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Classical Mythology ORPHEUS AND ORPHISM Sometimes said to be the son of Oeagrus a Thracian river god instead of Apollo Orpheus son of a muse Calliope and Apollo Musically brilliant lyre Can bend nature to his will with singing and music It is said that animals would gather round him trees would bend toward him and rocks would come to him when he would sing From Thrace Bulgaria Orpheus and Eurydice In Ovid s Metamorphoses Features a descent into the underworld like many Mysteries Eurydice The Story of Orpheus and Eurydice the wife of Orpheus who is bitten on her foot by a snake and dies on her wedding day After the death of Eurydice Orpheus goes down to the underworld with his lyre to get his wife back When he arrives he sings a beautiful song for Hades and Persephone All the sinners stopped pursuing their punishments to stop and listen This song was so powerful that not only did it persuade Hades and Persephone but it also caused the underworld to stop for the duration of the song Hades and Persephone agree that Orpheus may take Eurydice back with him but there is one stipulation As they are taking their final steps out of the underworld Orpheus looks back and Eurydice falls to her second death and is taken back into the underworld Orpheus attempts to get back into the underworld but he cannot Orpheus returns to Thrace and in his miserable grief he vows to remain celibate and single As he leaves Eurydice will follow him but he may not look back to see if she is He begs Charon to take him back across the river but Charon refuses Maenads a k a Bacchae raving and maddened female followers of Dionysus attack Orpheus They throw his head into the river Hebrus and tear him apart As the head flowed down the river it continued to sing and began speaking prophecy It washed ashore on the island of Lesbos where a cult of Orphic followers found it His spirit was allowed to descend into the underworld and was reunited with Eurydice Bacchus was angered with the Maenads for what they had done to Orpheus and turned them all into trees Ending this myth with the renewal of vegetation like many of Ovid s works Orpheus as a Prophet Orphic mystery religion Contradictory evidence Related to Dionysus and Apollo How did he die Zeus Thracians Maenads Maenads why Dionysus vs Apollo Lesbos oracle Vs Apollo Temple of Bacchus Not a God but a Hero Potentially a demigod Hero cult Initiates Promise of existence in afterlife A good existence Like Eleusian Mysteries Orphic Hymns 87 short hymns to various gods Some insight into the tenets of Orphism Gods creation THE THEBAN SAGA PART 1 Ovid s Metamorphoses Tyre an ancient city in modern day Lebanon Europa Agenor King of Tyre Europa daughter of Agenor Zeus sees her picking flowers and wants to be with her Zeus disguises himself as a bull and entices her to climb on his back After she does he takes off and swims across the sea to the island of Crete He then transforms back into his anthropomorphic form and rapes Europa She gets pregnant and has a son Minos son of Agenor brother of Europa Cadmus He does this and ends up settling the city of Thebes He needs libations in order to perform a proper sacrifice Agenor instructs him to set out to find Europa and not to return until he does He visits the Oracle of Delphi and is told to give up on finding his sister and instead he is to follow this cow and make a city wherever the cow first lays down He visits another oracle and is told in order for the city to prosper he much sacrifice the cow He goes to fetch water from the Cadstalian Spring where he encounters a giant snake which he kills not knowing it is the dragon sacred to Ares Athena tells him to take the teeth of the snake and plant them Spartoi are 4 left become the ancestors of the royal family of Thebes Ares is mad at Cadmus for killing the dragon sacred to him Cadmus must do penance by serving Ares for 8 years After these 8 years Ares gives Cadmus his daughter Harmonia to be his wife Cadmus and Harmonia become the first king and queen of Thebes men that spring up from the grown where the teeth are planted they fight until there Labdicus son of Cadmus has son Laius who is too young to rule when Labdicus dies Lycus rules in Laius place because he is too young his uncle His niece Antriope is raped by Zeus and gets pregnant with twins he imprisons her Laius 6th king of Thebes Kidnaps Chrysippus the son of a man whom he was supposed to be a guest in his home the gods curse the royal family of Thebes breaks Xenia Oedipus son of Laius Laius is told that he will die at the hand of his son A shepherd takes him away at the kings will to leave him to die but feels bad and gives him to Polybus and Merope the king and queen of Corinth Oedipus leaves Corinth after receiving a prophecy from the Oracle at Delphi that he will kill his father and marry his mother Thinks the prophecy is about Corinth because he doesn t know it is not his real home Doesn t want to return to return to Corinth and wanders Greece 495 406 BC Sophocles Wrote over 123 plays only 7 however are intact One of the great tragedians Competed and won at festival Dionysia in Athens several times 3 of which are from the Oedipus Cycle Oedipus Rex Antigone and Oedipus at Colonus Oedipus Tyrannus Rex 1st play in Oedipus Cycle brother of Jocasta blind prophet Creon Tiresias Oedipus has 4 children Antigone Ismene Polynices Eteocles Before Oedipus comes to Thebes is sick gloomy and plagued Is being guarded by a sphinx that would make anyone attempted to enter the city solve a riddle if they got it wrong it would kill them Oedipus is sent to Thebes by Hera he is posed a riddle answers correctly and the Sphinx throws itself off a cliff and dies Laius had went to retrieve supplies and never returned Creon is ruling in his place and makes a proclamation that whoever gets rid of the Sphinx will get the thrown and his sister Jocasta in marriage Once again city is plagued and dark and gloomy Oedipus wants to know why Creon speaks to an oracle and they say someone killed the last king Oedipus says whoever they find out did it will be banished to atone for his death Oedipus takes this place marries Jocasta is king has 4 kids Oedipus visits Tiresias and he tells Oedipus that he is the one who killed the last king Oedipus called him a fool and left A messenger from Corinth tells him that Polybus is dead and he must come back to Corinth and rule as king He says he will not because …


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FSU CLT 3370 - Classical Mythology

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