Orpheus and Eurydice | Greek Mythology |

Orpheus and Eurydice | Greek Mythology and the Greek Gods |
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From Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods & Heroes by Edith Hamilton

00:10 Orpheus Before Eurydice

The very earliest musicians were the gods. Athena was not distinguished in that line, but she invented the flute. Hermes made the lyre and gave it to Apollo. Hermes also made the shepherd pipe for. Pan made the pipe of reeds which can sing as sweetly as the nightingale in spring. The Muses had no instrument peculiar to them, but their voices were lovely beyond compare.

Next in order came a few mortals so excellent in their art that they almost equaled the divine performers. Of these, by far the greatest was Orpheus. On his mother's side, he was more than mortal. He was the son of one of the Muses and a Thracian prince. His mother gave him the gift of music and Thrace where he grew up fostered it. The Thracians were the most musical of the peoples of Greece. But Orpheus had no rival there or anywhere except the gods alone. There was no limit to his power when he played and sang.

01:46 Orpheus with Jason and The Argonauts

Little is told about his life before his ill-fated marriage, for which he is even better known than for his music. But he went on one famous expedition and proved himself a most useful member of it. He sailed with Jason on the Argo, and when the heroes were weary, or the rowing was especially difficult, he would strike his lyre and they would be aroused a fresh zeal and their oars would smite the sea together in time to the melody. Or if a quarrel threatened, he would play so tenderly and soothingly that the fiercest spirits would grow calm and forget their anger. He saved the heroes too from the sirens. When they heard far over the sea singing so enchantingly sweet that it drove out all other thoughts except a desperate longing to hear more, and they turned the ship to the shore where the sirens sat. Orpheus snatched up his lyre and played a tune so clear and ringing that it drowned the sound of those lovely fatal voices. The ship was put back on her course and the winds sped her away from the dangerous place. If Orpheus had not been there, the Argonauts too, would've left their bones on the sirens island.

03:05 Orpheus and Eurydice

Where he first met and how he wooed the maiden he loved, Eurydice, we are not told, but it is clear that no maiden he wanted could have resisted the power of his song. They were married, but their joy was brief. Directly after the wedding, as the bride walked in a meadow with her bridesmaids, a viper stung her and she died. Orpheus' grief was overwhelming. He could not endure it.

03:32 Orpheus Goes to The Underworld

He determined to go down to the world of death and try to bring Eurydice back. He dared more than any other man ever dared for his love. He took the fearsome journey to the underworld. There he struck his lyre, and at the sound, all that vast multitude were charmed to stillness. The dog Cerberus relaxed his guard; the wheel of Ixion stood motionless; Sisiphus sat at rest upon his stone; Tatalus forgot his thirst; for the first time the faces of the dread goddesses, The Furies, were wet with tears.
No one under the spell of his voice could refuse him anything. He drew iron tears down Pluto's cheek and made hell grant what love did seek.
They summoned Eurydice and gave her to him, but upon one condition: that he would not look back at her as she followed him until they had reached the upper world.

05:45 Escape from The Underworld

So the two passed through the great doors of Hades to the path which would take them out of the darkness, climbing up and up. He knew that she must be just behind him, but he longed unutterably to give one glance to make sure. But now they were almost there, the blackness was turning gray; now he had stepped out joyfully into the daylight. Then he turned to her. It was too soon. She was still in the cavern.

He saw her in the dim light and he held out his arms to clasp her; but on the instant she was gone. She had slipped back into the darkness. All he heard was one faint word, "Farewell."

Desperately, he tried to rush after her and follow her down, but he was not allowed. The gods would not consent to his entering the world of the dead a second time while he was still alive.

06:39 A Tragic Tale of Love

He was forced to return to the earth alone in utter desolation, comfortless except for his lyre, playing, always playing, and the rocks and the rivers and the trees heard him gladly, his only companions.
But at last a band of Maenads came upon him…

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