Orpheus And Eurydice

Opening

Orpheus and Eurydice, an Ancient Greek tale of love, heartbreak, katabasis and revelation. Orpheus a Thracian bard and Eurydice a beautiful maiden. On their wedding day she fell into a pit of vipers and passed. Orpheus played such a mournful song that even the gods were moved and wept by it. Orpheus though wasn’t willing to give up Eurydice and so he set forth to the underworld to get back his wife. You see Orpheus wasn’t just a normal bard, oh  no, Orpheus could do magic with his music; from simple animal charming to moving rock and rivers, Orpheus’s music had power. Orpheus wasn’t just a lowly mortal Orpheus was a son of a Thracian King and had even helped Jason on his adventure, his lyre could drown out even a Sirens song.

“To Plouton

…Your throne rests

                On a dark realm,

The realm of distant, of untiring

                of windless, and of impassive Hades;

it does rest on gloomy Acheron…”

Orphic Hymn

And so, he went playing his lyre as he traversed down to beneath the earth, to the great realm of the dead. His lyre was his only companion, the strings plucked and notes echoing against the rock. Some say Orpheus even used his music to placate Cerberus to let him pass deeper into Hades. Orpheus traveled ever farther, passing shades of the dead, his music being the only thing protecting him. Orpheus finally comes upon the great Lord Plouton and Lady Persephone.

“Who are you?” inquired Persephone.

“And how did you enter my realm while still alive?” questioned Plouton.

“I am Orpheus, O’ Lord and Lady and I have come for my wife to return to the living with me.”

“No.” Stated Plouton “Once someone enters my realm they may not leave.” The Lord stated with a finality begetting a god.

Persephone stared inquisitively at the young bard, “I am in agreement with my husband, the rules exist for a reason.”

And then Orpheus played a tune, a hauntingly beautiful song, portraying his love, his longing, his want for Eurydice. He played and played pouring his heart and soul into this song. Some say it was Persephone who was moved and begged her husband to give Orpheus Eurydice. Some say his music persuaded the great Dread Lord with no need of Persephone’s begging. But there was a catch,

“I shall give you back your wife, but you must lead her back to the surface, and you cannot gaze upon her. She will follow you from behind as a silent, invisible, intangible shade. If, if you reach the surface without looking back then she is yours. But should you look back then she will rest in Hades.” Plouton stated with finality.

“I accept your challenge.” replied Orpheus.

And so, Orpheus went back the way he came, passing shades of the dead, crossing the River Styx and climbing up the stairs back to the mortal realm. And at the top he pauses for a split second, his mind racing, the love for Eurydice overpowering, the doubt that she was there was suppressed yet there and at the bottom of it all was the doubt if he was still the man that she had come to love. He had grieved for her death and performed her funerary rites; he loved her so much and yet was he still the same person as when they met?

 Orpheus loved Eurydice and Eurydice loved Orpheus that is unquestionable, but is it love to bring back someone from the dead? Is it selfish to break nature for someone you professed and confessed everything to? Orpheus contemplated a 1000 thoughts in the microsecond he paused at the stairs, and then he turns, whipping his head to see Eurydice for one last time.

‘Beautiful, my beautiful Eurydice’ Orpheus thought as Eurydice turned around and headed back to the underworld.

The doubt in Orpheus’s mind of her being but a fake promise was dismissed before he had even turned his head. The Gods are ultimately good therefore Ploutons’ wager was real, and Plouton had won.

Orpheus is a Hero, his katabasis, his trip to the underworld was done out of love. He accomplished something unheard. Yet his love was ultimately his failure. An Orpheus who doesn’t turn to look is not Orpheus, an Orpheus who doesn’t bet with the Gods in their own realm isn’t Orpheus. An Orpheus who gets a happy ending isn’t an Orpheus, just like Achilles. Achilles Rage and Orpheus’s love are but two sides of the same coin. Love and War, Sex and Violence, Yearning and Contempt. Orpheus story does not end with his return from the underworld, but that is a tale for another time….

“To Eros

I call upon you, great, pure

                lovely and sweet Eros

winged archer who runs

                swiftly on a path of fire,

who plays together with gods

                and mortal men.

Inventive, two-natured,

                You are master of all:

Of the sky’s ether, of the sea and the land,

                of the all-begetting winds,

which for mortals the goddess

                of grass and grain nurtures,

of all that lies in Tartaros,

                of all that lies in the roaring sea;

you alone govern

                the course of all these

O blessed one, come to the initiates

                with pure thought

banish from them

                vile impulses”

The Orphic Hymns

 

Sources

Athanassakis, A. N., & Wolkow, B. M. (2013). The Orphic Hymns. The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Wikimedia Foundation. (2025, March 30). Orpheus and Eurydice. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orpheus_and_Eurydice