Orpheus and Eurydice

Story

Orpheus is a gifted musician who plays the lyre beautifully. He falls in love with a mortal woman called Eurydice and they get married. However one day Eurydice is bitten by a poisonous snake and dies. Orpheus travels down to the Underworld, hoping to be reunited with his love…

Why we chose it

A tragic, romantic story from Ancient Greece which has inspired poets, writers and musicians down the centuries.

Where it came from

The earliest version of myth is found in Virgil’s poem The Georgics (Book Four), which was published around 29 BC. The story appears later in 8 AD in Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Book Ten), which is one of the best known re-tellings.

Where it went next

The myth has inspired many paintings, sculptures, plays, ballets and films, including Rubens’ famous painting Orpheus and Eurydice, stage adaptations by Jean Anouilh, Simon Armitage and Tennessee Williams, and the musical Hadestown by Anaïs Mitchell. In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Fluffy is inspired by the three-headed dog Cerberus who guards the Underworld and is affected by Orpheus’s music.

Associated stories

Orpheus was one of the Argonauts, who travelled with Jason on his quest to find the golden fleece in the story Jason and the Argonauts. Orpheus saved the Argonauts from the music of the Sirens by playing his own, more powerful music.