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{{Short description|Legendary musician, poet, and prophet in Greek mythology}}
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{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| name = Orpheus
| image = DSC00355 - Orfeo (epoca romana) - Foto G. Dall'Orto.jpg
| alt = 
| caption = Roman Orpheus mosaic, a very common subject. He wears a Phrygian cap and is surrounded by the animals charmed by [[Engineering:Lyre|lyre]]-playing
| god_of = 
| birth_place = [[Social:Pimpleia|Pimpleia]], Pieria
| death_place = Pangaion Hills, Odomantice
| abode = [[Social:Pimpleia|Pimpleia]], Pieria
| symbol = [[Engineering:Lyre|Lyre]]
| consort = 
| parents = Oeagrus or [[Unsolved:Apollo|Apollo]] and Calliope
| siblings = The [[Religion:Charites|Charites]], Linus of Thrace
| children = Musaeus
| mount = 
| spouse = [[Unsolved:Eurydice|Eurydice]] or Agriope
}}
In [[Religion:Greek mythology|Greek mythology]], '''Orpheus''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɔr|f|iː<!--long /iː/-->|ə|s|,_|ˈ|ɔr|f|juː|s}}; [[Social:Ancient Greek|Ancient Greek]]: Ὀρφεύς, classical pronunciation: {{IPA-el|or.pʰeú̯s|}}) was a Thracian bard, legendary musician and [[Religion:Prophet|prophet]]. He was also a renowned poet and, according to the legend, travelled with Jason and the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece, and even descended into the [[Unsolved:Underworld|underworld]] of [[Religion:Hades|Hades]], to recover his lost wife [[Unsolved:Eurydice|Eurydice]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Cartwright|first=Mark|date=2020|title=Orpheus|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Orpheus/|access-date=2021-07-26|website=[[Organization:World History Encyclopedia|World History Encyclopedia]]|language=en}}</ref>

Ancient Greek authors such as Strabo and [[Philosophy:Plutarch|Plutarch]] note Orpheus's Thracian origins. The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music (the usual scene in Orpheus mosaics), his attempt to retrieve his wife [[Unsolved:Eurydice|Eurydice]] from the [[Unsolved:Greek underworld|underworld]], and his death at the hands of the [[Unsolved:Maenad|maenad]]s of [[Religion:Dionysus|Dionysus]], who got tired of his mourning for his late wife Eurydice. As an archetype of the inspired singer, Orpheus is one of the most significant figures in the [[Philosophy:Classical reception studies|reception]] of classical mythology in [[Social:Western culture|Western culture]], portrayed or alluded to in countless forms of art and popular culture including poetry, film, opera, music, and painting.<ref>Geoffrey Miles, ''Classical Mythology in English Literature: A Critical Anthology'' (Routledge, 1999), p. 54.</ref>

For the Greeks, Orpheus was a founder and prophet of the so-called [[Religion:Orphism|"Orphic" mysteries]].<ref>Pausanias, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.30.2 2.30.2]</ref> He was credited with the composition of a number of works, including several theogonies, the ''Orphic Hymns'', and the ''Orphic Argonautica''. Shrines containing purported relics of Orpheus were regarded as [[Unsolved:Oracle|oracle]]s.

==Etymology==
Several etymologies for the name ''Orpheus'' have been proposed. A probable suggestion is that it is derived from a hypothetical [[Social:Proto-Indo-European language|PIE]] root {{PIE|*h₃órbʰos}} 'orphan, servant, slave' and ultimately the verb root {{PIE|*h₃erbʰ-}} 'to change allegiance, status, ownership'.<ref>Cf. "Ὀρφανός" in: ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', ed. Robert S. P. Beekes. First published online{{where|date=September 2023}} October 2010.</ref> Cognates could include {{Lang-grc-gre|ὄρφνη}} ({{Lang|grc-Latn|órphnē}}; 'darkness')<ref name="Archetypal Imagination page 240">Cobb, Noel. ''Archetypal Imagination'', Hudson, New York: Lindisfarne Press, p. 240. {{ISBN|0-940262-47-9}}</ref> and {{Lang|grc|ὀρφανός}} ({{Lang|grc-Latn|orphanós}}; 'fatherless, orphan')<ref>{{cite journal | title= Orpheus: A Fugue on the Polis | first1= William K. | last1= Freiert | editor-first=Dora Carlisky | editor-last= Pozzi | editor2-first= John M. |editor2-last= Wickersham | journal= Myth and the Polis | page= 46 | publisher= Cornell University Press | year = 1991 | isbn= 0-8014-2473-9}}</ref> from which comes English 'orphan' by way of Latin.<!--''Orpheus'' would therefore be semantically close to ''goao'' "to lament, sing wildly, cast a spell",<ref name="Archetypal Imagination page 240" />{{clarify|date=January 2016}} uniting his seemingly disparate roles as disappointed lover, transgressive musician and mystery-priest into a single lexical whole. The word "orphic" is defined as mystic, fascinating and entrancing, and, probably, because of the oracle of Orpheus, "orphic" can also signify "oracular".<ref>"Orphic", ''Macmillan Dictionary for Students'', Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers, 1984, p. 711. {{ISBN|0-02-761560-X}}</ref> [The connection is not clear at all and what is "goao"?]-->

Fulgentius, a mythographer of the late 5th to early 6th century AD, gave the unlikely etymology meaning "best voice", "Oraia-phonos".<ref>Miles, Geoffrey. ''Classical Mythology in English Literature: A Critical Anthology'', London: Routledge, 1999, p. 57. {{ISBN|0-415-14755-7}}</ref>

==Background==
{{Greek myth}}
Although [[Biography:Aristotle|Aristotle]] didn't believe that Orpheus existed, all other ancient writers believed he once was a real person, though living in remote antiquity. Most of them believed that he lived several generations before [[Biography:Homer|Homer]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Freeman|first=Kathleen|title=The Pre-Socratic Philosophers|publisher=Basil Blackwell|year=1946|location=Oxford|page=1}}</ref> The earliest literary reference to Orpheus is a two-word fragment of the 6th century BC lyric poet Ibycus: {{Lang|grc-Latn|onomaklyton Orphēn}} ('Orpheus famous-of-name'). He is not mentioned by Homer or [[Biography:Hesiod|Hesiod]].<ref>Ibycus, ''Fragments'' 17 (Diehl); M. Owen Lee, ''Virgil as Orpheus: A Study of the Georgics'' State University of New York Press, Albany (1996), p. 3.</ref> Most ancient sources accept his historical existence; Aristotle is an exception.<ref>Kathleen Freeman, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ASijqFryr5IC ''Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers''], Harvard University Press (1948), p. 1.</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/worksofaristotle12arisuoft#page/80/mode/2up|title=The Works of Aristotle|year=1952|publisher=Clarendon Press|location=Oxford|volume=XII – Fragments|author=Aristotle|editor1=[[Biography:W. D. Ross|W. D. Ross]]|editor2=[[Biography:John Alexander Smith|John Alexander Smith]]|page=80}}</ref> Pindar calls Orpheus 'the father of songs'<ref>Pindar, ''Pythian Odes'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Aabo%3Atlg%2C0033%2C002&redirect=true 4.176]</ref> and identifies him as a son of the Thracian mythological king Oeagrus<ref>Pindar, fr. 126.9</ref> and the Muse Calliope.<ref>Apollodorus, 1.3.2; ''Argonautica'' 1.23 &  ''Orphic Hymn'' 24.12</ref>

Greeks of the Classical age venerated Orpheus as the greatest of all poets and musicians; it was said that while [[Religion:Hermes|Hermes]] had invented the [[Engineering:Lyre|lyre]], Orpheus perfected it. Poets such as Simonides of Ceos said that Orpheus's music and singing could charm the birds, fish and wild beasts, coax the trees and rocks into dance,<ref>Apollodorus, 1.3.2; Euripides, ''Iphigeneia at Aulis'' 1212 and ''The Bacchae'', 562; Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'' 11: "with his songs, Orpheus, the bard of Thrace, allured the trees, the savage animals, and even the insensate rocks, to follow him."</ref> and divert the course of rivers.

