Greek Mythology: “Orpheus and Eurydice”.-

“The Myth and a Brief Story by Andreas Keller”(Nannus):

 

“Orpheus and Eurydice” by John Roddam Spencer Stanhope.-

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Orpheus was usually said to be the son of the Thracian king Oiagros and Kalliope, one of the Muses. He was a devoted follower of Dionysos and a wonderful singer and musician. He was such a great singer that everyone and everything were moved and charmed by his music, men, birds, beasts, rocks, trees and rivers!

He had been taught to play the lyre by Apollo, and such was his skill on the instrument, together with the sweetness of his singing voice, that he could charm wild animals and even cause trees to uproot themselves and follow in his steps. 

He also participated in the expedition of Jason and the Argonauts and he saved his companions from death by the Sirens, the monstrous women who were singing to attract men in their death. Orpheus played a beautiful music with his lyre, outsinging the Sirens.

Orpheus fell in love with a nymph named Eurydice and blissful was their life together until one day she was pursued by a son of Apollo, the minor deity Aristaeus. In her headlong eagerness to escape, she stepped on a poisonous snake, was bitten and died. Disconsolate, Orpheus found a cave which lead to Hades and followed Eurydice to the Underworld. Here his musical charms were so persuasive that  Persephone permitted the minstrel to take his sweetheart home with him – on one condition: that he should never look back at her until they arrived at the world above.  

This condition was so simple that it takes some explaining to account for Orpheus’s failure to heed it. In any case, he did the one thing he had been forbidden. He turned around and looked at Eurydice, and she was lost to him forever.

Orpheus swore he would never love another, and it may have been the steadfastness of this vow which caused certain wild women of Thrace to tear him limb from limb in a fit of jealousy. They threw his head into a river, and it kept on singing all the way to the sea. The women killed him, cut his body into pieces and threw them and his lyre into a river. It is said that his head and his lyre floated downriver to the island of Lesvos. There the Muses found them and gave Orpheus a proper burial ceremony. People believed that his grave emanated music, plaintive yet beautiful. His soul descended down to Hades where he was finally reunited with his beloved Eurydice.

►The Comparison To a Bible’s Scene: The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is similar to the “Story of Lot’s wife” (Genesis 19). The analogy of “not looking back” is of great importance to both stories. In the Book of Genesis, when God decided to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, two cities drowned in sins, he ordered a good man, Lot, to take his family and leave the area. God told them to head for the mountains without looking back the city being destroyed. While they were leaving the city, Lot’s wife couldn’t resist and turned around to see the burning cities. She was immediately transformed into a pillar of salt! This may be inferred as a direct and terrifying consequence of disobedience towards God. 

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“Orpheus and Eurydice” by Peter Paul Rubens.-

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►”Eurydice and Orpheus”: “A Brief Story By Andreas Keller”: 

“Orpheus and Eurydice” by Angelica Kauffmann.-

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“It is not true that Eurydice had to return because Orpheus looked back. It was the other way around”…

Eurydice: I will remain here; I cannot come any further with you.

Orpheus: But I have not turned around nor looked back, as I was asked to. So just come with me.

Eurydice: Don’t you understand that I do not stay behind because you might have looked back? No, you did not understand the condition. You will turn around and look back because I don’t come with you. I am going to leave you here. I am tired.

Orpheus: So I have been betrayed.

Eurydice: Humans always betray themselves. Actually, we just walk together for some time, and then we part. Sing, Orpheus, sing, because the meadows and forests, the lakes and plains are there only in your song. That world is inside the human being, not outside. Outside is only this narrow path between the rocks. There is one tedious step after the other. There is no Hades below and no upper world above.

Orpheus: I am looking at you now. So is that the last time?

Eurydice: Do you see my wrinkles? I am too old to continue. You will go ahead and I will stay here. I will step back behind that line. I will turn around and walk away. Those who cross the line silently walk away and never turn around again.

