InGreek mythology, the legend ofOrpheus and Eurydice (Greek:Ὀρφεύς, Εὐρυδίκη,romanized: Orpheus, Eurydikē) concerns the pitiful love ofOrpheus ofThrace, located in northeastern Greece, for the beautifulEurydice. Orpheus was the son ofOeagrus and the MuseCalliope, though in some myths he is considered the son ofApollo. It may be a late addition to the Orpheus myths, as the latter cult-title suggests those attached toPersephone. The subject is among the most frequently retold of all Greek myths.

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Apollo gave Orpheus alyre and taught him how to play. It had been said that "nothing could resist Orpheus's beautiful melodies, neither enemies nor beasts." Orpheus fell in love withEurydice, a woman of beauty and grace, whom he married and lived with happily for a short time. However, whenHymen was called to bless the marriage, he predicted that their perfection was not meant to last.

A short time after this prophecy, Eurydice was wandering in the forest with theNymphs. In some versions of the story, the shepherdAristaeus saw her and, beguiled by her beauty, made advances towards her and began to chase her. Other versions of the story relate that Eurydice was merely dancing with the Nymphs. Whether fleeing or dancing, she was bitten by a snake and died instantly. Orpheus sang his grief with his lyre and managed to move everything, living or not, in the world; both humans and gods learnt about his sorrow and grief.

At some point, Orpheus decided to descend to Hades by music to see his wife. Any other mortal would have died, but Orpheus, being protected by the gods, went to Hades and arrived at theStygian realm, passing by ghosts and souls of people unknown. He also managed to attractCerberus, the three-headed dog, who had a liking for his music. He presented himself in front of the god of the Greek underworld,Hades, and his wife,Persephone.

Orpheus played with his lyre a song so heartbreaking that even Hades himself was moved to compassion. The god told Orpheus that he could take Eurydice back with him, but under two conditions: she would have to walk behind him while walking out from the caves of the underworld, and hecould not turn to look at her as they walked.

Thinking it a simple task for a patient man like himself, Orpheus was delighted; he thanked Hades and left to ascend back into the living world. Unable to hear Eurydice's footsteps, however, he began to fear the gods had fooled him. Eurydice might have been behind him, but as ashade, having to come back into the light to become a full woman again. Only a few feet away from the exit, Orpheus lost his faith and turned to see Eurydice behind him, sending her back to be trapped in Hades's reign forever.

Orpheus tried to return to the underworld but was unable to, possibly because a person cannot enter the realm of Hades twice while alive. According to various versions of the myth, he played a mourning song with his lyre, calling for death so that he could be united with Eurydice forever. He was killed either by beasts tearing him apart or by theMaenads in a frenzied mood. His head remained fully intact and still sang as it floated in the water before washing up on the island ofLesbos. According to another version,Zeus decided to strike him with lightning, knowing Orpheus might reveal the secrets of the underworld to humans. In this telling, theMuses decided to save his head and keep it among the living people to sing forever, enchanting everyone with his melodies. They additionally cast his lyre into the sky as aconstellation.

InVirgil's classic version of the legend, it completes hisGeorgics, a poem on the subject of agriculture. Here the name ofAristaeus, or Aristaios, the keeper of flying insects, and thetragic conclusion was first introduced.^[1]

Ovid's version of the myth, in hisMetamorphoses, was published a few decades later and employs a different poetic emphasis and purpose. It relates that Eurydice's death was not caused by fleeing from Aristaeus, but rather by dancing with nymphs on her wedding day.^[2]

In theBibliotheca by Pseudo-Apollodorus Eurydice is simply bitten by a serpent before dying and Orpheus goes toHades to retrieve her.^[3]

Other ancient writers treated Orpheus's visit to the underworld more negatively. According to Phaedrus inPlato'sSymposium,^[4] the infernal deities only "presented an apparition" of Eurydice to him. Plato's representation of Orpheus is in fact that of a coward; instead of choosing to die in order to be with his love, he mocked the deities in an attempt to visit Hades, to get her back alive. As his love was not "true"—meaning that he was not willing to die for it—he was punished by the deities, first by giving him only the apparition of his former wife in the underworld and then by having him killed by women.^[4]

