what is the Orpheus Story?

Answer 1

You mean with his wife Eurydice?

The basic gist is, his wife was killed by a serpent because of his lack of attention of her on her wedding day (that is one telling, there are a few different versions), and she went to Hades.

Because Orpheus was just a good poet/musician, he was allowed to go to Hades to retrieve her. But, he was not allowed to look back at her until they were out of Hades.

The dummy looks back anyway and she vanishes. But because of his skill, he was allowed to stare at her forever from 'heaven'.

Answer 2

Orpheus was among the Argonauts. He was an extraordinary singer and musician. He fell in love with and married a woman called Eurydice, who died from a snake bite. Orpheus was very sad and went to Hades to try to get her back. He manages to get to Hades and Persephone and plays his lyre, which moves even Hades. He asks for his wife back, and Hades agrees on the condition that he not look back until they are out of Hades. Orpheus agrees but looks back just when he is at the mouth of the tunnel. Because he has broken the agreement Eurydice vanishes and he loses her a second time. He is more sad than ever and wants nothing to do with women and wanders the earth in dispair. A group of women however take revenge on him and tear him into pieces. They throw his head in the river and it floats down it singing a song of lost love.

Answer 3

Orpheus, in Greek mythology, poet and musician, the son of the muse Calliope (see Muses) and Apollo, god of music, or Oeagrus, king of Thrace. He was given the lyre by Apollo and became such an excellent musician that he had no rival among mortals. When Orpheus played and sang, he moved everything animate and inanimate. His music enchanted the trees and rocks and tamed wild beasts, and even the rivers turned in their course to follow him.

Orpheus is best known for his ill-fated marriage to the lovely nymph Eurydice. Soon after the wedding the bride was stung by a viper and died. Overwhelmed with grief, Orpheus determined to go to the underworld and try to bring her back, something no mortal had ever done. Hades, the ruler of the underworld, was so moved by his playing that he gave Eurydice back to Orpheus on the one condition that he not look back until they reached the upperworld. Orpheus could not control his eagerness, however, and as he gained the light of day he looked back a moment too soon, and Eurydice vanished. In his despair, Orpheus forsook human company and wandered in the wilds, playing for the rocks and trees and rivers. Finally a fierce band of Thracian women, who were followers of the god Dionysus, came upon the gentle musician and killed him. When they threw his severed head in the river Hebrus, it continued to call for Eurydice, and was finally carried to the shore of Lesbos, where the Muses buried it. After Orpheus's death his lyre became the constellation Lyra.

Answer 4

Orpheus, king of the Ciconians, is counted among the ARGONAUTS. Orpheus practised minstrelsy and by his songs moved stones and trees, holding also a spell over the wild beasts. He descended to the Underworld in order to fetch his dead wife, but had to return without her.

Orpheus married Eurydicebut she, while strolling through the grass with a group of naiads, was smitten in the ankle by a serpent, which shot its poison into her body and killed her.

Having mourned her to the full in the upper world, Orpheus decided to fetch her, and for that purpose he descended to Hades through the gate of Taenarus.

Having descended to the Underworld, Orpheus accompanied his words with the music of the lyre, and it is told that not only the spirits wept but that also the ERINYES were wet with tears. He also entranced Persephone by his songs, and persuaded her to help him in his desire to bring back to life his dead wife. And so even Hades himself was persuaded to let her go.However, the god promised to do so only if on the way up Orpheus would not turn round until he came to his own house. But thoughtless Orpheus forgot, and when he turned round and looked at his wife, she instantly slipped into the depths again. In this manner Orpheus lost her a second time.

Answer 5

Orpheus was a talented Greek musician with the lyre, he was granted permission to lead his dead wife out of Hades as long as he didn't look back, which of course he did, and everything messed up.