Orpheus: The Man Behind the Myth

Classical Ancient History | By

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (15.4MB)

Subscribe to the Show Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | RSS

In this episode, we’re looking at the legendary figure of Orpheus and what his myths can tell us about the world. The Ancient Greeks and Romans believed Orpheus was a real person. He had the ability to create music so beautiful it could make rocks cry. There’s one version where he plays his lyre and the rock someone threw at him just refused to hit him, he was that great at it. These days, musicians have to work a lot harder if they want to be blessed enough to make rocks emote.

Specifically, Orpheus is most famous for two things. He went with Jason on the quest for the Golden Fleece, and he failed to bring his wife back from the Underworld. In both myths, Orpheus plays the lyre and does the impossible. In one myth, he doesn’t succeed in what he sets out to do. He’s the archetype of the inspired artist, the travelling musician. Some ancient writers believed him to be a prophet for what’s known as the Orphic Mysteries, writing poems.

His legacy has endured to this day, we still talk about him and consume media inspired by him. So just who was Orpheus according to the Ancient Greeks, and why should we care about him today?

The Origins of Orpheus

If you ask the Ancient Greeks, most say he did exist. Strabo and Plutarch, both ancient historians, thought so. Pindar called him the “father of songs” and the son of the mythical king Oeagrus of Thrace and the muse Calliope. While it was the god Hermes who invented the lyre, Orpheus perfected it. Aristotle is alone in thinking Orpheus didn’t exist. Neither Homer (who wrote the Iliad) nor Hesiod mention him at all.

Was Orpheus a real person? Let’s pretend for a moment it’s possible to make rocks emote, like Simonides of Ceos said Orpheus could do. A few historians pointed out the Thracian origins made their way into the story around the 5th century BCE. The first mention of Orpheus is a hundred years earlier. A two-word fragment from the poet Ibycus from the 6th century: onomaklyton Orphēn (“Orpheus famous-of-name”).

Strabo said Orpheus was a mortal, a musician and charlatan magician (αγυρτεύοντα, agurteúonta [ag-urt-you-on-ta], where “Αγύρτης/ agúrtēs” is used to mean charlatan) who lived and died in Pimpleia, close to Olympus. Pausanius says an Egyptian considered Orpheus a magician (mágeuse, μάγευσε). Diodorus said he studied in Egypt. Pindar and Apollonius Rhodius place Orpheus as the harpist and companion of Jason and the Argonauts, supported with a sculpture in Delphi from the 6th century BCE.

It’s the historian André Boulanger who tells us that none of the “themes” of the Orphic legends, such as infernal punishment, really match up with anything found in Thrace. Earlier accounts, and Orpheus’ tomb in Leibethra, suggest that Orpheus comes from Pimpleia, or Macedonia, rather than Thrace.

Whether a man named Orpheus existed or not, we can guess the importance for so many scholars to mention him. Far too many of the same details appear in various iterations to discard entirely.

Orpheus on the Good Ship Argo

The story of Jason and the Argonauts, or the quest for the Golden Fleece in Cochis, dates back to the 3rd century BCE. Jason’s romance with Medea was already well-known by the time Apollonius Rhodius wrote the story. What Apollonius did with the story was expand it to include geography, ethnography and religion. If there had to be a moral to the story of Jason’s Quest for the Golden Fleece, I’d pick “Be Wary of the Whims of the Gods.”

In the story, Hercules is only involved for the first bit because he has his twelve labours to complete. When Jason asks which of them should be the leader, and everyone says “Hercules!”. Hercules himself suggests Jason, and everyone else says “Jason!”. So Jason is the leader of the quest.

For Orpheus, Jason invited him because Chiron hinted that he might be useful later on. Until that time, Orpheus keeps morale up with his music. He’s a bard, by all accounts, not an adventurer. (Though, in Dungeons and Dragons, bards can be vicious little assholes.)

For a lot of the story, the gods are mostly distant. Their involvement is in keeping with the rationalization of religion. In the background, Hercules completes his labours to become immortal. It’s Orpheus who plays music loud enough to drown out the sirens and prevent their deaths. But the gods are still present. Athena blesses the ship. Zeus curses them. Heroes are always beholden to the whims of the gods, or they die.

In our quest to discover who Orpheus is, we can gather his defining trait is his musical talent. Whatever else he might be, wherever he might come from, isn’t as important as his ability to play beautiful music.

Orpheus and Eurydice

The first mention of Orpheus’ trip to the underworld is a painting by Polygnotus from the 5th century BCE, and described by Pausanias in the 2nd century AD. They don’t mention Eurydice at all. Plato describes the trip to recover a wife but doesn’t give her name. In fact, the first mention of Eurydice is in the version written by the Roman poet Virgil.

Vigil wrote the classic version of the myth. There’s also the various endings the story has. Plato portrays Orpheus as a coward who refuses to die for love. In return, the gods only present an apparition of his dead wife and curse Orpheus to be killed by women. While Psuedo-Apollodorus just says a snake’s bite kills Eurydice, Ovid says it happened on her wedding night while dancing with naiads.