Orpheus was one of the handful of Greek heroes<ref>Others to brave the ''nekyia'' were Odysseus, Theseus and [[Religion:Heracles|Heracles]]; [[Social:Perseus|Perseus]] also overcame [[Unsolved:Medusa|Medusa]] in a chthonic setting.</ref> to visit the [[Unsolved:Greek underworld|Underworld]] and return; his music and song had power even over [[Religion:Hades|Hades]]. The earliest known reference to this [[Unsolved:Descent to the underworld|descent to the underworld]] is the painting by Polygnotus (5th century BC) described by Pausanias (2nd century AD), where no mention is made of Eurydice. Euripides and [[Biography:Plato|Plato]] both refer to the story of his descent to recover his wife, but do not mention her name; a contemporary relief (about 400 BC) shows Orpheus and his wife with Hermes. The elegiac poet Hermesianax called her [[Unsolved:Argiope (mythology)|Agriope]]; and the first mention of her name in literature is in the ''Lament for Bion'' (1st century BC).<ref name=":0" />

Some sources credit Orpheus with further gifts to humankind: [[Medicine:Medicine|medicine]], which is more usually under the auspices of [[Religion:Asclepius|Asclepius]] (Aesculapius) or [[Unsolved:Apollo|Apollo]]; writing,<ref>A single literary epitaph, attributed to the sophist Alcidamas, credits Orpheus with the invention of writing. See Ivan Mortimer Linforth, "Two Notes on the Legend of Orpheus", ''Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association'' '''62''', (1931):5–17.</ref> which is usually credited to Cadmus; and [[Earth:Agriculture|agriculture]], where Orpheus assumes the Eleusinian role of Triptolemus as giver of Demeter's knowledge to humankind. Orpheus was an augur and seer; he practiced magical arts and [[Unsolved:Astrology|astrology]], founded cults to [[Unsolved:Apollo|Apollo]] and [[Religion:Dionysus|Dionysus]],<ref name="Apollodorus1.3.2">Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.3.2 1.3.2]. "Orpheus also invented the mysteries of Dionysus, and having been torn in pieces by the Maenads he is buried in Pieria."</ref> and prescribed the mystery rites preserved in Orphic texts. Pindar and Apollonius of Rhodes<ref>Apollonius, ''Argonautica'' passim</ref> place Orpheus as the harpist and companion of Jason and the Argonauts. Orpheus had a brother named Linus, who went to Thebes and became a Theban.<ref>Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Apollod.+2.4.9#fn1 ''Library and Epitome''], 2.4.9. This Linus was a brother of Orpheus; he came to Thebes and became a Theban.</ref> He is claimed by Aristophanes and Horace to have taught cannibals to subsist on fruit, and to have made lions and tigers obedient to him. Horace believed, however, that Orpheus had only introduced order and civilization to savages.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/livesnecromance04godwgoog|title=Lives of the Necromancers|first=William |last=Godwin|year=1876|page=44}}</ref>

Strabo (64&nbsp;BC&nbsp;– c.&nbsp;AD&nbsp;24) presents Orpheus as a mortal, who lived and died in a village close to Olympus.<ref name="Strabo">Strabo, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0198:book=7:chapter=7&highlight=orpheus 7.7]: "At the base of Olympus is a city Dium. And it has a village near by, Pimpleia. Here lived Orpheus, the Ciconian, it is said – a wizard who at first collected money from his music, together with his soothsaying and his celebration of the orgies connected with the mystic initiatory rites, but soon afterwards thought himself worthy of still greater things and procured for himself a throng of followers and power. Some, of course, received him willingly, but others, since they suspected a plot and violence, combined against him and killed him. And near here, also, is Leibethra."</ref> "Some, of course, received him willingly, but others, since they suspected a plot and violence, combined against him and killed him." He made money as a musician and "wizard"&nbsp;– Strabo uses {{Lang|grc|αγυρτεύοντα}} ({{Lang|grc-Latn|agurteúonta}}),<ref>Gregory Nagy, ''Archaic Period'' (''Greek Literature'', Volume 2), {{ISBN|0-8153-3683-7}}, p. 46.</ref> also used by Sophocles in ''Oedipus Tyrannus'' to characterize Tiresias as a trickster with an excessive desire for possessions. {{Lang|grc|Αγύρτης}} ({{Lang|grc-Latn|agúrtēs}}) most often meant '[[Unsolved:Charlatan|charlatan]]'<ref>Index in Eustathii commentarios in Homeri Iliadem et Odysseam by Matthaeus Devarius, p. 8.</ref> and always had a negative connotation. Pausanias writes of an unnamed Egyptian who considered Orpheus a {{Lang|grc|μάγευσε}} ({{Lang|grc-Latn|mágeuse}}), i.e., magician.<ref>Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D6%3Achapter%3D20%3Asection%3D18 6.20.18]: "A man of Egypt said that Pelops received something from Amphion the Theban and buried it where is what they call Taraxippus, adding that it was the buried thing which frightened the mares of Oenomaus, as well as those of every charioteer since. This Egyptian thought that Amphion and the Thracian Orpheus were clever magicians, and that it was through their enchantments that the beasts came to Orpheus, and the stones came to Amphion for the building of the wall. The most probable of the stories in my opinion makes Taraxippus a surname of Horse Poseidon."</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=January 2016}}

"Orpheus&nbsp;... is repeatedly referred to by Euripides, in whom we find the first allusion to the connection of Orpheus with [[Religion:Dionysus|Dionysus]] and the infernal regions: he speaks of him as related to the Muses (''Rhesus'' 944, 946); mentions the power of his song over rocks, trees, and wild beasts (''Medea'' 543, ''Iphigenia in Aulis'' 1211, ''Bacchae'' 561, and a jocular allusion in ''Cyclops'' 646); refers to his charming the infernal powers (''Alcestis'' 357); connects him with Bacchanalian orgies (''Hippolytus'' 953); ascribes to him the origin of sacred mysteries (''Rhesus'' 943), and places the scene of his activity among the forests of Olympus (''Bacchae'' 561.)"<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Smith|first=William|title=Dictionary of Greek And Roman Biography And Mythology|publisher=Little, Brown, and Company|year=1870|volume=3|location=Boston|pages=60|id=ark:/13960/t23b60t0r}}</ref> "Euripides [also] brought Orpheus into his play ''Hypsipyle'', which dealt with the Lemnian episode of the Argonautic voyage; Orpheus there acts as coxswain, and later as guardian in Thrace of Jason's children by Hypsipyle."<ref name=":0" />

[[File:OARottweil-b000.jpg|thumb|left|Orpheus mosaic at Dominican Museum, Rottweil, {{wipe|Germany}}, 2nd c. AD]]
"He is mentioned once only, but in an important passage, by Aristophanes (''Frogs'' 1032), who enumerates, as the oldest poets, Orpheus, Musaeus, [[Biography:Hesiod|Hesiod]], and [[Biography:Homer|Homer]], and makes Orpheus the teacher of religious initiations and of abstinence from murder&nbsp;..."<ref name=":1" />

"[[Biography:Plato|Plato]] (''[[Philosophy:Apology (Plato)|Apology]]'', ''[[Philosophy:Protagoras (dialogue)|Protagoras]]''),&nbsp;... frequently refers to Orpheus, his followers, and his works. He calls him the son of Oeagrus (''Symposium''), mentions him as a musician and inventor ''([[Religion:Ion (dialogue)|Ion]]'' and  ''[[Philosophy:Laws (dialogue)|Laws]]'' bk 3.), refers to the miraculous power of his lyre ([[Philosophy:Protagoras (dialogue)|''Protagoras'']]), and gives a singular version of the story of his descent into Hades: the gods, he says, imposed upon the poet, by showing him only a phantasm of his lost wife, because he had not the courage to die, like Alcestis, but contrived to enter Hades alive, and, as a further punishment for his cowardice, he met his death at the hands of women (''Symposium'' 179d)."<ref name=":1" />

