A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

60 ORPHEUS.
these names are Olen, Linus, Orpheus, Musaeus, (Ran. 1032); who enumerates, as the oldest poets,
Eumolpus, Pamphus, Thamyris, and Philammon. Orpheus, Musaeus, Hesiod, and Homer, and makes
Of these names that of Orpheus is the most im- Orpheus the teacher of religious initiations and of
portant, and at the same time the one involving abstinence from murder:
the greatest difficulties. These difficulties arise'OpIPEs U'v yap TEteras 9' I1iJV
from the scantiness of the early traditions re- K ase 4oroV A' drXEetc0au.
specting him, in tracing which we are rather impeded than aided by the many marvels which later Passages exactly parallel to this are found in Plato
writers connected with his story; and also from (Apol. p. 41, a., Protag. p. 316, d.), who frequently
the very different religious positions which are refers to Orpheus, his followers, and his works.
assigned to him. On this last point it may be He calls him the son of Oeagrus (Syrmpos. p. 179,
remarked in general that the earliest opinions d.), mentions him as a musician and inventor
respecting him seem to have invariably connected (Ion, p. 533, c., Leg. iii. p. 677, d.), refers to the
him with Apollo; while his name was afterwards miraculous power of his lyre (Protag. p. 315, a.),
adopted as the central point of one system of Dio- and gives a singular version of the story of his
nysiac worship. descent into Hades: the gods, he says, imposed
One of the most essential points in such an in- upon the poet, by showing him only a phanquiry as the present is, to observe the history of tasm of his lost wife because he had not the
the traditions themselves. The name of Orpheus courage to die, like Alcestis, but contrived to
does not occur in the Homeric or Hesiodic poems; enter Hades (alive, and, as a further punishment
but, during the lyric period, it had attained to great for his cowardice, he met his death at the hands
celebrity. Ibycus, who flourished about the middle of women (Sysmpos. p. 179, d.; comp. Polit. x.
of the sixth century B. C., mentions him as " the p. 620, a.). This account is quite discordant with
renowned Orpheus" ('vouaKAhvTr0v'Oppl7YV, Ibyc. the notions of the early Greeks respecting the
Fr. No. 22, Schneidewin, No. 9, Bergk, ap. Pris- value of life, and even with the example quoted
cian. vol. i. p. 283, Krehl). Pindar enumerates by Plato himself, as far as Admetus is concerned.
him among the Argonauts as the celebrated harp Plato seems to have misunderstood the reason
player, father of songs, and as sent forth by Apollo why Orpheus's " contriving to enter Hades alive,"
(Pyth. iv. 315. s. 176): elsewhere he mentioned called down the anger of the gods, namely, as a
him as the son of Oeagrus (Schol. ad loc.). The presumptuous transgression of the limits assigned
historians Hellanicus and Pherecydes record his to the condition of mortal men: this point will
name, the former making him the ancestor both of have to be considered again. As the followers of
Homer and of Hesiod (Fr. Nos. 5, 6, Miiller, ap. Orpheus, Plato mentions both poets and religionists
Procl. Vit. Hes. p. 141, b., Vit. Hornm. Ired.); the (Prot. p. 316, d., Ion, p. 536, b., Cratsl. p, 400,
latter stating that it was not Orpheus, but Philanm- c.), and in the passage last quoted, he tells us that
mon, who was the bard of the Argonauts (Fr. 63, the followers of Orpheus held the doctrine, that
Miuller, ap. Sclol. ad Apollon. i. 23), and this is the soul is imprisoned in the body as a punishment
also the account which Apollonius Rhodius followed. for some previous sins. He makes several quoIn the dramatic poets there are several references tations from the writings ascribed to Orpheus, of
to Orpheus. Aeschylus alludes to the fable of his which one, if not more, is from the Tlheogony
leading after him trees charmed by the sound of his (Cratyl. p. 402, b., Phileb. p. 66, c., Leg. ii.
lyre(Ag. 1612, 1613,Wellauer, 1629,1630, Dind.); p. 669, d.), and in one passage he speaks of coland there is an important statement preserved by lections of books, which went under the names of
Eratosthenes (c. 24), who quotes the Bassarides of Orpheus and Musaeus, and contained rules for
the same poet, that "' Orpheus did not honour religious ceremonies. (Polit. ii. p. 364, e.)
Dionysus, but believed the sun to be the greatest The writings mentioned in the last passage
of the gods, whom also he called Apollo; and rising were evidently regarded by Plato as spurious,
up in the night, he ascended before dawn to the but, from the other passages quoted, he seems to
mountain called Pangaeum, that he might see the have believed at least in the existence of Orpheus
sun first, at which Dionysus being enraged sent and in the genuineness of his Tleogony. Not so,
upon him the Bassaridae, as the poet Aeschylus however, Aristotle, who held that no such person
says, who tore him in pieces, and scattered his as Orpheus ever existed, and that the works
limbs abroad; but the Muses collected them, and ascribed to him were forged by Cercops and
buried them at the place called Leibethra:" but Onomacritus. [ONOMACRITUS.]
the quotation itself shows the impossibility of de- Proceeding to the mythographers, and the later
termining how much of this account is to be con- poets, from Apollodorus downwards, we find the
sidered as given by Aeschylus. Sophocles does not legends of Orpheus amplified by details, the whole
mention Orpheus, but he is repeatedly referred to of which it is impossible here to enumerate; we
by Euripides, in whom we find the first allusion to give an outline of the most important of them.
the connection of Orpheus with Dionysus and the Orpheus, the son of Oeagrus and Calliope, lived
infernal regions: he speaks of him as related to the in Thrace at the period of the Argonauts, whom
Muses (Rhes. 944, 946); mentions the power of he accompanied in their expedition. Presented
his song over rocks, trees, and wild beasts (Med. with the lyre by Apollo, and instructed by the
543, Iph. in Aul. 1211, Bacch. 561, and a jocular Muses in its use, he enchanted with its music not
allusion in Cyc. 646); refers to his charming the only the wild beasts, but the trees and rocks upon
infernal powers (Alec. 357); connects him with Olympus, so that they moved from their places to
Bacchanalian orgies (Hippol. 953); ascribes to him follow the sound of his golden harp. The power
the origin of sacred mysteries (Rhls. 943), and of his music caused the Argonauts to seek his aid,
places the scene of his activity among the forests of which contributed materially to the success of
Olympus. (Bacch. 561.) He is mentioned once their expedition: at the sound of his lyre the
only, but in an important passage, by Aristophanes Argo glided down into the sea; the Argonauts