Greek Myths

I have always had a soft spot for Greek myths. They have always been really intriguing to me. Greek myths are what made me fall in love with history. In 5th grade my class did a Greek festival where we all dressed up as a god or goddess (I chose Demeter, goddess of the harvest, to not be like every other girl in my class who dressed up at Aphrodite, goddess of love), and we all had to make some type of Greek food. In preparation for the Greek festival, we learned all types of Greek myths. Well, after reading those stories, I was hooked.

Since that Greek festival in 5th grade, I've been self-educated in Greek myths. There isn't really any classes in middle school or high school you can take to learn about this stuff. So everything I know about Greek myths, I taught myself. That was until college that is. Finally, in my last year of college, in my last semester, I took a classical mythology english class, and it was wonderful. Every week we'd learn about a new myth and then we had to analyze it with an essay. Some of the myths I knew already, such as the Minotaur, and some were knew such as learning about Dionysus, god of wine. Overall, it was a very enlightening class, and was really interesting. So, I have decided to share one of my favorite Greek myths with you all.

The myth I wanted to share with you is that of Orpheus. The myth of Orpheus is one the most popular Greek myth to be written or painted about. His story seems to resonate with artist, writers, and poets. The story begins with Orpheus, the most talented lyre player and poet in all of Greece. His music was so moving, they said it could tame wild beast. Eventually he marries Eurydice, the love of his life. But, their happiness was short lived. One day while in a forest, someone tried to abduct Eurydice. As she ran away, she was bitten by a poisonous snake, and died. Orpheus was so overwhelmed with grief, that he decides to get Eurydice back, and traveled to the underworld to do so. Orpheus began to sing and play his lyre for Hades, and the song was so heart-breaking and so sad, that Hades decided to let let Eurydice go. With this deal, there was one condition. Orpheus was to lead Eurydice out of Hades, but he was not allowed to look back at her until they reached the land of the living. Orpheus obeyed, and began to lead Eurydice out of Hades. When Orpheus was nearly at the the land of the living, he could see the light, he began to have second thoughts. So, he turned around to make sure Eurydice is there. He sees her, and just like that, she disappears back into the underworld. Orpheus was so devastated at losing Eurydice twice, that he shunned away from society and just aimlessly walked around the forest playing sad songs on his lyre. One day, Orpheus was playing such a sad song when a group of maenads heard him and were so overwhelmed by his song that they asked Orpheus to stop, but he did not. So, they then ripped him apart and killed him.

"Orpheus Leading Eurydice Through the Underworld" by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot

"Orpheus and Eurydice" by Christian Kratzenstein-Stub

Definitely not the best way to go, and I'm not entirely sure how legal it is to just rip someone apart because you don't like the sad songs they are playing, but this is one of my favorite myths. I just love how Orpheus will do anything to get his love back, and how upset he is after he loses her both times. I like also how this shows that even though you may have it all, i.e. the gift of music suited for the gods, life does not always turn out the way you wanted. But, that is Greek tragedy for you.