"Earlier than the literary references is a sculptured representation of Orpheus with the ship ''Argo'', found at Delphi, said to be of the sixth century BC."<ref name=":0" />

Four other people are traditionally called Orpheus: "The second Orpheus was an Arcadian, or, according to others, a Ciconian, from the Thracian Bisaltia, and is said to be more ancient than Homer and the Trojan War. He composed fabulous figments called mythpoeai and epigrams. The third Orpheus was of Odrysius, a city of Thrace, near the river Hebrus; but [[Biography:Dionysius Exiguus|Dionysius]] in Suidas denies his existence. The fourth Orpheus was of Crotonia; flourished in the time of Pisistratus, about the fiftieth Olympiad, and is, I have no doubt, the same with Onomacritus, who changed the dialect of these hymns. He wrote Decennalia, and in the opinion of Gyraldlus the Argonautics, which are now extant under the name of Orpheus, with other writings called Orphical, but which according to [[Biography:Cicero|Cicero]] some ascribe to Cecrops the Pythagorean. But the last Orpheus [the fifth] was Camarinseus, a most excellent versifier; and the same, according to Gyraldus, whose descent into Hades is so universally known."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Taylor|first=Thomas|title=The Mystical Hymns of Orpheus|location=Cheswick |publisher=C. Whittingham College House|year=1821|pages=li-lii|id=ark:/13960/t2v47bg2h|orig-year=1787}}</ref>

==Mythology==
[[File:Orpheus & Linus parentage.svg|thumb|500px|Orpheus's genealogy]]

=== Origin ===
Some ancient Greek authors, such as Strabo and [[Philosophy:Plutarch|Plutarch]], write of Orpheus as having a Thracian origin (through his father, Oeagrus).<ref name=":3">''Orpheus's Thracian origin, already maintained by Strabo and Plutarch, has been adopted again by E. Rohde (Psyche), by E. Mass (Orpheus), and by P. Perdrizet (Cultes et mythes du Pangée). But A. Boulanger has discerningly observed that “the most characteristic features of Orphism—consciousness of sin, need of purification and redemption, infernal punishments—have never been found among the Thracians”.'' For more see: Mircea Eliade (2011) History of Religious Ideas, Volume 2: From Gautama Buddha to the Triumph of Christianity, translated by	Willard R. Trask, University of Chicago Press, p. 483, {{ISBN|022602735X}}.</ref><ref>Anthi Chrysanthou, Defining Orphism: The Beliefs, the ›teletae‹ and the Writings, (2020) Volume 94 of Trends in Classics - Supplementary Volumes, Walter de Gruyter, {{ISBN|3110678454}}: ''Orpheus's place of origin was Thrace and according to most ancient sources he was the son of Oeagrus and muse Kalliope.''</ref><ref>''Androtion, an Attidographer writing in the fourth century BCE, focused precisely on Orpheus's Thracian origin, and the well-known illiteracy of his people...''For more see: Nora Goldschmidt, Barbara Graziosi as ed., (2018) Tombs of the Ancient Poets: Between Literary Reception and Material Culture, Oxford University Press,  p. 182, {{ISBN|0192561030}}.</ref> Although these traditional accounts have been uncritically accepted by some historians,<ref name=":3" /> they have been put into question by others, since it was only in the mid-/late 5th century that Orpheus acquired Thracian attributes.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Watson |first=Sarah Burges |date=2013 |title=Muses of Lesbos or (Aeschylean) Muses of Pieria? Orpheus' Head on a Fifth-century Hydria |url=https://grbs.library.duke.edu/article/view/14541 |journal=Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies |language=en |volume=53 |issue=3 |pages=441–460 |issn=2159-3159}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Lissarague |first=François |date=1993 |title=«Musica e storia», II, 1994 |url=https://www.fondazionelevi.it/editoria/musica-e-storia-ii-1994/ |website=Fondazione Ugo e Olga Levi |pages=273–274 |language=it-IT}}</ref> Additionally, as André Boulanger notes, "the most characteristic features of Orphism—consciousness of sin, need of purification and redemption, infernal punishments—have never been found among the Thracians"''.''<ref name=":3" /> 
Indeed, the introduction of the worship of the Muses in the times of Archelaos, the genealogies featuring [[Unsolved:Apollo|Apollo]], Pierus and [[Unsolved:Methone (Greek myth)|Methone]], Orpheus's tomb in Leibethra and the importance of this gesture as a part of the king’s cultural policy, makes the hypothesis of the Pierian, or Macedonian, roots of Orpheus, highly probable.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Mojsik |first=Tomasz |date=2020 |title=The "Double Orpheus": between Myth and Cult |url=https://journals.openedition.org/mythos/1674 |journal=Mythos. Rivista di Storia delle Religioni |language=en |issue=14 |doi=10.4000/mythos.1674 |issn=1972-2516|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Mojsik |first=Tomasz |url= |title=Orpheus in Macedonia: Myth, Cult and Ideology |date=2022 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-350-21319-7 |pages=93, 137 |language=en}}</ref> The testimonies referring to his death, grave and heroic worship, for example early attestations to the existence of a real, or fictitious, gravestone epigram of Orpheus, point most strongly to his Macedonian links.<ref name=":5" />

===Early life===
[[File:Life of Orpheus Greek Mythology.svg|thumb|Important sites in the life and travels of Orpheus]]
According to Apollodorus<ref>Son of Oeagrus or Apollo and Calliope: Apollodorus, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.3.2 1.3.2].</ref> and a fragment of Pindar,<ref>Pindar, fr. 126, line 9, noted in Kerényi 1959: 280.</ref> Orpheus's father was Oeagrus, a Thracian king, or, according to another version of the story, the god [[Unsolved:Apollo|Apollo]]. His mother was (1) the muse Calliope, (2) her sister Polymnia,<ref>Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, ''Argonautica'' 1.23 with Asclepiades as the authority</ref> (3) a daughter of Pierus,<ref>In Pausanias, 9.30.4, the author claimed that "... There are many untruths believed by the Greeks, one of which is that Orpheus was a son of the Muse Calliope, and not of the daughter of Pierus."</ref> son of Makednos or (4) lastly of [[Unsolved:Menippe (mythology)|Menippe]], daughter of Thamyris.<ref>Tzetzes, ''Chiliades'' [http://www.theoi.com/Text/TzetzesChiliades1.html#12 1.12 line 306]</ref> According to Tzetzes, he was from Bisaltia.<ref>Tzetzes, ''Chiliades'' [http://www.theoi.com/Text/TzetzesChiliades1.html#12 1.12 line 305]</ref> His birthplace and place of residence was [[Social:Pimpleia|Pimpleia]]<ref>William Keith Guthrie and L. Alderlink, ''Orpheus and Greek Religion (Mythos Books)'', 1993, {{ISBN|0-691-02499-5}}, p. 61 f.: "[…] is a city Dion. Near it is a village called Pimpleia. It was there they say that Orpheus the Kikonian lived."</ref><ref name = "Greek Religion 1991, page 469">Jane Ellen Harrison, ''Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion (Mythos Books)'', 1991, {{ISBN|0-691-01514-7}}, p. 469: "[…] near the city of Dium is a village called Pimpleia where Orpheus lived."</ref> close to the Olympus. Strabo mentions that he lived in Pimpleia.<ref name="Strabo" /><ref name= "Greek Religion 1991, page 469" /> According to the epic poem ''Argonautica'', Pimpleia was the location of Oeagrus's and Calliope's wedding.<ref>''The Argonautica'', book I (ll. 23–34), "First then let us name Orpheus whom once Calliope bare, it is said, wedded to Thracian Oeagrus, near the Pimpleian height."</ref> While living with his mother and her eight beautiful sisters in Parnassus, he met [[Unsolved:Apollo|Apollo]], who was courting the laughing muse Thalia. Apollo, as the god of music, gave Orpheus a golden [[Engineering:Lyre|lyre]] and taught him to play it.<ref>Hoopes And Evslin, ''The Greek Gods'', {{ISBN|0-590-44110-8}}, {{ISBN|0-590-44110-8}}, 1995, p. 77: "His father was a Thracian king; his mother the muse Calliope. For a while he lived on Parnassus with his mother and his eight beautiful aunts and there met Apollo who was courting the laughing muse Thalia. Apollo was taken with Orpheus, gave him his little golden lyre and taught him to play.  And his mother Calliope, the muse presiding over epic poetry, taught him to make verses for singing."</ref> Orpheus's mother taught him to make verses for singing. He is also said to have studied in Egypt.<ref>Diodorus Siculus, [http://www.theoi.com/Text/DiodorusSiculus4B.html 4.25.2–4.]</ref>

