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But that is not what fate had in store for them. We have all read stories of ancient Gods and their several affairs but not many of us know the story of Orpheus and his beautiful lover Eurydice. And that is what we want to talk about today. You might want to strap in because this one is a doozy.
And as many of you may already know Apollo is the God of poetry and music. He could many instruments beautifully and when his son was born, he was bestowed the same gifts. Orpheus inherited the love for music and especially loved to play the lyre, an instrument made with tortoiseshell and a bunch of strings almost like a violin. Some say his music was hypnotizing and soon he even surpassed his father when it came to playing with this instrument.
But this is where the story actually starts. One day Orpheus was playing in the woods when a nymph heard him and was curious to see who was playing the beautiful tune she was mesmerized with. And the moment Orpheus saw the nymph named Eurydice, he instantly fell in love with her extraordinary beauty. Their courtship was intense and short-lived as they were soon married.
On the day of their marriage, Hymenaios warned them that their marriage wouldn’t last long but nothing could dampen their mood and they were in love. And life went on happily for them. Until a shepherd named Aristaeus came in between. You see Eurydice was known for her beauty and the shepherd wanted to have her all for himself and he hatched a plan to end the life of Orpheus so he could have her without any issue.
Luckily Orpheus escaped with Eurydice in hand but she soon slipped and was bitten by a poisonous snake. This ended her life quickly and Orpheus was left to mourn his wife. But he wasn’t going to give up and asked for help from his father Apollo. And because of Apollo Orpheus was given a hearing with Hades, the God of the Underworld. All of the underworld heard Orpheus’s beautiful playing and Hades gave him an option.
Orpheus had to walk his wife back from the underworld without looking back even once because if he did then Eurydice would be traped in the underworld forever. This seemed like an easy task and so they began their journey.
However, when Orpheus looked back when he was on the overworld, he didn’t see his wife as she was still in the dark. So this is how she was damned to the underworld never being able to get out.
What did you think of this tragic tale? Let us know in the comments down below.
