Orpheus - Don't look back...

Orpheus is known for his lyre and the divine music he played on it for everyone around him. His name became the eponym for places, works of art, and even celestial bodies. It entered our vernacular as a symbol of music, beauty, art, and the Muses.

However, Orpheus’s personal story, as told in Greek mythology, turned out to be tragic, yet symbolic and cautionary. It contains a rule of wisdom recognizable to everyone. In fact, there are a few nuggets of wisdom in this short myth, as is common in mythology.

Orpheus’s young wife was, by misfortune and chance, unfairly taken from him into the Underworld—in other words, she died young. Her name was Eurydice, and she died soon after they were married. Orpheus couldn’t accept this and went straight into the Underworld to ask the god Hades and all the other divinities to return Eurydice to him, because it was so unfair to take her so young. His music was the reason no one could refuse him. So the gods (surprisingly) agreed to let her return with Orpheus to the Upper World.

However, they did so under one (and only one) small condition: on the path back to the Upper World, Orpheus must not turn back to look at her until they reached the World of the Living. They ran and climbed up the path toward the light from the darkness of the realm of death, and Orpheus kept his promise to the gods. But as they saw the light and came right to the entrance to the Upper World, in the very last moment, Orpheus couldn’t help himself and, for just a brief second, decided to throw a glance behind him to see if she was there.

At that very moment, he heard one faint word: “Farewell.” Orpheus tried to run back after her, but this time the gods did not allow him. His wife was taken away from him forever, and he remained alone, inconsolable in his grief until his tragic end. His death at the hands of the Maenads is too gruesome to retell.

Orpheus losing Eurydice

There are quite a few instructive hints here, even before the main moral of the story.

First, Orpheus does not seem to be able to accept his fate. He pleads with the gods; he ventures where it is forbidden to enter. Perhaps he was too self-confident because of his musical talents and everyone’s admiration? Perhaps he was too young to accept fate? This seems like the youthful audacity and arrogance characteristic of those who are favored by fortune—whether by wealth or talent. We cannot know, but the way each of us interprets this reflects our own proclivities and character traits.

A corollary to this conclusion, and one that exacerbates the situation, is that Orpheus does not learn from the first blow that fate has given him. Staying true to his nature, he tempts the fate again and succumbs to his will and curiosity. Obviously, he hasn’t learned the lesson: you don’t tempt the gods a second time. The gods’ generosity is rare.

Finally, the pivotal moment—him looking back and being severely punished for it—probably resonates with all of us. How many times have we hoped and returned to something in the past, only to regret it again and never see those hopes materialize?

You can’t step into the same river twice. Long before Heraclitus, this immovable rule of life was known to the ancients and was exemplified in the myth of Orpheus.

(Source of the myth’s storyline: Edith Hamilton, Mythology)