Orpheus is said to have established the worship of [[Religion:Hecate|Hecate]] in [[Biography:Aegina|Aegina]].<ref>Pausanias, Corinth, 2.30.1 [2]: "Of the gods, the Aeginetans worship most Hecate, in whose honor every year they celebrate mystic rites which, they say, Orpheus the Thracian established among them. Within the enclosure is a temple; its wooden image is the work of Myron, and it has one face and one body. It was Alcamenes, in my opinion, who first made three images of Hecate attached to one another, a figure called by the Athenians Epipurgidia (on the Tower); it stands beside the temple of the Wingless Victory."</ref> In Laconia Orpheus is said to have brought the worship of Demeter Chthonia<ref>Pausanias, Laconia, 3.14.1,[5]: "[…] but the wooden image of Thetis is guarded in secret. The cult of Demeter Chthonia (of the Lower World) the Lacedaemonians say was handed on to them by Orpheus, but in my opinion it was because of the sanctuary in Hermione that the Lacedaemonians also began to worship Demeter Chthonia. The Spartans have also a sanctuary of Serapis, the newest sanctuary in the city, and one of Zeus surnamed Olympian."</ref> and that of the {{Lang|grc|Κόρες Σωτείρας}} ({{Lang|grc-Latn|Kóres Sōteíras}}; 'Saviour Maidens').{{Clarify|date=January 2010}}<ref>Pausanias, Laconia, 3.13.1: "Opposite the Olympian Aphrodite the Lacedaemonians have a temple of the Saviour Maid. Some say that it was made by Orpheus the Thracian, others by Abairis when he had come from the Hyperboreans."</ref> Also in Taygetos a wooden image of Orpheus was said to have been kept by Pelasgians in the sanctuary of the Eleusinian Demeter.<ref>Pausanias, Laconia, 3.20.1,[5]: "Between Taletum and Euoras is a place they name Therae, where they say Leto from the Peaks of Taygetus […] is a sanctuary of Demeter surnamed Eleusinian. Here according to the Lacedaemonian story Heracles was hidden by Asclepius while he was being healed of a wound. In the sanctuary is a wooden image of Orpheus, a work, they say, of Pelasgians."</ref>

According to Diodorus Siculus, Musaeus of Athens was the son of Orpheus.<ref>Diodorus Siculus, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4B*.html#25 4.25.1–2]</ref>
[[File:Orpheus' oracle.jpg|thumb|Cave of Orpheus's oracle in Antissa, Lesbos]]

===Adventure as an Argonaut===
The ''Argonautica'' ({{Lang|grc|Ἀργοναυτικά}}) is a Greek epic poem written by Apollonius Rhodius in the 3rd century BC. Orpheus took part in this adventure and used his skills to aid his companions. Chiron told Jason that without the aid of Orpheus, the Argonauts would never be able to pass the [[Unsolved:Siren (mythology)|Siren]]s—the same Sirens encountered by Odysseus in [[Biography:Homer|Homer]]'s epic poem the ''[[Religion:Odyssey|Odyssey]]''. The Sirens lived on three small, rocky islands called [[Unsolved:Sirenum scopuli|Sirenum scopuli]] and sang beautiful songs that enticed sailors to come to them, which resulted in the crashing of their ships into the islands. When Orpheus heard their voices, he drew his [[Engineering:Lyre|lyre]] and played music that was louder and more beautiful, drowning out the Sirens' bewitching songs. According to 3rd century BC Hellenistic elegiac poet Phanocles, Orpheus loved the young Argonaut Calais, "the son of Boreas, with all his heart, and went often in shaded groves still singing of his desire, nor was his heart at rest. But always, sleepless cares wasted his spirits as he looked at fresh Calais."<ref name="Crawford2010">{{cite book|author=Katherine Crawford|title=The Sexual Culture of the French Renaissance|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z9TU7ZKzANkC&pg=PA28|year=2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-76989-1|page=28}}</ref><ref name="Friedman2000">{{cite book|author=John Block Friedman|title=Orpheus in the Middle Ages|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_56pgczDQ8sC&pg=PA9|date=2000-05-01|publisher=Syracuse University Press|isbn=978-0-8156-2825-5|page=9}}</ref>

===Death of Eurydice===
[[File:Orfeu-atenas.jpg|upright|thumb|''Orpheus with the lyre and surrounded by beasts'' (Byzantine & Christian Museum, Athens)]]

The most famous story in which Orpheus figures is that of his wife [[Unsolved:Eurydice|Eurydice]] (sometimes referred to as Euridice and also known as Argiope). While walking among her people, the Cicones, in tall grass at her wedding, Eurydice was set upon by a [[Unsolved:Satyr|satyr]]. In her efforts to escape the satyr, Eurydice fell into a nest of vipers and suffered a fatal bite on her heel. Her body was discovered by Orpheus who, overcome with grief, played such sad and mournful songs that all the [[Unsolved:Nymph|nymph]]s and gods wept. On their advice, Orpheus traveled to the [[Unsolved:Underworld|underworld]]. His music softened the hearts of [[Religion:Hades|Hades]] and [[Religion:Persephone|Persephone]], who agreed to allow Eurydice to return with him to earth on one condition: he should walk in front of her and [[Social:Taboo#In religion and mythology|not look back]] until they both had reached the upper world. Orpheus set off with Eurydice following; however, as soon as he had reached the upper world, he immediately turned to look at her, forgetting in his eagerness that both of them needed to be in the upper world for the condition to be met. As Eurydice had not yet crossed into the upper world, she vanished for the second time, this time forever.

The story in this form belongs to the time of Virgil, who first introduces the name of [[Religion:Aristaeus|Aristaeus]] (by the time of Virgil's ''Georgics'', the myth has Aristaeus chasing Eurydice when she was bitten by a serpent) and the tragic outcome.<ref>M. Owen Lee, ''Virgil as Orpheus: A Study of the Georgics'', State University of New York Press, Albany (1996), p. 9.</ref> Other ancient writers, however, speak of Orpheus's visit to the underworld in a more negative light; according to Phaedrus in [[Biography:Plato|Plato]]'s ''Symposium'',<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0174:text=Sym.:section=179d ''Symposium'' 179d]</ref> the infernal gods only "presented an apparition" of Eurydice to him. In fact, Plato's representation of Orpheus is that of a coward, as instead of choosing to die in order to be with the one he loved, he instead mocked the gods by trying to go to Hades to bring her back alive. Since his love was not "true"—he did not want to die for love—he was actually punished by the gods, first by giving him only the apparition of his former wife in the underworld, and then by being killed by women. In Ovid's account, however, Eurydice's death by a snake bite is incurred while she was dancing with [[Unsolved:Naiad|naiad]]s on her wedding day.
[[File:Orpheus Thracians Met 24.97.30.jpg|thumb|left|Orpheus (left, with lyre) among the Thracians, from an Attic red-figure bell-krater (c. 440 BC)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/24.97.30|title=Attributed to the Painter of London E 497: Bell-krater (24.97.30) – Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History – The Metropolitan Museum of Art|work=metmuseum.org}}</ref>]]
Virgil wrote in his poem that Dryads wept from [[Unsolved:Orithyia|Epirus]] and Hebrus up to the land of the Getae (north east Danube valley) and even describes him wandering into [[Biology:Hyperborea|Hyperborea]] and Tanais (ancient Greek city in the Don river delta)<ref name="Virgil">{{cite web|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/virgil/geo/geo04.htm|title=The Georgics of Virgil: Fourth Book|website=www.sacred-texts.com|access-date=11 July 2017}}</ref> due to his grief.