• TheDeath of Eurydice episode which occurs in Book IV ofGeorgics byVirgil (29 BC) and Book X ofMetamorphoses byOvid (8 AD)
• The poem "Orpheus and Eurydice" inThe Consolation of Philosophy byBoethius (523 AD)
• Sir Orfeo, an anonymousnarrative poem (c. late thirteenth or early fourteenth century)
• The Tale of Orpheus and Erudices his Quene, a poem byRobert Henryson (c.1470)
• "Orpheus. Eurydice. Hermes", a poem byRainer Maria Rilke (1907)
• Sonnets to Orpheus, an allusivesonnet sequence by poetRainer Maria Rilke (1922)
• Goat Song, ascience fiction novelette byPoul Anderson (1972)
• The Song of Orpheus, part of volume 6 (Fables and Reflections) ofThe Sandman byNeil Gaiman (1990)
• The Ground Beneath Her Feet, novel bySalman Rushdie (1999)
• "Orpheus and Eurydice: A Lyric Sequence", a book-length lyric sequence byGregory Orr (2001)
• Veniss Underground, a novel byJeff Vandermeer (2003)
• "No Looking Back", ashort story from "Tiny Deaths" byRobert Shearman (2007)^[5]
• "Hymn to Persephone", a poem byCraig Arnold inMade Flesh (2008)
• "Eurydice's Footnote", a 1995 poem byA. E. Stallings
• "Orpheus in the Underworld", a 2010 short story byAnthony Horowitz
• "A Song for Ella Grey", a 2014 novel byDavid Almond - also adapted for the stage in two different versions in 2017 and 2024 atNorthern Stage
• "L'Esprit de L'Escalier" is a 2021 fantasy short story by Catherynne M. Valente, retelling the story of Orpheus and Eurydice in a modern setting.

• The Orphic Trilogy, a series of films byJean Cocteau (1930–1959)
• Eurydice, a play byJean Anouilh (1941)
• Orfeu da Conceição, a play byVinicius de Moraes (1956)
• Black Orpheus, a film byMarcel Camus (1959)
• Orpheus in the Underworld (1974,DEFA,GDR)
• Evrydiki BA 2O37, a film directed byNikos Nikolaidis (1975)
• Parking, a film by Jacques Demy (1985)
• Shredder Orpheus, a film by Robert McGinley (1989)
• An episode ofThe StoryTeller: Greek Myths (1990)
• Highway to Hell, a very, very loose adaptation film byAte de Jong (1992).
• What Dreams May Come, a film byVincent Ward (1998)
• Orfeu, film by Cacá Diegues (1999)
• Moulin Rouge!, a film by Baz Luhrmann (2001)
• Metamorphoses, play byMary Zimmerman (2002)
• Eurydice, play bySarah Ruhl (2003)
• Hadestown, folk opera byAnaïs Mitchell (2006)
• Orpheus and Eurydice: A Myth Underground, a theatre production written byMolly Davies with music byJames Johnston,Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds for theNational Youth Theatre at the Old Vic Tunnels, directed byJames Dacre (2011)
• You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet, a film byAlain Resnais (2012)
• Jasper in Deadland, a musical byHunter Foster andRyan Scott Oliver (2014)
• Life After Beth, a zombie romantic dramedy byJeff Baena, the myth inspired Beth's means of death and Zach Orfman's hesitation in accepting her zombie reanimation as the real Beth (2014)^[6][7]
• Hadestown, an expansion of the folk opera byAnaïs Mitchell, directed byRachel Chavkin, that premiered at theNew York Theatre Workshop in 2016 before eventually transferring toBroadway in 2019. (2017)
• Paris 05:59: Théo & Hugo, a French film (2016) byOlivier Ducastel andJacques Martineau,queering the myth^[8]
• Moulin Rouge! (musical), a theatrical production based on the film by Baz Luhrmann^[9]
• Portrait of a Lady on Fire, a film byCéline Sciamma (2019) that uses the myth as a common thread
• Kaos, A darkly comedic and contemporary re-imagining of Greek mythology, exploring themes of gender politics, power and life in the underworld. The story of Eurydice and Orpheus is told (in the contemporary setting) throughout various episodes.
• La chimera, a 2023 film byAlice Rohrwacher with a fable-like quality, heavily based on this myth and mythology in general.
• O'Dessa A 2025 Americanpost-apocalypticmusicaldrama film written and directed by Geremy Jasper, starringSadie Sink,Kelvin Harrison Jr.,Murray Bartlett, andRegina Hall.
• The Song of Orpheus, episode 5 of season 2 ofThe Sandman (TV series) written byNeil Gaiman, released onNetflix on 3 July 2025, in which Orpheus is re-imagined in the episode's setting of Ancient Greece.

