Wife of the Thracian bard Orpheus, bitten by a serpent on their wedding day in Ciconian land; he descended to Hades and won her back, but one backward glance sent her down forever — until his shade at last walked with her among the blessed fields.1
Apollodorus tells the bare horror: when Orpheus' wife Eurydice died, bitten by a snake, the bard went down to Hades fain to bring her up. Pluto promised she would follow if Orpheus did not turn until he reached his own house; he disobeyed, beheld his wife, and she turned back — lost a second time to the dead.2⚖
Ovid sets the wedding in Ciconian land with ill omens: Hymen's torch smoked and sputtered. While the bride wandered with the Naiads through the grass, a serpent struck venom into her soft ankle and she died. Orpheus filled heaven with lament and resolved that the world below should know his grief as well.3
In the underworld she followed halting from her wound up the steep dark path toward the light. Ovid sets Pluto's test at the threshold of earth; fearing to lose her, Orpheus looked back — and instantly she slipped away. He grasped only yielding air; her last word was farewell, and she fell again to Hades.4⚖
When the Ciconian women tore Orpheus apart, his head and harp floated down the Hebrus still murmuring her name. Ovid reunites their shades at last among the blessed fields — side by side, or following when she led, or going before with a safe backward glance — where no living test could part them again.5
⁂
the spine ignites as you read · hover a bond on the card — every mention of them lights in the story