Orpheus

Orpheus (dissyll.) (dissyll.), eī, m.: an ancient bard and prophet of Thrace, son of Oeagrus and Calliope, and husband of Eurydice, 6.119, et al.

Orpheus (dissyl.), i (Gr. dat. Orphei, Verg. E. 4, 57; Gr. acc. Orphĕă, Verg. E. 6, 30; Ov. P. 3, 3, 41:

• Orphēā, id. M. 10, 3; voc. Orpheu, Verg. G. 4, 494; Ov. M. 11, 44), m., = Ὀρφεύς, the famous mythic singer of Thrace, son of Oeagrus and Calliope, and husband of Eurydice; after her death he led her back from the Lower World, but lost her on turning to look at her, breaking his promise to Pluto. He was one of the Argonauts, Hor. C. 1, 12, 8; Ov. M. 10, 3 sq.; 11, 5 sq.; Hyg. Fab. 164; 251; Verg. E. 4, 55; Cic. N. D. 1, 38, 107 et saep.—Hence,
• • A Orphēus, a, um, adj., = Ὀρφεῖος, of or belonging to Orpheus, Orphean (poet.): vox, Ov. M. 10, 3: lyra, Prop. 1, 3, 42.—
  • B Or-phĭcus, a, um, adj., = Ὀρφικός, of or belonging to Orpheus, Orphic (class.): carmen, Cic. N. D. 1, 38, 107: sacra Orphica, id. 3, 23, 58: versus, Macr. S. 1, 18, 17.—
  • C Orphăĭcus, a, um, adj., = Ὀρφαικός, Orphic.—In plur. subst.: Orphăĭci, ōrum, m., the Orphics, the followers of Orpheus, Macr. Somn. Scip. 1, 12.

Orpheus, eī u. eos, Akk. eum u. ea, m. (Ὀρφευς), ein berühmter Sänger, Sohn der Muse Kalliope u. des Apollo od. Öagrus, Gemahl der Eurydice (s. Eurydicēdas Nähere), Nom., Cic. de nat. deor. 3, 45. Ov. trist. 4, 1, 17. Hyg. fab. 14. Apul. flor. 17. Lact. 1, 5, 4: Genet. Orphei, Cic. de nat. deor. 1, 41. Hyg. fab. 14, u. Orpheos, Ov. Ib. 600. Stat. silv. 2, 7, 40 u. 99: Dat. Orpheo, Ov. am. 3, 9, 21. Phaedr. 3. prol. 57 u. griech. Orphei od. (nach Prisc. 7, 8) Orphi (Ὀρφει), Verg. ecl. 4, 57: Akk. Orpheum, Cic. de nat. deor. 1, 107. Mythogr. Lat. 2, 44; u. Orphea, Hor. carm. 1, 12, 8. Verg. ecl. 3, 46. Prop. 3, 2, 1. Ov. met. 11, 23. Sen. ep. 88, 39: Vok. Orpheu, Verg. georg. 4, 494. Ps. Verg. cul. 290. Ov. met. 11, 44: Abl. Orpheo, Cic. Tusc. 1, 98. Iustin. 11, 7, 14. – Dav.: A) Orphaïcī, ōrum, m. (Ὀρφαϊκοί), die Anhänger des Orpheus, die Orphiker, Macr. somn. Scip. 1, 12. § 12. – B) Orphëicus, a, um, orphëisch, des Orpheus, versus (Plur.), Macr. sat. 1, 18, 17: praecepta, Longin. bei Augustin. epist. 234, 1. – C) Orphēus, a, um (Ὀρφεῖος), orphëisch, des Orpheus, vox, Ov.: lyra, Prop. – D) Orphicus, a, um (Ὀρφικος), orphisch, des Orpheus, carmen, Cic. de nat. deor. 1, 107.

Orpheūs, (11) ĕī ou ĕos, m. (Ὀρφεύς), Orphée [fils de la Muse Calliope, célèbre joueur de lyre, époux dʼEurydice] : Cic. Nat. 1, 107 || -ēŭs, a, um (Ὀρφεῖος), dʼOrphée : Prop. 1, 3, 42 || -ēĭcus, a, um, dʼOrphée, orphique : Macr. Sat. 1, 18, 17, ou -ĭcus, a, um (Ὀρφικός), Cic. Nat. 1, 107.

