Detail from Niccolo dell'Abate, 'The Death of Eurydice', about 1552-71. London, The National Gallery.

Orpheus

Orpheus was the greatest singer and musician in the Greek myths. Apollo gave him a lute with which he could charm the animals, rocks and trees. He sailed with the Argonauts and upon his return married Eurydice.

One day Eurydice was attacked by Aristaeus and as she fled she was fatally bitten by a snake. Determined to get his love back from the dead, Orpheus travelled to the underworld. He charmed everything he encountered with his music, including the three-headed dog Cerberus. He charmed Hades, God of the Underworld, so much that he agreed to return Eurydice to Orpheus on one condition; Orpheus could not look at her until she was back in sunlight. She followed the sound of his lyre all the way up the dark path from the underworld. When Orpheus reached the sunlight he could wait no longer and looked back, losing Eurydice forever.

See Also

• Roelandt Savery, 'Orpheus'

Back