In Greek mythology, Orpheus was a Thracian bard, famous musician, and prophet. He was also a well-known poet. According to legend, he traveled with Jason and the Argonauts to find the Golden Fleece. He also went to the underworld to bring back his lost wife, Eurydice.

The main stories about Orpheus focus on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music, which is often shown in ancient mosaics. Another story is his effort to bring Eurydice back from the underworld. He was killed by the maenads of Dionysus, who were tired of his sadness over losing Eurydice. As an example of an inspired singer, Orpheus is one of the most important figures in how classical mythology has been used in Western culture. He appears in many forms of art and popular culture, such as poetry, film, opera, music, and painting.

For the Greeks, Orpheus was a founder and prophet of the "Orphic" mysteries. He was credited with writing several works, including some now-lost theogonies, like the one mentioned in the Derveni papyrus. He also wrote works that still exist today, such as the Orphic Hymns, the Orphic Argonautica, and the Lithica. Shrines believed to contain relics of Orpheus were considered places where people could seek guidance.

Etymology

The origins of the name Orpheus have been studied by many scholars. One possible explanation is that it comes from an ancient language root, h₃órbʰos, meaning "orphan, servant, slave," which is linked to the verb root h₃erbʰ-, meaning "to change allegiance, status, ownership." Related words in Ancient Greek include ὄρφνη (órphnē, meaning "darkness") and ὀρφανός (orphanós, meaning "fatherless, orphan"), from which the English word "orphan" is derived through Latin.

Fulgentius, a writer who studied myths during the late 5th to early 6th century AD, suggested an unlikely explanation for the name, meaning "best voice," or "Oraia-phonos."

Background

Although Cicero wrote that Aristotle did not believe Orpheus existed, most ancient writers thought he was a real person who lived many years before Homer. The earliest written mention of Orpheus is a two-word phrase from a 6th-century BC poet named Ibycus: "onoma-klyton Orphēn" ("Orpheus famous-of-name"). Homer and Hesiod did not mention Orpheus. Most ancient sources believed he was real; Aristotle is the exception. Pindar called Orpheus "the father of songs" and said he was the son of the Thracian king Oeagrus and the Muse Calliope.

During the Classical Greek period, people respected Orpheus as the greatest poet and musician. It was said that Hermes invented the lyre, but Orpheus perfected it. Poets like Simonides of Ceos wrote that Orpheus' music and singing could charm birds, fish, and wild animals, make trees and rocks dance, and change the direction of rivers.

Orpheus was one of the few Greek heroes who visited the underworld and returned. His music and song had power even over Hades. The earliest known reference to this journey is a 5th-century BCE painting by Polygnotus, described by Pausanias in the 2nd century CE. This painting does not mention Eurydice. Euripides and Plato both wrote about Orpheus' journey to the underworld to save his wife, but they did not name her. A relief from about 400 BCE shows Orpheus and his wife with Hermes. The elegiac poet Hermesianax called her Agriope, and the first written mention of her name appears in the "Lament for Bion" from the 1st century BCE.

Some sources say Orpheus gave humans gifts like medicine (usually linked to Asclepius or Apollo), writing (usually credited to Cadmus), and agriculture (where Orpheus took the role of Triptolemus, sharing Demeter's knowledge). Orpheus was a predictor and seer; he practiced magic and astrology, founded cults for Apollo and Dionysus, and taught secret rituals in Orphic texts. Pindar and Apollonius of Rhodes wrote that Orpheus was the harpist and companion of Jason and the Argonauts. Orpheus had a brother named Linus, who went to Thebes and became a Theban. Aristophanes and Horace said Linus taught cannibals to eat fruit and made lions and tigers obey him. Horace also said Orpheus brought order and civilization to savages.

Strabo, a Greek writer from 64 BCE to around 24 CE, described Orpheus as a mortal who lived and died in a village near Olympus. Some people welcomed him, but others suspected him of plotting violence and killed him. He earned money as a musician and "wizard" (Strabo used the word "agurteúonta," which also appeared in Sophocles' "Oedipus Tyrannus" to describe Tiresias as a trickster). The Greek word "agúrtēs" usually meant "charlatan" and had a negative meaning. Pausanias wrote about an unnamed Egyptian who called Orpheus a "mágeuse," meaning "magician."