• Euridice, an opera byJacopo Peri andGiulio Caccini with librettistOttavio Rinuccini (1600)
• Euridice, an opera byGiulio Caccini with librettist Ottavio Rinuccini (1602)
• L'Orfeo, the first opera byMonteverdi (1607)
• Orfeo, an opera byLuigi Rossi (1647)
• Orpheus, an opera byGeorg Philipp Telemann (1726)
• Orpheus and Euridice, an ode byWilliam Hayes (1735)
• Orfeo ed Euridice, an opera byChristoph Willibald Gluck (1762)
• Orfeo ed Euridice [it], an opera byFerdinando Bertoni (1776)
• L'anima del filosofo, ossia Orfeo ed Euridice, on opera byJoseph Haydn with libretto by Carlo Francesco Badini (1791)
• Orpheus in the Underworld, an operetta byJacques Offenbach (1858)
• Orpheus und Eurydike, an opera byErnst Krenek (1926)
• Orpheus and Eurydice, a ballet choreographed by DameNinette de Valois with music byGluck (1941)^[10]
• Orpheus, a ballet made by choreographerGeorge Balanchine to music byIgor Stravinsky (1948)
• Orpheus in the Underworld, an album byDon Shirley (1956)
• Orpheus, a song byNew York Rock & Roll Ensemble, fromReflections (Manos Hatzidakis album) (1970)
• Orpheus and Eurydice, a rock opera album byAlexander Zhurbin (1975)
• The Mask of Orpheus, an opera by composerHarrison Birtwistle and librettistPeter Zinovieff (1986)
• Orpheus, a song by English singer-songwriterDavid Sylvian from the albumSecrets of the Beehive (1987)
• Orpheus & Eurdice, a song cycle in two acts, byRicky Ian Gordon (2001)
• Orpheus, a song byAsh (2004)
• Metamorpheus, an orchestral album by formerGenesis guitaristSteve Hackett (2005)
• Hadestown, an album of songs, and a stage musical, from the folk opera of the same name byAnaïs Mitchell (2010)
• It’s Never Over (Hey Orpheus), a song by Canadian indie rock bandArcade Fire, from the albumReflektor (2013)
• The End of Euridice, byVincent Lima (2018)
• Orpheus Alive, a ballet byMissy Mazzoli (2019)
• Eurydice, an opera byMatthew Aucoin with librettistSarah Ruhl (2020)
• Orphee l'Amour Eurydice, opera created for theDutch National Opera (2022)
• Orpheus, a song by musicianMGK (2025)

• Orpheus and Eurydice, stone relief, second century, Šempeter, Slovenia
• Orpheus and Eurydice, a painting byTitian (c. 1508)[1]
• Landscape with Orpheus and Eurydice, a painting byPoussin (1650–1653)
• Orpheus and Euridice, a painting byFederico Cervelli
• Orpheus Mourning the Death of Eurydice, a painting byAry Scheffer (1814)
• Orpheus Leading Eurydice from the Underworld, a painting byJean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1861)[2]
• Orpheus and Eurydice, a painting byEdward Poynter (1862)[3]
• Orpheus and Euridice, a painting byFrederic Leighton (1864)
• Orpheus and Eurydice, a sculpture byAuguste Rodin (1893)[4]
• Orpheus Searching Eurydice in the Underworld, a painting by theAntwerp school[5]
• The Kiss, a painting byGustave Klimt (1907) (Not explicitly Orpheus and Eurydice, but one interpretation ofThe Kiss is that it depicts their story)^{[citation needed]}
• Portrait of Cosimo I de' Medici as Orpheus, a painting by Agnolo Bronzino (c. 1537-1539)[6]

• Don't Look Back (2009), aFlash game and modern adaptation of the legend created byTerry Cavanagh, which follows a man who ventures into the underworld to guide the spirit of his deceased lover out of the caverns.^[11]
• Hades (2020), anindierogue-like game developed bySupergiant Games. The player,Zagreus, meets Eurydice and Orpheus, and is given the option of reuniting them.^[12][13]

• Media related toOrpheus and Eurydice at Wikimedia Commons

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• Greek mythology of Thrace
• Greek myths
• Love stories
• Mythological duos
• Mythological lovers

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