The Six Ways Orpheus Dies

And four of them involve women killing him.

First, Aeschylus says Orpheus disdained the worship of all gods except Apollo. One early morning as he said his morning prayers, Thracian Maenads ripped him to shreds for not honouring his previous patron, Dionysus. This version has him buried in Pieria. The writer Pentheus also has Maenads rip Orpheus to pieces. Pausanius adds the river Helicon in Dion sank underground when the women who killed Orpheus tried to wash the blood off their hands. Other versions have Orpheus solely worshipping Dionysus, and the Thracian women tear him to pieces for his inattention. Ovid suggests Orpheus turned his sexual attention to men after the Underworld, and the Thracian women were so enraged they killed him with their hands.

Another version says Orpheus travel to Aornum in Thesprotia, Epirus to an old oracle for the dead. In the end Orpheus kills himself from his grief unable to find Eurydice. Finally, “he was a victim of a thunderbolt.”

The story provides enough drama for it to be one of the most retold legends in Greek mythology. From this, we can gather that Orpheus was one of the few heroes to enter the Underworld and return, and that women, for whatever reason, killed him.

Similarities in Other Places

With a story as old and as popular as Orpheus,’ it’s of no surprise that aspects are seen elsewhere in the ancient world. The taboo of looking is a common one, as is the theme of descent and return from a place of death.

Take, for example, the Abrahamic tale of Lot and his nameless wife escaping the city of Sodom. In Genesis chapter 19, Lot, his wife, and daughters escape the punishment of the city. An angel tells them not to look back as they flee. But Lot’s wife does look back, and she turns into a pillar of salt. There are a few location for the possible historical site of Sodom, but none are definitive.

Within the Greek myths themselves, tales of escaping from the Underworld occurs in the tale of Adonis, the mortal lover of Aphrodite and Persephone. Aphrodite found a baby and gave him to Persephone, the queen of the Underworld, to foster. When the baby grew up, both goddess found him to be handsome and wouldn’t share him. Either Zeus or Calliope suggest Adonis spend a portion of the year with each goddess. And thus, Adonis leaves the Underworld still living.

The monomyth of the Hero’s Journey reflects this story of life and death, descending into the Underworld and returning from it. Classic films such as the original Star Wars trilogy feature entering a dark place opposite the starting location to rescue someone with a trial to overcome on the way out. Modern stories have the heroes succeed.

It’s clear to see that Orpheus’ reach stretches beyond the borders of Greece and down the length of time to the present. Whether or not Orpheus is real doesn’t matter when the legacy has the capacity to live on.

Contemporary Renditions of Orpheus

The legend of Orpheus and Eurydice has inspired many contemporary retellings and features in modern media. While there’s the traditional poems, ballets and operas, Orpheus has appeared in more unconventional retellings.

In 2020, the independent video game developer Supergiant Games released “Hades”, a game requiring multiple playthroughs for branching stories. In the game, players control Zagreus, the son of Hades, as he attempts to escape from the Underworld to reach Mount Olympus, at times aided by gifts the other Olympians bestow on him. It is cited as one of the greatest video games of all time, selling over a million copies, with critics praising its narrative, gameplay, art style, music, and voice acting. Within the game, the player meets Eurydice and Orpheus, and is given the option of reuniting them. The game represents family, evident with the fickle relationships between the gods.

The singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell created a sung-through musical based on Orpheus and Eurydice in 2006. She then turned it into a concept album in 2010 before working with Rachel Chavkin to rework the stage production for in 2016. Since then, Hadestown received critical acclaim. At the 73rd Tony Awards, Hadestown received 14 nominations (the most for the evening) and won eight of them, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. The themes of the musical include, power, politics, the saving power of art, and how hope is the only thing we have left.

Orpheus, as with any story thousands of years old, can adapt to any medium. Whether that’s in a side quest for a video game or a musical set in a 1930s style dystopian world, the story of Orpheus and Eurydice lives on.

Conclusion

We now know a lot more about Orpheus than we did before. We know who he was within the context of Ancient Greece and beyond. If there’s one thing to take away from the figure of Orpheus, it’s that there’s an interpretation for everything.

Whether Orpheus existed or not doesn’t appear to matter as much as the stories that come from the possibility of having someone who can illuminate the morals of living under the gods. Whether it’s warning someone about how they worship the gods, or as a punishment, mythical figures often act as guidelines for moral behaviour. And if the tale’s engaging enough, other religions will hear of it and incorporate it into their own collection.

Historically speaking, Orpheus is one of Greece’s most famous figures. Even if you haven’t heard of the role he played with Jason and the Argonauts, you’ll have come across some variant of his adventures. From his trip to the Underworld to the ability to charm rocks with his music, we’ve all heard about it in some form. But what’s the point of retelling these myths?

We retell the same stories over and over again to make them more relatable to the society we live in. There’s something in these stories for us to pay attention to, even two thousand years later.

Resources and Links

Like It? Pin It:

You Might Also Like:

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

1 thought on “Orpheus: The Man Behind the Myth”

  1. Pingback: Five Greek Constellations and their Myths - Deconstructed History

Scroll to Top