Orpheus and Eurydice

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Orpheus and Eurydice

• Ms. Ballard

Orpheus and Eurydice
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Orpheus

• The greatest mortal musician
• Travelled with the Argonauts
• Son of a muse and a Thracian prince
• No one and nothing could resist his music

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On the Argo

• Orpheus would play his lyre to motivate the
  oarsmen when they were tired. He also calmed men
  eager to fight and saved the whole crew from the
  threat of the Sirens.

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Directly after the wedding of Orpheus and
Eurydice, the bride walked into a meadow with her
bridesmaids. A viper bit her and she died.
Orpheus declared I will charm Demeters
daughter, I will charm the Lord of the Dead,
Moving their hearts with my melody, I will bear
her away from Hades. He took the trip to Hades,
stilling the masses with his music.
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Orpheus drew iron tears from Pluto who granted
his request on one condition
Orpheus would not look back at her until they had
reached the upper world.
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Eurydices Return

• As the two were leaving, Orpheus was too
  impatient
• He looked back too soon
• Eurydice returned to Hades as a ghost

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The End of Orpheus
Orpheus then wandered through Thrace with his
lyre as his only comfort. A band of Maenads came
upon him and tore him limb from limb. They flung
his severed head into a river where it drifted
until some muses found it and buried it. They
gathered his limbs and buried them in a tomb at
the foot of Mount Olympus where the nightingales
sing more sweetly than anywhere else. Thus,
Orpheus rejoined his bride, Eurydice.
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Bibliography

• http//homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Orpheus.html
• http//www.salat.qc.ca/role15a.html.
• Mythology Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes by
  Edith Hamilton