Orpheus: But why? Was everything in vain?

Eurydice: Nothing was in vain. We walked together, and you were holding my hand. I could listen to your song.

Orpheus: But did not the gods themselves weep when I was singing?

Eurydice: The world of the gods is cold and without empathy. The gods cannot sing, they are deaf to song. The gods are dwelling in Hades. Don’t you know that Mount Olympus is part of Hades? You must sing, Orpheus! For the immortals, everything is the same all the time. The immortals have no beginning and no end. They have no history. They live by cold laws. They don’t have a life.

Orpheus: But are they not very powerful?

Eurydice: Yes, they are very powerful. But they are blind and deaf.

Orpheus: We can see and hear, but we, we are mortal.

Eurydice: Yes, we are mortal. What the gods have given to us is only this narrow rocky path and the hard steps of this staircase. That is all the gods where able to give. But for the mortals, there is more. They have a life, they have a history. They have songs. They create. The gods cannot create. Their world is perfect and complete, and therefore blind and deaf and mindless and infertile. There is nothing new. There is no history and no life, only unchanging, invariable laws.

Orpheus: But you; was not your father Apollo?

Eurydice: I was a nymph, part of the immortal world, but I choose the world of the mortals. I thank you, Orpheus, you have given life and meaning to me through your songs and your love. Now go. This was my choice, make it yours. We have to agree with life and with death.

Orpheus: I understand now. I also thank you. So I let go now?

Euridice: Only mortals can enter the upper world. It is in your songs, in your dance, in the lyre and in the stories you tell. Did you not notice that we were there together? Now let go. It is time to let go now, first with the hand and then with the hart. Sing your song, and let go.

Touch turns into

memory of touch.

Glance turns into

memory of glance.

Voice turns into

memory of voice.

Orpheus: But will I see you again?

Eurydice: …

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This Brief story in dialogue form was originally posted at “The Asifoscope”  . Click here to check it out.-

►About Andreas Keller / Nannus: He lives in Cologne, Germany. His nickname is Nannus.

He also has an alter ego called Tsish, the extraterrestrial. I read that a long time ago Tsish was able to connect his spaceship to Nannus´ living room,  by means of a spiral staircase. That way, he was able to link to Andreas and Nannus ´W-LAN (Well, after all they are the same person, so it makes sense). Besides, during his stay in the T-Planet, also known as Earth, Tsish  began to study the Internet and he  became an expert at blogging.

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Click on the image to check out Andreas Keller’ s blog.-

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“Orpheus and Eurydice”, by Federico Cervelli.-

“Orpheus and Eurydice” by Jean Raoux.-

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►Links Post:

http://www.touristorama.com/en/Orpheus-and-Eurydice-02235

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orpheus_and_Eurydice

http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/eurydice/eurydicemyth.html

http://www.greeka.com/greece-myths/orpheus-eurydice.htm

http://asifoscope.org/2013/08/09/eurydice-and-orpheus/

https://maverickmist.wordpress.com/2015/12/08/in-praise-of-mortality/

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►Last but not Least: ” Community of Bloggers Award”:

My dearest friend Christy Birmingham, from Poetic Parfait and When Women Inspire has freely proposed us to grab one of the awards she has recently received and pass it on to some fellow bloggers. I accepted her offer and will nominate ten bloggers I have met over the past few weeks.  

►Here are the Award Rules:

1) The nominee shall display the Wonderful Team Member Readership Award logo on her/his blog.

2) The nominee shall nominate ten (10) she/he admires,  by linking to their blogs and informing them about it.

►And here are my ten (10) nominees: 1) High- Grade Discurse  2) The Asifoscope 3) Pipin run wild 4) Word Musing 5) Carol Insigna 6) Random Things From G 7) Peak Perspective 8) Outlook in Life 9) Wish I were Here 10) Mind Love Misery.

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Community of Bloggers Award.-

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