Orpheus (Ὀρφεύς) was the greatest mortal musician in Greek myths. Orpheus was the son of the Muse Calliope. His father was either the god Apollo or Oeagrus, the king of Thrace.
Even though he may have the son of the Thracian king, Apollo, who was the greatest musician of the gods, taught him how to play the lyre. Like Apollo, Orpheus' favourite instrument was the lyre. Calliope and her sisters taught her son the song. His music and voice were so enchanting that wild animal would become tame and the trees and rocks would follow him.
Orpheus was one of the Argonauts who had accompanied Jason in the quest of the Golden Fleece. His music helped to soothe the wearied his comrades, in their long journey. Orpheus most vital role in the Argonautica was that he saved his comrades from the songs of the Sirens. Such was the powerful of his music and voice that he drowned out the songs of Sirens, allowing their ship to pass the island.
His love was tragically short. Orpheus fell in love with a nymph, named Eurydice (Εὐρυδίκη). According to Ovid, she was a naiad (water nymph), but to Virgil, Eurydice was a dryad (tree nymph). Their marriage was short, when a minor pastoral god namedAristaeüs (Aristaeus), lustfully pursued after the nymph. A snake bit Eurydice's ankle when she stepped on the snake. Eurydice died from the venom.
Orpheus mourned over the loss of his wife. The hero was determined to win back his wife from Hades. With his lyre he descended down towards the Underworld. His music made all the spirits to come and listen. Even those condemned to eternal punishment (like Sisyphus and Tantalus) forgot their torments. Orpheus crossed the Styx without paying Charon for toll on the ferry. The three-headed hound Cerberus allowed Orpheus to pass through the gates without challenge. His song even moved Hades, the lord of the dead, who listened to the music with his wife Persephone.
When Hades heard why Orpheus had come to the world of the dead, the sombre god agreed that Orpheus could have his wife back, on the condition that Orpheus should not look back until they reached the earth surface. According to Virgil, in Georgics, it was Proserpina, the Roman Persephone, who returns Eurydice to Orpheus with this condition.
Orpheus was both joyful and anxious if his wife was following him to his surface. His anxiety made him look back too soon, when he reached the surface. Eurydice was just inside of the cavern entrance, when he turned back to look at his wife. Eurydice was instantly returned to Underworld.
Orpheus was barred from entering the Underworld for the second time, while he was still alive. Orpheus had no choice but to return home. According to Apollodorus, who wrote that it was at this time that Orpheus founded the mysteries of Dionysus. This could only mean Orphic Mysteries.
In Thrace, Orpheus would sit on a rock in the meadow, playing mournful tunes over the loss of his wife. The maenads, the women followers of the wine god Dionysus, wanted the musician to play music of revelry. Orpheus continued to play of music of sorrow. The angry women violently tore him to pieces with their bare hands. The alternative ending was that he was tore apart by the maenads when Orpheus rejected their love.
According to myth about Adonis, Aphrodite had stirred the maenads, because she was furious of the decision of Calliope, Orpheus' mother, in the dispute between her and Persephone. See Adonis.
However, the story ended, the Muses mourned over the death of Orpheus. The Muses gathered the pieces of his body and buried in Piera, Macedonia. The constellation of the Kneeler or Engonasin (the constellation is now called Hercules) had probably represented Orpheus kneeling, while the Thracian women attacked him. Most likely the Muses placed his lyre in the sky as the constellation Lyra.
