Orpheus

Orpheus
Roman Orpheus mosaic, a very common subject. He wears a Phrygian cap and is surrounded by the animals charmed by lyre-playing
Abode	Pimpleia, Pieria
Symbol	Lyre
Genealogy
Born	Pimpleia, Pieria
Died	Pangaion Hills, Odomantice
Parents	Oeagrus and Calliope
Spouse	Eurydice
Children	Musaeus

In Greek mythology, Orpheus (/ˈɔːrfiːəs, ˈɔːrfjuːs/; Ancient Greek: Ὀρφεύς, classical pronunciation: [or.pʰeú̯s]) was a Thracian bard,^[1][2][3][4] legendary musician and prophet. He was also a renowned poet and, according to the legend, travelled with Jason and the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece,^[5] and even descended into the underworld of Hades, to recover his lost wife Eurydice.^[6]

Ancient Greek authors such as Strabo and Plutarch note Orpheus's Thracian origins.^[7] Orpheus was called the ruler of the Bistonian Pieria, a region inhabited by the Thracian tribes Bistones and Pieres^[8] but others have identified him as a member of the Thracian tribe Ciconi, that lived in the Thracian Bisaltia.^[7][9]

The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music (the usual scene in Orpheus mosaics), his attempt to retrieve his wife Eurydice from the underworld, and his death at the hands of the maenads of Dionysus, who got tired of his mourning for his late wife Eurydice. As an archetype of the inspired singer, Orpheus is one of the most significant figures in the reception of classical mythology in Western culture, portrayed or alluded to in countless forms of art and popular culture including poetry, film, opera, music, and painting.^[10]

For the Greeks, Orpheus was a founder and prophet of the so-called "Orphic" mysteries.^[11] He was credited with the composition of a number of works, including several theogonies, the Orphic Hymns, the Orphic Argonautica, the Lithica^[12] and the Hexameter poem. Shrines containing purported relics of Orpheus were regarded as oracles.^[13]