Eurydice.
The second loss
Eurydice: Greek Myth, Orpheus and the Journey from Hadesis the wife tries to bring back from the dead. Her story survives largely through his attempt, making the few moments of her own presence and speech especially significant.
More than a myth.
How Eurydice dies
places a bad omen at the wedding before dies from a snakebite while walking with companions. Virgil’s Georgics connects the bite to her flight from Aristaeus. The difference changes the circumstances and responsibility surrounding her death; the two accounts should not be passed off as one identical scene.
The condition of her return
’s song persuades the rulers below to allow to follow him upward. He must not look behind until they have left the underworld. When he turns too soon, she is drawn back. In she offers a final farewell, and the rescue fails just as the boundary seems almost crossed.
What happens after the backward look
cannot secure another immediate crossing and must continue living without her. later gives the couple a reunion after Orpheus’s own death. They walk together among the shades, and he can look back without losing her. The conclusion changes the condition of their companionship while leaving the earlier loss of mortal life intact.
Questions about Eurydice
Why does Eurydice return to the underworld?
looks back before their ascent is complete, breaking the condition imposed on her release. She is then taken below again.
Do Orpheus and Eurydice reunite?
In , yes, after dies. That later reunion is separate from his failed attempt to bring her back to life.
It’s a family affair.
Eurydice
Orpheus’s descent & the failed returnNo children represented in this edition.
The stories of Eurydice.
Ancient voices.
Enduring stories.
Myths have many tellings. These are the ancient works behind this profile, linked to freely available English translations.
Metamorphoses
Book 10.1–85
Metamorphoses
Book 11.61–66
Georgics
Book 4.453–527 · Eurydice and Aristaeus