Euripides, a Greek playwright, mentioned Orpheus many times. He first linked Orpheus to Dionysus and the underworld, described his music's power over nature, and connected him to sacred rituals. He also wrote about Orpheus' journey to the underworld and his role in the story of the Argonauts, where he acted as a boat captain and later protected Jason's children.

Aristophanes, a Greek playwright, listed Orpheus as one of the oldest poets, along with Musaeus, Hesiod, and Homer. He said Orpheus taught religious rituals and encouraged people to avoid murder.

Plato, a famous philosopher, often wrote about Orpheus, his followers, and his works. He called Orpheus the son of Oeagrus, described him as a musician and inventor, and mentioned the magical power of his lyre. He also gave a unique version of Orpheus' journey to the underworld, saying the gods showed him a vision of his lost wife because he avoided death like Alcestis and was punished by being killed by women.

Earlier than written records, a carved image of Orpheus with the ship Argo was found at Delphi and is believed to date back to the 6th century BCE.

Mythology

According to Apollodorus and a fragment from Pindar, Orpheus' father was Oeagrus, a king from Thrace. His mother was either (1) the muse Calliope, (2) her sister Polymnia, (3) a daughter of Pierus, son of Makednos, or (4) Menippe, daughter of Thamyris. However, Pindar called Orpheus the son of Apollo in his Pythian Odes. A note from a scholar adds that a mythographer named Asclepiades believed Orpheus was the son of Apollo and Calliope. Tzetzes said Orpheus came from Bisaltia. His birthplace and home were Pimpleia, near Mount Olympus. Strabo also mentions that Orpheus lived in Pimpleia. The epic poem Argonautica says Pimpleia was where Oeagrus and Calliope married. While living with his mother and her eight sisters in Parnassus, Orpheus met Apollo, who was courting the muse Thalia. Apollo gave Orpheus a golden lyre and taught him to play it. His mother taught him to write verses for singing. Orpheus is also said to have studied in Egypt.

Orpheus is said to have started the worship of Hecate in Aegina. In Laconia, he is said to have introduced the worship of Demeter Chthonia and the Kóres Sōteíras ("Saviour Maidens"). In Taygetos, a wooden image of Orpheus was kept by Pelasgians in the sanctuary of Demeter.

According to Diodorus Siculus, Musaeus of Athens was the son of Orpheus.

The Argonautica is a Greek epic poem written by Apollonius Rhodius in the 3rd century BC. Orpheus joined this adventure and used his musical skills to help his companions. Chiron told Jason that without Orpheus, the Argonauts could not pass the Sirens—the same Sirens encountered by Odysseus in Homer’s Odyssey. The Sirens lived on three rocky islands called Sirenum scopuli and sang songs that lured sailors to crash their ships. When Orpheus heard their voices, he played his lyre, creating music so loud and beautiful that it drowned out the Sirens’ songs. A 3rd-century BC poet named Phanocles wrote that Orpheus loved the young Argonaut Calais, "the son of Boreas," and often sang of his love for him in shaded groves.

The most famous story about Orpheus involves his wife Eurydice (also called Euridice or Argiope). While walking in tall grass at her wedding, Eurydice was attacked by a satyr. She tried to escape but fell into a viper’s nest and was bitten on the heel. Orpheus found her body and played such sorrowful songs that the nymphs and gods wept. They advised him to go to the underworld. His music softened the hearts of Hades and Persephone, who allowed Eurydice to return with him on one condition: Orpheus had to walk in front of her and not look back until they reached the world above. Orpheus and Eurydice began their journey, but when they reached the surface, he turned to look at her, forgetting the rule. Eurydice vanished again, this time forever.

