Orpheus married the wood nymph Eurydice, but she died from a snakebite shortly after their wedding. His descent to the underworld to retrieve her and his fatal backward glance became the defining myth of his legend.
In Virgil's Georgics 4, Aristaeus pursued Eurydice through a meadow. As she fled, she stepped on a venomous snake and died from its bite, setting in motion Orpheus' descent to the Underworld.
Charon ferried Orpheus across the Styx to reach Eurydice in the Underworld, charmed by the hero's music. After Orpheus lost Eurydice a second time, Charon refused to carry him across again.
Hermes Psychopompos led Eurydice's shade back to the Underworld after Orpheus broke the condition by looking back. As guide of souls, Hermes escorted her into the realm of the dead a final time.
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