The
son of the Thracian
King Oeagrus and the
Muse Calliope, Orpheus was the most famous
poet and
musician of the
Greek Era. He was given a
lyre by the
god Apollo, which he was taught to play by the
Muses. They taught him so well that when he played, all the
animals,
plants and even
rocks danced along to his
music. He joined
Odysseus on his quest for the
Golden Fleece as an
Argonaut, and after returning home victorious, married
Eurydice. She died after being bitten by a
snake but Orpheus descended into the netherworld to reclaim her as recounted in
Orpheus and his Twice Dead bride, Eurydice (for those feeling more
masochistic/
scholarly, feel free to read Chapter X, from
Metamorphoses :
Orpheus and Eurydice).
Orpheus mourned his lost wife, and managed to fall into ill-favour with the god Dionysus, by not honouring him when he invaded Orpheus' homeland of Thrace. For this transgression, Dionysus set the Maenads on him who tore him limb from limb and threw his remains into the river Hebrus, but his body floated, still singing, to the Isle of Lesbos, where the Muses gathered him together and buried him at Leibethra, at the foot of Mount Olympus.
Other texts claim that his death was caused by the hand of Zeus who threw a thunderbolt at him, when he was caught divulging divine secrets.