The story of Eurydice may actually be a late addition to the Orpheus myths. In particular, the name ''Eurudike'' ("she whose justice extends widely") recalls cult-titles attached to [[Religion:Persephone|Persephone]]. According to the theories of poet [[Biography:Robert Graves|Robert Graves]], the myth may have been derived from another Orpheus legend, in which he travels to [[Religion:Tartarus|Tartarus]] and charms the goddess [[Religion:Hecate|Hecate]].<ref>[[Biography:Robert Graves|Robert Graves]], ''The Greek Myths'', Penguin Books Ltd., London (1955), Volume 1, Chapter 28, "Orpheus", p. 115.</ref>

The myth theme of not looking back, an essential precaution in Jason's raising of chthonic Brimo [[Religion:Hecate|Hekate]] under Medea's guidance,<ref>Apollonius of Rhodes, ''Argonautica'', book III: "Let no footfall or barking of dogs cause you to turn around, lest you ruin everything", Medea warns Jason; after the dread rite, "The son of Aison was seized by fear, but even so he did not turn round..."  (Richard Hunter, translator).</ref> is reflected in the Biblical story of Lot's wife when escaping from [[Religion:Sodom and Gomorrah|Sodom]]. More directly, the story of Orpheus is similar to the ancient Greek tales of Persephone captured by Hades and similar stories of [[Religion:Adonis|Adonis]] captive in the underworld. However, the developed form of the Orpheus myth was entwined with the Orphic mystery cults and, later in Rome, with the development of Mithraism and the cult of [[Religion:Sol Invictus|Sol Invictus]].

===Death===
[[File:Head of Orpheus.jpg|upright|thumb|right|''Thracian Girl Carrying the Head of Orpheus on His Lyre'' (1865) by Gustave Moreau]]
[[File:Kantharos63.9.jpg|thumb|The Death of Orpheus, detail from a silver kantharos, 420–410 BC, part of the Vassil Bojkov collection, Sofia, Bulgaria]]
According to a Late Antique summary of [[Biography:Aeschylus|Aeschylus]]'s lost play ''Bassarids'', Orpheus, towards the end of his life, disdained the worship of all gods except [[Unsolved:Apollo|Apollo]]. One early morning he went to the oracle of [[Religion:Dionysus|Dionysus]] at Mount Pangaion<ref name="L. Alderlink page 32">William Keith Guthrie and L. Alderlink, ''Orpheus and Greek Religion'', {{ISBN|0-691-02499-5}}, p. 32</ref> to salute his god at dawn, but was ripped to shreds by Thracian [[Unsolved:Maenad|Maenad]]s for not honoring his previous patron ([[Religion:Dionysus|Dionysus]]) and was buried in Pieria.<ref name="Apollodorus1.3.2" /><ref>Wilson, N., ''Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece'', Routledge, 2013, {{ISBN|113678800X}}, p. 702: "His grave and cult belong not to Thrace but to Pierian Macedonia, northeast of Mount Olympus, a region that the Thracians had once inhabited".</ref>

{{blockquote|But having gone down into Hades because of his wife and seeing what sort of things were there, he did not continue to worship Dionysus, because of whom he was famous, but he thought [[Religion:Helios|Helios]] to be the greatest of the gods, Helios whom he also addressed as Apollo. Rousing himself each night toward dawn and climbing the mountain called Pangaion, he would await the Sun's rising, so that he might see it first. Therefore, Dionysus, being angry with him, sent the Bassarides, as [[Biography:Aeschylus|Aeschylus]] the tragedian says; they tore him apart and scattered the limbs.<ref>{{cite book | title=The Iliad of Homer | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BT0uAQAAIAAJ | publisher=Ashmead | author1=Homer |first2=William Cullen |last2=Bryant | year=1809 }}</ref>}}

Here his death is analogous with that of Pentheus, who was also torn to pieces by Maenads; and it has been speculated that the Orphic mystery cult regarded Orpheus as a parallel figure to or even an incarnation of Dionysus.<ref>Mark P. O. Morford, Robert J. Lenardon, ''Classical Mythology'', p. 279.</ref> Both made similar journeys into Hades, and [[Religion:Zagreus|Dionysus-Zagreus]] suffered an identical death.<ref>''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology'', volume 88, p. 211</ref> Pausanias writes that Orpheus was buried in Dion and that he met his death there.<ref>Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Paus.+9.30.4 ''Description of Greece: Boeotia''], 9.30.1. The Macedonians who dwell in the district below Mount Pieria and the city of Dium say that it was here that Orpheus met his end at the hands of the women. Going from Dium along the road to the mountain, and advancing twenty [[Stadion (unit)|stades]], you come to a pillar on the right surmounted by a stone urn, which according to the natives contains the bones of Orpheus.<!--Is this a quotation? If so, mark it as such with quotation marks--></ref> 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.<ref>Pausanias, ''Boeotia'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Paus.+9.30.4 9.30.1]. There is also a river called Helicon. After a course of seventy-five stades the stream hereupon disappears under the earth. After a gap of about twenty-two stades the water rises again, and under the name of Baphyra instead of Helicon flows into the sea as a navigable river. The people of Dium say that at first this river flowed on land throughout its course. But, they go on to say, the women who killed Orpheus wished to wash off in it the blood-stains, and thereat the river sank underground, so as not to lend its waters to cleanse manslaughter<!--Is this a quotation? If so, mark it as such with quotation marks--></ref> Other legends claim that Orpheus became a follower of [[Religion:Dionysus|Dionysus]] and spread his cult across the land. In this version of the legend, it is said that Orpheus was torn to shreds by the women of Thrace for his inattention.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Orpheus |website=The Columbia Encyclopedia|url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/title/columency?institutionId=9190&tab=entry_view&heading=orpheus&sequence=0|access-date=2020-09-25}}</ref>

Ovid recounts that Orpheus

{{blockquote|had abstained from the love of women, either because things ended badly for him, or because he had sworn to do so. Yet, many felt a desire to be joined with the poet, and many grieved at rejection. Indeed, he was the first of the Thracian people to transfer his affection to young boys and enjoy their brief springtime, and early flowering this side of manhood.|author=Ovid, trans. A. S. Kline|source=[http://poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Metamorph10.htm ''Ovid: The Metamorphoses'', Book&nbsp;X]}}
 
Feeling spurned by Orpheus for taking only male lovers ({{lang|grc-Latn|eromenoi}}), the Ciconian women, followers of [[Religion:Dionysus|Dionysus]],<ref name="Johnson2008">{{cite book|author=Patricia Jane Johnson|title=Ovid Before Exile: Art and Punishment in the Metamorphoses|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tX9iAAAAMAAJ|year=2008|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|isbn=978-0-299-22400-4|page=103}} "by the Ciconian women".</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book|author=Ovid, trans. A. S. Kline|url=http://poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Metamorph11.htm|title=Ovid: The Metamorphoses|year=2000}} Book XI.</ref> In Albrecht Dürer's drawing of Orpheus's death, based on an original, now lost, by Andrea Mantegna, a ribbon high in the tree above him is lettered {{lang|de|Orfeus der erst puseran}} ("Orpheus, the first [[Social:Pederasty|pederast]]").<ref name="Wölfflin2013">{{cite book|author=Heinrich Wölfflin|title=Drawings of Albrecht Dürer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RDLmcOyWxgIC&pg=PA24|year=2013|publisher=Courier Dover |isbn=978-0-486-14090-2|pages=24–25}}</ref>

