The Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice: The Descent to Hades, the Forbidden Look Back, and the Power of Divine Music
The Singer of the Golden Lyre In the sacred mysteries of ancient Greece, where the gods of Olympus are approached not only through civic sacrifices but through direct, initiatory experience, a single figure stands as the prophet of the musical path. Orpheus , the son of the muse Calliope and the god Apollo (or the king Oeagrus), was the master of the lyre. His music possessed such a sublime, vital force that it could alter the behavior of nature: the wild beasts would gather in silence to listen, the trees and rocks would move from their places to follow his steps, and the raging torrents of the rivers would stand still to catch his melody. Orpheus's journey is the central axis of the Orphic Mysteries , a religious movement that introduced a deep, dualistic view of the human soul. The most famous episode of his life—his descent into the dark underworld of Hades to recover his deceased wife, Eurydice —is a profound cosmological allegory. It maps the descent of the spiritual soul ...