Orpheus
The greatest musician in Greek mythology, whose playing could charm animals, trees, and even stones. His descent into the underworld to rescue his wife is one of myth's most poignant tales.
The Legend of Orpheus
Son of Apollo (or the Thracian king Oeagrus) and the Muse Calliope, Orpheus played the lyre with such power that rivers paused, beasts lay still, and even the trees followed him. He sailed with Jason on the Argo, drowning out the Sirens' song with his own music. When his wife Eurydice died from a serpent's bite, Orpheus descended to Hades and moved Persephone to tears. Hades agreed to release Eurydice on one condition: Orpheus must not look back. At the threshold of the living world, he turned. She vanished. He wandered mourning until Dionysus's maenads, enraged by his grief, tore him apart. His head floated to Lesbos, still singing.
Parents
Apollo (or Oeagrus) and Calliope
Symbols
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Orpheus
🗡 heroThe musician whose art moved gods and stones
The legendary poet-musician whose singing could charm animals, move trees, and halt rivers — and who nearly rescued his wife from death itself.
Sappho
🗡 heroGreatest lyric poet, legend of Lesbos
Sappho was the historical poet of Lesbos whose life became so encrusted with legend — especially her alleged leap from the Leucadian cliff — that she exists at the boundary of myth and history.
Linus
🗡 heroNone recorded
Legendary musician and teacher killed by his pupil Heracles with a lyre
Phemius
🗡 heroNone recorded
Ithacan bard forced to sing for the suitors, spared by Odysseus after the slaughter
Orpheus and Eurydice
💭 conceptNarrative
The musician's descent to the underworld to reclaim his dead wife, undone by a single backward glance
Jason
🗡 heroLeader of the Argonauts
The hero who assembled the Argonauts and sailed to Colchis to retrieve the Golden Fleece, aided by Medea's sorcery.
Bellerophon
🗡 heroThe hero who tamed Pegasus
The Corinthian hero who tamed the winged horse Pegasus and slew the Chimera, but fell from heaven when he tried to reach Olympus.
Katabasis of Orpheus
💭 conceptunderworld, music
Orpheus's descent to the Underworld to retrieve Eurydice, whose loss at the threshold of return established the archetype of art's power and its limits.
Busiris
🗡 heroNone recorded
Egyptian king who sacrificed strangers to Zeus until Heracles broke free and killed him
Icarius
🗡 heroNone recorded
A legendary king of Sparta and father of Penelope who tried to prevent his daughter from leaving with Odysseus after her marriage
Peleus
🗡 heroMortal who married a goddess
The king of Phthia who wrestled and won the sea-nymph Thetis, fathering Achilles — the greatest warrior of the Trojan War.
Demodocus
🗡 heroNone recorded
Blind bard of the Phaeacians whose songs moved Odysseus to reveal his identity