[[File:Albrecht Dürer - The Death of Orpheus, 1494 -Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kupferstichkabinett.jpg|thumb|left|''Death of Orpheus'' (1494) by Albrecht Dürer]]

His head, still singing mournful songs, floated along with his lyre down the River Hebrus into the sea, after which the winds and waves carried them to the island of Lesbos,<ref>[http://www.maicar.com/GML/Orpheus.html Carlos Parada] "His head fell into the sea and was cast by the waves upon the island of Lesbos where the Lesbians buried it, and for having done this the Lesbians have the reputation of being skilled in music."{{full citation needed|date=September 2023}}</ref> at the city of Methymna; there, the inhabitants buried his head and a shrine was built in his honour near Antissa;<ref>Recently{{when|date=September 2023}} a cave was identified as the oracle of Orpheus nearby the modern village of Antissa; see Harissis H. V. et al. "The Spelios of Antissa; The oracle of Orpheus in Lesvos" ''Archaiologia kai Technes'' 2002; 83:68–73 ([https://www.academia.edu/1510611/ article in Greek with English abstract])</ref> there his oracle prophesied, until it was silenced by Apollo.<ref>Flavius Philostratus, ''[[Biography:Apollonius of Tyana|Life of Apollonius of Tyana]]'', [https://www.livius.org/sources/content/philostratus-life-of-apollonius/philostratus-life-of-apollonius-4.11-15/#4.14]</ref> In addition to the people of Lesbos, Greeks from Ionia and Aetolia consulted the oracle, and his reputation spread as far as Babylon.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/livesnecromance04godwgoog|title=Lives of the Necromancers|first=William |last=Godwin|year=1876|page=46}}</ref>
   
Orpheus's [[Engineering:Lyre|lyre]] was carried to heaven by the Muses, and was placed [[Astronomy:Lyra|among the stars]]. The Muses also gathered up the fragments of his body and buried them at Leibethra<ref>Marcele Detienne, ''The Writing of Orpheus: Greek Myth in Cultural Context'', {{ISBN|0-8018-6954-4}}, p. 161</ref> below Mount Olympus, where the nightingales sang over his grave. After the river Sys flooded<ref>Pausanias, ''Boeotia'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Paus.+9.30.4 9.30.1] [11] Immediately when night came the god sent heavy rain, and the river Sys (Boar), one of the torrents about Olympus, on this occasion threw down the walls of Libethra, overturning sanctuaries of gods and houses of men, and drowning the inhabitants and all the animals in the city. When Libethra was now a city of ruin, the Macedonians in Dium, according to my friend of Larisa, carried the bones of Orpheus to their own country.<!--Is this a quotation? If so, mark it as such with quotation marks--></ref> Leibethra, the Macedonians took his bones to Dion. Orpheus's soul returned to the underworld, to the fields of the Blessed, where he was reunited at last with his beloved Eurydice.

Another legend places his tomb at Dion,<ref name="L. Alderlink page 32" /> near Pydna in Macedon. In another version of the myth, Orpheus travels to [[Biology:Aornum|Aornum]] in [[Place:Thesprotia|Thesprotia]], [[Place:Epirus|Epirus]] to an old oracle for the dead. In the end Orpheus commits suicide from his grief unable to find Eurydice.<ref>Pausanias, ''Boeotia'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Paus.+9.30.4 9.30.1]. Others have said that his wife died before him, and that for her sake he came to Aornum in Thesprotis, where of old was an oracle of the dead. He thought, they say, that the soul of Eurydice followed him, but turning round he lost her, and committed suicide for grief. The Thracians say that such nightingales as nest on the grave of Orpheus sing more sweetly and louder than others.<!--Is this a quotation? If so, mark it as such with quotation marks--></ref>

"Others said that he was the victim of a thunderbolt."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Freeman|first=Kathleen|title=The Pre-Socratic Philosophers|publisher=Basil Blackwell|year=1946|location=Oxford|pages=3|id=ark:/13960/t9z088h5f}}</ref>

== Orphic poems and rites==
[[File:Nymphs finding the Head of Orpheus.jpg|thumb|upright|''Nymphs Finding the Head of Orpheus'' (1900) by John William Waterhouse]]
On the writings of Orpheus, Freeman, in the 1946 edition of ''The Pre- Socratic Philosophers'' pp.&nbsp;4–8, writes:<ref name=":2" />

"In the fifth and fourth centuries BC, there existed a collection of hexametric poems known as Orphic, which were the accepted authority of those who followed the Orphic way of life, and were by them attributed to Orpheus himself. [[Biography:Plato|Plato]] several times quotes lines from this collection; he refers in the ''[[Social:Republic (Plato)|Republic]]'' to a "mass of books of Musaeus and Orpheus", and in the ''[[Philosophy:Laws (dialogue)|Laws]]'' to the hymns of Thamyris and Orpheus, while in the ''[[Religion:Ion (dialogue)|Ion]]'' he groups Orpheus with Musaeus and [[Biography:Homer|Homer]] as the source of inspiration of epic poets and elocutionists. Euripides in the ''Hippolytus'' makes Theseus speak of the "turgid outpourings of many treatises", which have led his son to follow Orpheus and adopt the Bacchic religion. Alexis, the fourth century comic poet, depicting Linus offering a choice of books to [[Religion:Heracles|Heracles]], mentions "Orpheus, [[Biography:Hesiod|Hesiod]], tragedies, Choerilus, Homer, Epicharmus". [[Biography:Aristotle|Aristotle]] did not believe that the poems were by Orpheus; he speaks of the "so-called Orphic epic", and [[Biography:John Philoponus|Philoponus]] (seventh century AD) commenting on this expression, says that in the ''De Philosophia'' (now lost) Aristotle directly stated his opinion that the poems were not by Orpheus. Philoponus adds his own view that the doctrines were put into epic verse by Onomacritus. Aristotle when quoting the Orphic cosmological doctrines attributes them to "the ''theologoi''", "the ancient poets", "those who first theorized about the gods".

In addition to serving as a storehouse of mythological data along the lines of [[Biography:Hesiod|Hesiod]]'s ''[[Religion:Theogony|Theogony]]'', Orphic poetry was recited in mystery-rites and purification rituals. [[Biography:Plato|Plato]] in particular tells of a class of vagrant beggar-priests who would go about offering purifications to the rich, a clatter of books by Orpheus and Musaeus in tow.<ref>Plato. ''The Republic'' 364c–d.</ref> Those who were especially devoted to these rituals and poems often practiced [[Philosophy:Vegetarianism|vegetarianism]] and abstention from sex, and refrained from eating eggs and beans—which came to be known as the {{lang|grc-Latn|Orphikos bios}}, or "Orphic way of life".<ref>Moore, p. 56: "the use of eggs and beans was forbidden, for these articles were associated with the worship of the dead".</ref> W. K. C. Guthrie wrote that Orpheus was the founder of mystery religions and the first to reveal to men the meanings of the initiation rites.<ref>Guthrie, pp. 17–18. "As founder of mystery-religions, Orpheus was first to reveal to men the meaning of the rites of initiation ({{lang|grc-Latn|teletai}}). We read of this in both Plato and Aristophanes (Aristophanes, ''Frogs'', 1032; Plato, ''Republic'', 364e, a passage which suggests that literary authority was made to take the responsibility for the rites)". Guthrie goes on to write about "This less worthy but certainly popular side of Orphism is represented for us again by the charms or incantations of Orpheus which we may also read of as early as the fifth century. Our authority is Euripides, a reference in the ''Alcestis'' of Euripides to certain Thracian tablets which "the voice of Orpheus had inscribed" with pharmaceutical lore. The scholiast, commenting on the passage, says that there exist on Mt. Haemus certain writings of Orpheus on tablets. We have already noticed the 'charm on the Thracian tablets' in the ''Alcestis'' and in ''Cyclops'' one of the lazy and frightened Satyrs, unwilling to help Odysseus in the task of driving the burning stake into the single eye of the giant, exclaims: 'But I know a spell of Orpheus, a fine one, which will make the brand step up of its own accord to burn this one-eyed son of Earth' (Euripides, ''Cyclops'' 646 = Kern, test. 83)."</ref> There is also a reference, not mentioning Orpheus by name, in the [[Biology:Pseudo-|pseudo]]-Platonic [[Philosophy:Axiochus (dialogue)|''Axiochus'']], where it is said that the fate of the soul in Hades is described on certain bronze tablets which two seers had brought to Delos from the land of the [[Biology:Hyperborea|Hyperborea]]ns.