This version of the story is from the time of Virgil, who first mentioned Aristaeus chasing Eurydice when she was bitten by a serpent. Other ancient writers, like Phaedrus in Plato’s Symposium, described Orpheus’ visit to the underworld more negatively, saying the gods only showed him an illusion of Eurydice. Plato portrayed Orpheus as a coward for trying to bring Eurydice back instead of dying for her. In Ovid’s version, Eurydice was bitten by a snake while dancing with naiads on her wedding day.

Virgil wrote that Dryads wept from Epirus and the Hebrus River to the land of the Getae (near the Danube River) and described Orpheus wandering to Hyperborea and Tanais (an ancient city on the Don River) because of his grief.

The story of Eurydice may have been added later to Orpheus’ myths. The name "Eurudike" ("she whose justice extends widely") is similar to titles for Persephone. Poet Robert Graves suggested the myth may have come from another story where Orpheus traveled to Tartarus and charmed Hecate.

The theme of not looking back, important in Jason’s raising of the chthonic goddess Brimo Hekate under Medea’s guidance, is similar to the Biblical story of Lot’s wife and ancient tales of Persephone or Adonis in the underworld. The Orpheus myth later became linked to the Orphic mystery cults and, in Rome, to Mithraism and the cult of Sol Invictus.

A Late Antique summary of Aeschylus’ lost play Bassarids says Orpheus, near the end of his life, only worshipped Apollo. One morning, he went to the oracle of Dionysus on Mount Pangaion to greet the god at dawn but was torn apart by Thracian Maenads for not honoring Dionysus. He was buried in Pieria.

After visiting Hades because of his wife, Orpheus stopped worshipping Dionysus and instead honored Helios (the sun god), whom he also called Apollo. Each night, he climbed Mount Pangaion to watch the sunrise. Dionysus, angry with Orpheus, sent the Bassarides, who tore him apart and scattered his body.

This death is similar to that of Pentheus, who was also killed by Maenads. Some believe the Orphic mystery cult saw Orpheus as a figure like Dionysus, as both made journeys to Hades and suffered similar deaths. Pausanias wrote that Orpheus was buried in Dion, and the river Helicon sank underground when the women who killed him tried to wash their hands in its waters. Other stories say Orpheus became a follower of Dionysus and spread his cult, but was later torn apart by Thracian women for favoring young male lovers.

Ovid wrote that Orpheus avoided love with women, either because his experiences ended badly or because he had vowed to do so. Many wanted to be with him, but he rejected them. He was the first among the Thracians to love young boys and enjoy their youth.

— Ovid, The Metamorphoses, Book X (translated by A. S. Kline)

Feeling rejected by Orpheus for choosing only male lovers (eromenoi), the Ciconian women…

Orphic poems and rites

Freeman wrote in the 1946 edition of The Pre-Socratic Philosophers that in the fifth and fourth centuries BC, a group of poems written in a six-beat meter was known as the Orphic poems. These poems were considered important by people who followed the Orphic way of life and were believed to have been written by Orpheus. Plato, a famous philosopher, quoted lines from these poems in his works. He mentioned "books of Musaeus and Orpheus" in The Republic, referred to hymns by Thamyris and Orpheus in The Laws, and grouped Orpheus with Musaeus and Homer as sources of inspiration for poets and speakers in Ion. In Hippolytus, the playwright Euripides had Theseus describe "many treatises" that influenced his son to follow Orpheus and adopt the Bacchic religion. A fourth-century comic poet named Alexis mentioned Orpheus, Hesiod, tragedies, Choerilus, Homer, and Epicharmus in a story about Heracles choosing books.

Aristotle did not believe the poems were written by Orpheus. He called them the "so-called Orphic epic." Philoponus, a seventh-century AD writer, noted that Aristotle had stated in a lost work, De Philosophia, that the poems were not by Orpheus. Philoponus also suggested that the ideas in the poems were written in verse by Onomacritus. Aristotle, when discussing Orphic beliefs about the universe, credited them to "the theologoi" (early religious thinkers) and "the ancient poets."

