased along the riverbank? Who is to blame for this
whole scenario?
2. Some versions of the myth say that Orpheus and Eurydice reunite in the
Underworld. Do you think they are happy together? Alternatively, do you
think their relationship has changed after so much hardship?
3. What have you learned from this love story? (give at least 2-3)

Prepared by:
Gagui, Glaiza Kabiling
(Source: I got everything from the internet)
Answer Key: (Orpheus and Eurydice)
1. A lyre
2. Apollo
3. Calliope
4. all earthly things were moved
5. A snake, while running away from an amorous shepherd, bit her.
6. He traveled to the land of the dead to get her back.
7. begged Apollo to help him find her
8. used music to tame the gatekeeper

9. They were so touched by his song, that even they wept for him, and so agreed
to grant his request.
10. the chance to save his wife
11. He had to return to earth, never looking back the entire way.
12. He would be forced to return to the world without Eurydice.
13. he thought she wasn't following him
14. never again reunited with Eurydice.
15. He was torn limb from limb by a group of angry women when he thwarted their
advances.