[[File:Charles François Jalabert - Nymphs Listening to the Songs of Orpheus - Walters 3737.jpg|left|thumb|''Nymphs Listening to the Songs of Orpheus'' (1853) by Charles Jalabert]]
A number of Greek religious poems in hexameters were also attributed to Orpheus, as they were to similar miracle-working figures, like Bakis, Musaeus, Abaris, Aristeas, [[Biography:Epimenides|Epimenides]], and the Sibyl. Of this vast literature, only two works survived whole: the ''Orphic Hymns'', a set of 87 poems, possibly composed at some point in the second or third century, and the epic ''Orphic Argonautica'', composed somewhere between the fourth and sixth centuries. Earlier Orphic literature, which may date back as far as the sixth century BC, survives only in [[Engineering:Papyrus|papyrus]] fragments or in quotations. Some of the earliest fragments may have been composed by Onomacritus.<ref>Freeman, Kathleen. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ASijqFryr5IC ''Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers''], Harvard University Press (1948), p. 1.</ref>

Aelian (second century AD) gave the chief reason against believing in them: at the time when Orpheus is said to have lived, the Thracians knew nothing about writing. It came therefore to be believed that Orpheus taught, but left no writings, and that the epic poetry attributed to him was written in the sixth century BC by Onomacritus. Onomacritus was banished from Athens by [[Biography:Hipparchus|Hipparchus]] for inserting something of his own into an oracle of Musaeus when entrusted with the editing of his poems. It may have been Aristotle who first suggested, in the lost {{lang|la|De Philosophia}}, that Onomacritus also wrote the so-called Orphic epic poems. By the time when the Orphic writings began to be freely quoted by [[Religion:Christianity|Christian]] and [[Philosophy:Neoplatonism|Neo-Platonist]] writers, the theory of the authorship of Onomacritus was accepted by many.

[[File:Gabriel-Jules Thomas, Orphée. 1854. Paris, Cour Carrée, Palais du Louvre. Photo, Jamie Mulherron.jpg|thumb|Gabriel Thomas, ''Orpheus'' (1854), Paris, Cour Carrée, Louvre Palace]]
The Neo-Platonists quote the Orphic poems in their defence against Christianity, because Plato used poems which he believed to be Orphic. It is believed that in the collection of writings which they used there were several versions, each of which gave a slightly different account of the origin of the universe, of gods and men, and perhaps of the correct way of life, with the rewards and punishments attached thereto."<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Freeman|first=Kathleen|title=The Pre-Socratic Philosophers|publisher=Basil Blackwell|year=1946|location=Oxford|pages=4–8|id=ark:/13960/t9z088h5f}}</ref>

The [[Religion:Derveni papyrus|Derveni papyrus]], found in Derveni, Macedonia (Greece) in 1962, contains a philosophical treatise that is an allegorical commentary on an Orphic poem in hexameters, a theogony concerning the birth of the gods, produced in the circle of the philosopher [[Biography:Anaxagoras|Anaxagoras]], written in the second half of the fifth century BC.<ref>{{cite journal | url=http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2006/2006-10-29.html | last= Janko| first= Richard |journal= Bryn Mawr Classical Review |year= 2006|editor1-first= K. |editor1-last=Tsantsanoglou |editor2-first= G. M. |editor2-last=Parássoglou |editor3-first=T. |editor3-last= Kouremenos | title= The Derveni Papyrus |location= Florence: Olschki |series= Studi e testi per il 'Corpus dei papiri filosofici greci e latini' |volume= 13}}</ref> The papyrus dates to around 340 BC, during the reign of Philip II of Macedon, making it Europe's oldest surviving manuscript.

==Post-Classical interpretations==
[[File:Regius - Orpheus Beasts.jpg|thumb|Orpheus charming the beasts. Engraving by Regius for Ovid's Metamorphoses Book X, 143]]

===Classical music===
The Orpheus motif has permeated [[Social:Western culture|Western culture]] and has been used as a theme in all art forms. Early examples include the Breton lai ''Sir Orfeo'' from the early 13th century and musical interpretations like Jacopo Peri's ''Euridice'' (1600, though titled with his wife's name, the libretto is based entirely upon books X and XI of Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'' and therefore Orpheus's viewpoint is predominant).

Subsequent operatic interpretations include:
* Claudio Monteverdi's {{lang|it|L'Orfeo}} (1607)
* Luigi Rossi's {{lang|it|Orfeo}} (1647)
* Marc-Antoine Charpentier's {{lang|fr|La descente d'Orphée aux enfers}} H.488 (1686). Charpentier also composed a cantata, {{lang|fr|Orphée descendant aux enfers}} H.471, (1683)
* Christoph Willibald Gluck's {{lang|it|Orfeo ed Euridice}} (1762)
* Joseph Haydn's last opera {{lang|it|L'anima del filosofo, ossia Orfeo ed Euridice}} (1791)
* Franz Liszt's symphonic poem ''Orpheus'' (1854)
* Jacques Offenbach's operetta {{lang|fr|Orphée aux Enfers}} (1858)
* Igor Stravinsky's ballet ''Orpheus'' (1948)
* David Maslanka's work for two bassoons and marimba ''Orpheus'' (1977)
* Two operas by Harrison Birtwistle: ''The Mask of Orpheus'' (1973–1984) and ''The Corridor'' (2009)
* The Bulgarian Rousse State Opera commissioned and performed ''Orpheus: A Masque'' by John Robertson (2015)<ref>Rousse State Opera. [http://www.ruseopera.com/page.php?Cod_fam=12&Cod_sub=156&Cod_not=1019 "Световна премиера на операта „Орфей” от канадския композитор Джон Робъртсън в МФ „Сцена край реката”-Русе"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160302094755/http://www.ruseopera.com/page.php?Cod_fam=12&Cod_sub=156&Cod_not=1019 |date=2016-03-02 }} ("World Premiere of the opera 'Orpheus' by Canadian composer John Robertson"). Retrieved 22 February 2016 {{in lang|bg}}.</ref>
* Jóhann Jóhannsson's Solo Album, Orphée (2016)
* Fabio Mengozzi's electronic poem ''Orpheus'' (2022).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Fabio Mengozzi, elettronica e magia|url=https://www.lastampa.it/asti/2022/10/18/news/fabio_mengozzi_elettronica_e_magia-12174484/|last=|first=|date=18 October 2022|website=La Stampa|language=it|publication-date=18 October 2022|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}}</ref>

===Literature===
Rainer Maria Rilke's ''Sonnets to Orpheus'' (1922) are based on the Orpheus myth. Poul Anderson's Hugo Award-winning novelette "Goat Song", published in 1972, is a retelling of the story of Orpheus in a science fiction setting. Some [[Social:Feminism|feminist]] interpretations of the myth give Eurydice greater weight. Margaret Atwood's ''Orpheus and Eurydice Cycle'' (1976–1986) deals with the myth, and gives Eurydice a more prominent voice. Sarah Ruhl's ''Eurydice'' likewise presents the story of Orpheus's descent to the underworld from Eurydice's perspective. Ruhl removes Orpheus from the center of the story by pairing their romantic love with the paternal love of Eurydice's dead father.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/19/theater/reviews/19seco.html|first=Charles|last=Isherwood|work={{wipe|The New York Times}}|date=2007-06-19|title=The Power of Memory to Triumph Over Death}}</ref> David Almond's 2014 novel ''A Song for Ella Grey'' was inspired by the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, and won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in 2015.<ref>{{Cite news|author=<!--Not stated-->|date=2015-11-19|title=David Almond wins Guardian children's fiction prize|language=en-GB|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2015/nov/19/david-almond-wins-guardian-childrens-fiction-prize|access-date=2020-11-24|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> The 2014 novel ''Orfeo'' by Richard Powers is based on Orpheus.{{citation needed|date=April 2018}}{{clarify|date=April 2018}} The 2020 novel ''Orpheus' Temptation''<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KXTQMVR|title=Beautiful Failures|date=4 November 2020|publisher=Redder Black}}</ref> by Stefan Calin is based on an allegory between the main character and Orpheus's descent into the Underworld and subsequent temptation to look at Eurydice.

