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Son of Oeagrus & Calliope, Orpheus was blessed by Apollo with a musical talent that could almost rival with his own. Young Orpheus met Eurydice while he was playing the lyre in the woods. Enamored at first sight, he was delighted to see the young water nymph approach to hear his song. She was drawn to the beauty of the music and of the boy playing it.
They felt like they had always known each other and after seeing that they were inseparable, they decided to get married. The wedding was beautiful and joyful. Everyone was celebrating the union that was about to be formed until Hymenaios (god of marriage), who blessed the matrimony, stopped singing as a warning sign. Their union seemed to be doomed from the start, but it didn't matter to the young lovers.
Sadly, fate was inevitable. During a bright afternoon, Eurydice was enjoying a walk with her new husband, unaware that Aristaeus, a minor god obsessed by the nymph, was watching them in a bush nearby. He was planning on killing Orpheus and taking Eurydice for himself. As he jumped out of hiding, the couple grabbed each other and started fleeing. In all that panic and confusion, Eurydice didn't see the snake that she was stepping on. Its bite would be fatal. She fell to the ground and Orpheus was unable to save her.
After her death, Orpheus wasn't the same. Nothing could bring him joy like his wife once did, and he was unable to play the lyre or sing. After days of reclusion in his house, he went to Apollo, his former mentor, and asked him for help. The god advised him to go to the underworld.
He started planning his descent and once he was there, he got past all the guardians with ease using his songs. Once he got to Hades, he played for him and asked to see his wife. Charmed and impressed by the music, the god turned to his wife Persephone to let her decide if the mortal could take his beloved back with him. She agreed and so, Hades allowed it on one condition. They could walk back to the surface, but Orpheus had to be in front of Eurydice. And if he dared turn around to look at her, she would go right back to the underworld.
Overwhelmed with joy, the musician went to look for his wife with his eyes closed. When he found her, he told her to hold on to him and to follow his path. After walking back up to the surface, Orpheus was delighted that his plan had worked and impatient to hold his lover again. He stepped into the sunlight and turned around, remembering only when he saw Eurydice's eyes, still in the darkness of the cave, that they both had to be out of the underworld. He only got a glimpse of his sweet wife before she got dragged back down with the other damned souls.
- In some versions of the story, Orpheus has a golden lyre gifted by Apollo.
- Orpheus joined the expedition of the Argonauts, saving them from the music of the Sirens by playing his own, more powerful music.
- Nothing can resist his playing and singing: The animals of the forest gather around him, the trees bend toward him, and the streams and rivers come out of their beds to greet him.
Orpheus was a poor boy in this world of gods and men. The gods had given him a gift, but he gave it back to them.
Eurydice was a young girl and after all she’d seen, suddenly, she saw the world the way that it could be.
