Apollo and the Muse Calliope are the parents of Orpheus, the legendary musician whose singing could charm all living things.
⚠ Apollodorus (Bibliotheca 1.3.2) explicitly says 'to Oeagrus, or nominally to Apollo,' suggesting Oeagrus is the biological father. Most poetic sources favor Apollo. Pindar (fr. 139) leaves the Muse unnamed; late traditions substitute Polymnia for Calliope.
Oeagrus, king of Thrace, and the Muse Calliope sired Orpheus, the musician whose voice could move stones and trees and still the rivers of the underworld.
⚠ Apollodorus (Bibliotheca 1.3.2) names Oeagrus as the biological father, with Apollo as merely nominal. Apollonius (Argonautica 1.23-25) also gives Oeagrus as father.
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.
The Maenads tore Orpheus apart in Dionysian frenzy after he spurned their advances and rejected their rites. His severed head floated down the river Hebrus, still singing, to the island of Lesbos.
Orpheus sailed with the Argonauts on the quest for the Golden Fleece. His music set the rowing rhythm, drowned out the Sirens' song, and helped lull the dragon guarding the fleece.
Apollo gave Orpheus his first lyre and served as his divine patron in music. After the Maenads tore Orpheus apart, his severed head continued to prophesy until Apollo silenced it.
Aristaeus pursued Eurydice with unwanted desire, causing her to flee through a meadow where she was bitten by a viper and died. His actions set in motion Orpheus's descent to the underworld.
Orpheus played his lyre to drown out the Sirens' song for the Argonauts, but Butes alone could not resist and leaped overboard despite the music.
Orpheus charmed Cerberus to sleep with his lyre when he descended to the underworld to retrieve Eurydice, bypassing the three-headed guardian through music rather than force.
Orpheus charmed Charon with his lyre, persuading the ferryman to carry him across the Styx alive — a passage normally forbidden to the living.
Orpheus founded mystery rites associated with Dionysus in Thrace. The Maenads later tore Orpheus apart on Mount Pangaion for refusing to honor Dionysus after turning his devotion exclusively to Apollo.
⚠ Aeschylus (in the lost Bassarides) attributes the killing to Dionysus's direct command; Ovid (Metamorphoses 11.1-43) attributes it to the Maenads' jealousy over Orpheus's rejection of women.
After his death at the hands of the Maenads, Orpheus descended to the Underworld for the final time. Pindar places him in Elysium, reunited at last with Eurydice among the shades of the righteous.
When Orpheus played in Tartarus, the Erinyes wept for the first time in their existence, overcome by the grief in his music as he sought to reclaim Eurydice from the dead.
Orpheus descended to the underworld and played before Hades, moving the lord of the dead to tears with his plea for Eurydice. Hades granted her release on the condition Orpheus not look back.
The Muses, sisters of Orpheus's mother Calliope, gathered his dismembered remains after the Maenads tore him apart and buried him at Leibethra near Mount Olympus. Nightingales sang sweetest over his grave.
Orpheus descended to the underworld and played his lyre before Persephone, moving the queen of the dead to tears. She persuaded Hades to release Eurydice, on the condition Orpheus not look back.
Orpheus drowned out the Sirens' song with his lyre during the Argonauts' voyage, defeating them in musical contest and triggering a prophecy of their death.
Orpheus descended into the Underworld to retrieve Eurydice, charming Hades and Persephone with his music but losing her when he looked back before reaching the surface.
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