Dino Buzzati adapted the Orpheus motif in his graphic novel ''Poem Strip'' (1969). Neil Gaiman depicts his version of Orpheus in ''The Sandman'' comic series (1989–2015). Gaiman's Orpheus is the son of Oneiros (the Dream Lord Morpheus) and the muse Calliope.<ref>Gaiman, Neil. ''The Sandman'' #50.</ref>

The poet Gabriele Tinti has composed a series of poems inspired by the myth of Orpheus, read by Robert Davi at the J. Paul Getty Museum.<ref>{{cite web|title=Poem: Orpheus|url=https://soundcloud.com/the-getty/robertdavi-orpheus|language=en|access-date=2020-11-24}}</ref>{{user-generated inline|date=September 2023}}

===Film and stage===
[[File:Muerte de OrfeoGarciaVega.jpg|thumb|upright|''Death of Orpheus'' by Mexican artist Antonio García Vega]]

Vinicius de Moraes's play {{lang|pt|Orfeu da Conceição}} (1956), later adapted by Marcel Camus in the 1959 film ''Black Orpheus'', tells the story in the modern context of a favela in Rio de Janeiro during Carnaval. Jean Cocteau's Orphic Trilogy&nbsp;– ''The Blood of a Poet'' (1930), ''Orpheus'' (1950) and ''Testament of Orpheus'' (1959)&nbsp;– was filmed over thirty years, and is based in many ways on the story. Philip Glass adapted the second film into the chamber opera {{lang|fr|Orphée}} (1991), part of an homage [[Triptych|triptych]] to Cocteau. Nikos Nikolaidis's 1975 film ''Evrydiki BA 2037'' is an innovative perspective on the classic Greek tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice. Baz Luhrmann's 2001 jukebox musical film ''Moulin Rouge!'' is also inspired by the myth. Anaïs Mitchell's 2010 folk opera musical ''Hadestown'' retells the tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice with a soundtrack inspired by American blues and jazz, portraying [[Religion:Hades|Hades]] as the brutal work-boss of an underground mining city. Mitchell, together with director Rachel Chavkin, later adapted her album into a multiple Tony award-winning stage musical. Sarah Ruhl's play ''Eurydice'' examines the myth from the perspective of Eurydice, and the myth features as one of the tales told in Mary Zimmerman's play ''Metamorphoses''. In 2022 the Dutch National Opera presented {{lang|fr|Orphee l'Amour Eurydice}}, an adapted version of the myth. The piece made use of the [[Engineering:Meta Quest 2|Meta Quest 2]] headset, and allowed audiences to experience the opera through the eyes of both Orphée and Eurydice.

==See also==
* [[Biology:Aornum|Aornum]]
* ''Argonautica Orphica''
* [[Social:Katabasis|Katabasis]]
* Leibethra
* List of Orphean operas
* [[Religion:Orphism|Orphism]]
* Pierian Spring
* [[Social:Pimpleia|Pimpleia]]
* Sir Orfeo
* [[Astronomy:3361 Orpheus|3361 Orpheus]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

== Bibliography ==
* Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''Bibliotheke'' I, iii, 2; ix, 16 & 25;
* Apollonius Rhodius, ''Argonautica'' I, 23–34; IV, 891–909.
* Bernabé, Alberto (1996), ''Poetae epici Graeci: Testimonia et fragmenta, Pars I'', Bibliotheca Teubneriana, Stuttgart and Leipzig, Teubner, 1996. {{ISBN|978-3-815-41706-5}}. [https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110936995 Online version at De Gruyter].
* Bernabé, Alberto (2005), ''Poetae epici Graeci: Testimonia et fragmenta, Pars II: Orphicorum et Orphicis similium testimonia et fragmenta, Fasc 2'', Bibliotheca Teubneriana, Munich and Leipzig, K. G. Saur Verlag, 2005. {{ISBN|978-3-598-71708-6}}. [https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110918915 Online version at De Gruyter].
* Guthrie, William Keith Chambers, ''Orpheus and Greek Religion: a Study of the Orphic Movement'', 1935.
* {{cite book | last=Kerenyi | first=Karl |  title=The Heroes of the Greeks | publisher=Thames and Hudson | location=New York/London | year=1959 }}
* Moore, Clifford H., ''Religious Thought of the Greeks'', 1916. Kessinger Publishing (April 2003). {{ISBN|978-0-7661-5130-7}}
* Ossoli, Margaret Fuller, ''Orpheus'', a sonnet about his trip to the underworld.
* Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'' X, 1–105; XI, 1–66;
* Christoph Riedweg, "Orfeo", in: S. Settis (a cura di), ''I Greci: Storia Cultura Arte Società'', volume II, 1, Turin 1996, 1251–1280.
* Christoph Riedweg, "Orpheus oder die Magie der musiké. Antike Variationen eines einflussreichen Mythos", in: Th. Fuhrer / P. Michel / P. Stotz (Hgg.), ''Geschichten und ihre Geschichte'', Basel 2004, 37–66.
* {{cite book|last=Segal|first=Charles|title=Orpheus : The Myth of the Poet|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|location=Baltimore|year=1989|isbn=0-8018-3708-1}}
* Smith, William; ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', London (1873). [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DO%3Aentry+group%3D8%3Aentry%3Dorpheus-bio-1 "Orpheus" ]
* West, Martin L., ''The Orphic Poems'', 1983. There is a sub-thesis in this work that early Greek religion was heavily influenced by Central Asian shamanistic practices. One major point of contact was the ancient Crimean city of Olbia.
* Wise, R. Todd, ''A Neocomparative Examination of the Orpheus Myth As Found in the Native American and European Traditions'', 1998. UMI. The thesis explores Orpheus as a single mythic structure present in traditions that extend from antiquity to contemporary times and across cultural contexts.
* Wroe, Ann, ''Orpheus: The Song of Life'', The Overlook Press, New York, 2012.

==External links==
* [http://www.maicar.com/GML/Orpheus.html Greek Mythology Link, Orpheus]
* [http://www.theoi.com/Text/OrphicHymns1.html Theoi Project: online text: ''The Orphic Hymns'' translated by Thomas Taylor]
* [http://www.prometheustrust.co.uk/html/5_-_hymns.html ''The Life and Theology of Orpheus'' by Thomas Taylor], including several Orphic Hymns and their accompanying notes by Taylor
* [http://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/ancient-greece/orphica.asp ''Orphica'' in English and Greek (select resources)]
* [http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/3/gh351.jsp?obj_id=2476 Leibethra – The Tomb of Orpheus] (in Greek)
* [https://iconographic.warburg.sas.ac.uk/category/vpc-taxonomy-000108 The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (images of Orpheus)]
* [http://greekmythcomix.com/comic/orpheus/ Greek Myth Comix: The Story of Orpheus] A detailed comic-strip retelling of Orpheus by [http://greekmythcomix.com/ Greek Myth Comix]
* ''[https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft Orphicorum fragmenta]'', Otto Kern (ed.), Berolini apud Weidmannos, 1922.



[[Category:Founders of religions]]

{{Sourceattribution|Orpheus}}