Orpheus and Eurydice

Hello readers! The next mythological tale I will be posting about today is the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice

Who?

Its’ a tale about a couple in love.  There lived a gifted musician named Orpheus, the son of Apollo and Calliope (one of the muses.) When he played the lyre, as his father had taught him, his songs could cast spells and soothe  savage beasts. Orpheus loved his wife, Eurydice. When she died, he travelled into the Underworld and begged his great uncle Hades to allow his wife to come back with him.  Hades agreed on one condition, which was to let Eurydice follow her husband back to earth and life, however, during the trip, Orpheus had to promise not to look back until both he and his wife were safely back on earth. Orpheus, worried for his wife and that perhaps Hades may not have sent her back, he risked a quick look behind him, and lost his wife forever.

Why are they famous?

The Death of Eurydice is a myth depicted in Book X of Ovid’s Metamorphosis. On her wedding day, Eurydice, while walking among her people, the Cicones, in tall grass, she was set upon by a satyr. In trying to escape, Eurydice fell into a nest of vipers and suffered a fatal bite on her heel. Her body was discovered by Orpheus who, overcome with grief, played such sad and mournful songs that all the nymphs and gods wept. They advised Orpheus to travel to the underworld and that his music softened the hearts of Hades and Persephone. He agreed and was the only person to have every done so. Hades agreed to allow Eurydice to return with him to earth on one condition: he should walk in front of her and not look back until they both had reached the upper world in earth. He set off with Eurydice following, but due to his anxiety, as soon as he reached the upper world, he turned to look at her. The key and tragic moment was that he forgets that they were both meant to be at the upper world together. However, by turning around, he loses her.

I’ve written a poem on this tale which are you free to read (or ignore), I just hope it may help on reflecting on this myth!

Why did I turn?

I lost you the first time,

That fated day, our wedding day,

Your purity stained red among the emerald vines,

You, as pale as your dress, your bloodied heel,

The gods abandoned us, my dear,

And I stood under the blackened sky,

Misplaced, unable to hold back my cry.

I lost you the second time,

The underworld, that Hellish place, uncharted

Oh, my love, I walked through it to take you home,

My heart beat like the snake’s rattle,

My legs, limp, heavy, trapped, kept moving onwards

I knew your face would be there, your life a wage,

For my grief, there you were, a sunray in that gloomy cage.

You see, I realised when looking at your empty gaze,

We are so quick to lose, far more than we can gain.

Grasping at the joys in life, it’s almost gluttonous,

Like keeping water in the palm of your hands,

Like holding on to a dream when we awake

You were my joy, my compass, and I was so greedy,

That I almost had you once more, your footsteps echoing my own.

And as I stood, back home, in my world,

I had to know.

Eurydice, you deserved more,

Than the end of your journey at our start,

And just how close – how close you were to our broken sanctuary,

But alas, the gods have made me human and that - oh

That made me turn.

I cannot think like a god,

It was without your empty clasp, that made me turn,

I cannot control my instinct,

It was without your living face, that made me turn,

That vindictive love made me lose you.

Eurydice, I can no longer turn back again,

I’ve left you in Hell, yet here in this solitary realm

It is worse than that very domain.

Thanks for reading!