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The world of arts:
Orpheus and Eurydice, one of literature’s great stories
Gwen HERAT
Call it a legend or a fairy tale, Orpheus and Eurydice remains one of
world’s greatest stories in literature. Apollo, the God of Music and
Calliope, the muse of heroic poetry were the parents of Orpheus or they
say.
When a group of heroes sailed in the Argo, Orpheus was one of them
who chanted about their wonderful adventures in search of the Golden
Fleece.
Though he inherited talent from his parents, Orpheus was a great
musician than a poet. When his friends attempted to idolise him, they
discovered his beautiful art had a magical touch.
Trees would swoon their boughs to hear him. Hawks, doves, sheep and
wolves forgot their prey and listened to him with fear. Orpheus
marvelled them.
Probably a parable was hidden by the ancient Greeks in this story.
Orpheus stood firmly for the cause of art which reconciled men of all
politics and religion though the people who failed to see its magnitude,
separated them into several schools of hatred.
Eurydice was the lovely woman that Orpheus took unto his wife and
considered her more dearer to him than all the glory of an Argonaut or
for that matter, music. After a short spell of her marriage, Eurydice,
while walking alone in the woods, saw a man hiding in a thicket.
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The spirit of
Eurydice followed Orpheus back to earth but did not make it.
At the end both their spirits were united in the Elisian
Fields making this legend an immortal epic in Greek
literature. |
Fearing him to be a thief or a madman, Eurydice ran. The man pursued
the frightened woman who ran blindly not knowing where she ran,
tumbling, missing her steps and accidentally trod on a snake.
A distraught Orpheus searched for her everywhere and after hours
found her dead body. One foot was swollen and bore the unmistakable
fang-marks of a serpent bite.
Orpheus was so overcome with grief that he vowed he would follow
Eurydice to the underworld and dwell there with her if he could not win
her back. So, he set out with his lyre on his back and wandered far and
wide until he came face to face with the gateway of Hades.
It was guarded by Ceberus, a three-headed monster but it allowed
Orpheus pass through after he heard the sound of his lyre. He went down
a long tunnel to a roaring black river. The banks were full of ghosts
begging the old ferry-man, Charon to take them across to King Pluto.
Charon only carried those who were buried in the ancient manner with
a coin under a dead man’s tongue as his fee. The rest were allowed to
shiver on the bank for one hundred years before he would row them across
free of charge.
All ancient religious paid great attention to their traditions and
believed that the souls were dependent on these ceremonies which
facilitated the goodwill of the gods’ of death.
As Orpheus stood on the bank of death and played his lyre, even the
cruel-hearted Cheron was overwhelmed with the strain of his music and
allowed him to pass through into the dark kingdom of King Pluto.
This kingdom was divided by four great rivers called Achero, Styx,
Phelegathon and Lethe. These rivers caused floods of fire and the waters
brought forgetfulness. Three judges called Minos, Acaus and Rhadamanthus
surveyed all newcomers and judged their good and evil actions in the
scales of Themis the blindfolded goddess of Justice.
For those who did good, their souls were led to the Elysian Fields, a
beautiful country where friends and lovers wandered in the and groves
like on earth. In the case of the bad souls, they were driven away to
Tartarus which was a place for punishment.
Over here, the wicked King Tantalus tormented them with hunger and
thirst and dipped them in the river. There were other wicked deeds too
done on the wandering souls.
Between Tartarus and the Elysian Fields sat King Pluto, the Lord of
the Dead. He was a black-bearded and black-robed stern monarch. Beside
him with his beautiful Queen whom he had stolen from earth. Her name was
Proserpine.
She was picking flowers when he snatched her away and returned every
Spring to meet her mother, Ceres. Orpheus went directly to their throne
but did not speak to them. He sang to them and all the underworld
listened to his song.
As the wheel of Ixion and the stone of Sisphus stood still, Pluto’s
black eyes grew him. The floods ceased to torment Tantalus and the
vulture forgot to prey on the tortured Tityas. Pluto spoke when Orpheus
was silent.
He made a deal with him and promised to reverse all the iron laws of
his kingdom and return Eurydice back to Earth on one condition. He was
not to look at her until they had left the kingdom of the underworld.
Orpheus was thrilled and waited with lowered eyes until the ghost of
Eurydice was fetched.
Then he set on his return to earth. It appeared too long and he
wished he could turn back and look at Eurydice who followed him. At
last, he crossed the river into the upper world. No sooner he set his
foot on earth,
Orpheus with a triumphant cry looked back at Eurydice. He was too
hasty for she had not set her foot on earth. No sooner had he seen her,
she vanished.
For seven days he wandered on the banks of Acheron, bagging Charon to
give him a passage across the river but it never happened. So, he
returned back, sat on the bank sang his grief in a last song.
It was during this time that the feast of Baccus occurred. Some women
called him to play the lyre so that they could dance and when he
refused, they stoned him. As he held aloft the lyre to prevent the
stones from hitting him, stones fell aside. But their shrieks and mocks
made him lose his balance.
He fell down. So, they killed and flung him into the river. As the
lyre sand its strings cried out ‘Eurydice, Eurydice’. The Gods prevented
his lyre lying in the mud because they knew what a great musician he
was.
They set it Heaven and it became the constellation called Lyra. Many
say that his body was washed ashore and buried and the nightingales sang
over it.
As for his spirit, it united with Eurydice with in the Elysian
Fields. |