orpheus, i. m.
諳音樂之人名。

Suggest a Translation
See an image

Orpheus

(Ὀρφεύς). A mythical personage, regarded by the Greeks as the most celebrated of the early poets, who lived before the time of Homer. His name does not occur in the Homeric or Hesiodic poems; but it had already attained to great celebrity in the lyric period. There were numerous legends about Orpheus, but the common story ran as follows: Orpheus, the son of Oeagrus and Calliopé, lived in Thrace at the period of the Argonauts, whom he accompanied in their expedition. Presented with the lyre by Apollo and instructed by the Muses in its use, he enchanted with its music not only the wild beasts, but the trees and rocks upon Olympus, so that they moved from their places to follow the sound of his golden harp. The power of his music caused the Argonauts to seek his aid, which contributed materially to the success of their expedition; at the sound of his lyre the Argo glided down into the sea; the Argonauts tore themselves away from the pleasures of Lemnos; the Symplegades, or moving rocks, which threatened to crush the ship between them, were fixed in their places; and the Colchian dragon, which guarded the Golden Fleece, was lulled to sleep; other legends of the same kind may be read in the Argonautica, which bears the name of Orpheus. After his return from the Argonautic expedition he took up his abode in a cave in Thrace, and employed himself in the civilization of its wild inhabitants. There is also a legend of his having visited Egypt. The legends respecting the loss and recovery of his wife, and his own death, are very various. His wife was a nymph named Agriopé or Eurydicé. In the older accounts the cause of her death is not referred to. The legend followed in the well-known passages of Vergil and Ovid, which ascribes the death of Eurydicé to the bite of a serpent, is no doubt of high antiquity; but the introduction of Aristaeus into the legend cannot be traced to any writer older than Vergil himself. He followed his lost wife into the abodes of Hades, where the charms of his lyre suspended the torments of the damned, and won back his wife from the most inexorable of all deities; but his prayer was only granted upon this condition: that he should not look back upon his restored wife till they arrived in the upper world; at the very moment when they were about to pass the fatal bounds, the anxiety of love overcame the poet; he looked round to see that Eurydicé was following him; and he beheld her caught back into the infernal regions. (See illustration, p. 643.) His grief for the loss of Eurydicé led him to treat with contempt the Thracian women, who, in revenge, tore him to pieces under the excitement of their Bacchanalian orgies. After his death the Muses collected the fragments of his body, and buried them at Libethra at the foot of Olympus, where the nightingale sang sweetly over his grave. His head was thrown into the Hebrus, down which it rolled to the sea, and was borne across to Lesbos, where the grave in which it was interred was shown at Antissa. His lyre was also said to have been carried to Lesbos; and both traditions are simply poetical expressions of the historical fact that Lesbos was the first great seat of the music of the lyre; indeed, Antissa itself was the birthplace of Terpander, the earliest historical musician. The astronomers taught that the lyre of Orpheus was placed by Zeus among the stars at the intercession of Apollo and the Muses. Orpheus is spoken of as the first diviner, the first to employ the rites of expiation, the inventor of letters and of the heroic metre—in fact, as the first civilizer of early Thracia and Greece. In these legends there are some points which are sufficiently clear. The invention of music, in connection with the services of Apollo and the Muses, its first great application to the worship of the gods, which Orpheus is therefore said to have introduced, its power over the passions, and the importance which the Greeks attached to the knowledge of it, as intimately allied with the very existence of all social order, are probably the chief elementary ideas of the whole legend. But here comes in one of the dark features of the Greek religion, in which the gods envy the advancement of man in knowledge and civilization, and severely punish any one who transgresses the bounds assigned to humanity. In a later age the conflict was no longer viewed as between the gods and man, but between the worshippers of different divinities; and especially between Apollo, the symbol of pure intellect, and Dionysus, the deity of the senses; hence Orpheus, the servant of Apollo, falls a victim to the jealousy of Dionysus and the fury of his worshippers. The story of Orpheus and Eurydicé is found in a reversed form in the ancient Keltic tale of the three daughters of King O'Hara. (See Curtin, Myths and Folklore of Ireland [Boston, 1890].) It has been the theme of many works of modern literature, of which (in English) may be mentioned the following poems: Wordsworth, The Power of Music; Browning, Orpheus and Eurydicé; W. Morris, Orpheus and the Sirens; R. Lowell, Eurydicé; Dowden, Eurydicé; Gosse, The Waking of Eurydicé; and R. Buchanan, Orpheus the Musician. The story of Orpheus is the subject of a series of ten fine paintings by Burne-Jones. For the so-called Orphic sect, see Orphica.

Orpheus Orpheus, Thracian poet

• Paus. 9.30.4-12
• son of Oeagrus or Apollo and Calliope: Apollod. 1.3.1
• son of MuseCalliope or of daughter of Pierus: Paus. 9.30.4
• brother of Linus: Apollod. 2.4.9
• younger than Olen: Paus. 9.27.2
• a cunning enchanter: Paus. 6.20.18
• his music: Apollod. 1.3.1
• beasts follow him as he sings: Paus. 6.20.18, Paus. 9.17.7, Paus. 9.30.4
• restrains the Argonauts at the Sirens: Apollod. 1.9.24
• goes to hell or to Aornum in Thesprotis to bring back soul of his wife Eurydice: Paus. 9.30.4, 6
• tries to bring up his dead wife Eurydice from Hades: Apollod. 1.3.1, Apollod. 1.3.2
• discovers mystic rites and purifications: Paus. 9.30.4, Paus. 10.7.2
• invents mysteries of Dionysus: Apollod. 1.3.2
• institutes mysteries of Hecate at Aegina: Paus. 2.30.2
• teaches Lacedaemonians worship of Subterranean Demeter: Paus. 3.14.5
• makes temple of Saviour Maid at Sparta: Paus. 3.13.2
• refuses to compete at Pythian games: Paus. 10.7.2
• murdered by Thracian women: Paus. 9.30.5
• torn to pieces by the Maenads: Apollod. 1.3.2
• his tomb near Dium or Libethra in Macedonia: Paus. 9.30.7-11
• buried in Pieria: Apollod. 1.3.2
• in the Argo: Apollod. 1.9.17
• oracle about his bones: Paus. 9.30.9
• his poems: Paus. 1.14.3, Paus. 1.37.4, Paus. 9.27.2, Paus. 9.30.12
• images of: Paus. 3.20.5, Paus. 5.26.3, Paus. 9.30.4
• painted by Polygnotus: Paus. 10.30.6