The Myth
While many humans followed him around, there was one who always was there even when he played for the animals. When one day he finally asked why she was always around she said that it felt that wherever Orpheus was that was where the should be. The woman’s name was Eurydice and while Orpheus had many suitors he preferred this woman to any of them so he asked her to marry him. There are many stories of how Eurydice then died. The most common was that on their wedding day Eurydice was walking with her bridesmaids when she was bitten by a snake. Orpheus was grief stricken. Orpheus shunned all company, devoting his days to find a way to get his wife back. One day he made his decision he would go down to the Underworld and get his wife back. When he went to the Underworld he encountered Charon, the ferryman. Orpheus so amazed Charon with his music that Charon dropped the oars and wept. Orpheus then picked up the oars and rowed across to the Underworld. When Orpheus reached Hades' palace, he started playing his lyre and sang to Hades and Persephone. The gods loved his music so much that they said that they would agree to let his wife go on one condition; he must never look back. So while Orpheus and Eurydice were exiting the Underworld, Orpheus looked back to see if his wife was okay and she became a statue and stayed in the Underworld. Orpheus was so sad at losing his wife a second time that he never wanted the company of women anymore. He was attacked by a group of Ciconian Maenads (females devoted to Dionysus who could become wild when in a frenzy) who hurled spears at him. Then when Orpheus’s music turned the spears around the Maenads attacked him and ripped off his head which went rolling down the river still singing.