Aelian, a second-century AD writer, argued that Orpheus could not have written the poems because the Thracians, who lived during his time, did not know how to write. This led people to believe that Orpheus taught but did not leave written works, and that the poems were written later by Onomacritus in the sixth century BC. Onomacritus was exiled from Athens for altering an oracle of Musaeus. Some scholars, including Aristotle, believed Onomacritus also wrote the Orphic poems. By the time Christian and Neo-Platonist writers began quoting the poems, many accepted that Onomacritus was the author.

Neo-Platonists used the Orphic poems to support their beliefs against Christianity because Plato had used similar poems. The writings they used included different versions of the Orphic poems, each offering slightly different ideas about the universe, gods, humans, and the proper way to live, along with rewards and punishments.

Orphic poetry, like Hesiod’s Theogony, contained myths and was recited during secret religious rituals. Plato described beggar-priests who traveled with books by Orpheus and Musaeus, offering purification to the wealthy. People who followed these rituals often avoided eating meat, eggs, and beans and practiced vegetarianism and celibacy, a lifestyle known as the "Orphic way of life." W. K. C. Guthrie wrote that Orpheus was the founder of mystery religions and the first to explain the meanings of initiation rites. A text called Axiochus, attributed to Plato, mentions bronze tablets in Delos that describe the soul’s fate in Hades, brought by seers from the Hyperboreans.

Many Greek religious poems in six-beat meter were also credited to Orpheus, as well as to other miracle-working figures like Bakis, Musaeus, Abaris, Aristeas, Epimenides, and the Sibyl. Only two complete works remain: the Orphic Hymns, a collection of 87 poems possibly written in the second or third century, and the Orphic Argonautica, an epic poem from the fourth to sixth century. Earlier Orphic writings, dating back to the sixth century BC, survive only in fragments or quotes. Some of these may have been written by Onomacritus.

The Derveni papyrus, discovered in Derveni, Macedonia, in 1962, contains a philosophical commentary on an Orphic poem about the birth of the gods. This poem was written in the circle of the philosopher Anaxagoras in the second half of the fifth century BC. The papyrus, dated to around 340 BC during the reign of Philip II of Macedon, is Europe’s oldest surviving manuscript.

Post-Classical interpretations

The Orpheus motif has spread throughout Western culture and has been used as a theme in many types of art. Early examples include the Breton story Sir Orfeo from the early 13th century and musical works like Jacopo Peri’s Euridice (1600). Although the opera is named after Peri’s wife, its text is based entirely on books X and XI of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, which focus on Orpheus’s perspective.

Later artistic works inspired by the Orpheus story include:

• Rainer Maria Rilke’s Sonnets to Orpheus (1922), which is based on the myth.
• Poul Anderson’s Hugo Award-winning short story Goat Song (1972), which retells the Orpheus story in a science fiction setting.
• Some feminist interpretations of the myth give Eurydice more importance. Margaret Atwood’s Orpheus and Eurydice Cycle (1976–1986) explores the myth and highlights Eurydice’s voice.
• Sarah Ruhl’s play Eurydice tells the story from Eurydice’s perspective, pairing her romantic relationship with Orpheus with her bond with her deceased father.
• David Almond’s novel A Song for Ella Grey (2014), inspired by the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize in 2015.
• Orpheus appears in the Sandman comics series, specifically in The Song of Orpheus (written by Neil Gaiman and drawn by Bryan Talbot). In this version, Morpheus replaces Orpheus’s father, but the story follows the original myth closely.
• Vinicius de Moraes’s play Orfeu da Conceição (1956) was later adapted into the 1959 film Black Orpheus, which sets the story in a favela in Rio de Janeiro during Carnival.
• Jean Cocteau’s Orphic Trilogy—The Blood of a Poet (1930), Orpheus (1950), and Testament of Orpheus (1959)—was filmed over thirty years and draws heavily from the Orpheus myth.
• Philip Glass adapted the second film in the trilogy into the chamber opera Orphée (1991), which is part of a tribute to Cocteau.
• Anaïs Mitchell’s 2010 folk opera Hadestown retells the tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice, using music inspired by American blues and jazz. In this version, Hades is portrayed as a harsh boss in an underground mining city. Mitchell and director Rachel Chavkin later turned the work into a stage musical that won multiple Tony Awards.