2nd death

Do you know what happened to Orpheus? This Thracian figure was a master musician and as such Orpheus is the mythical ancestor of musicians. He would make the grievous sing with joy. He could make stones speak of the deeds of old. As he played the deaf heard. Orpheus was a very often invited musician. Once he played at a party when his eyes met those of a beautiful girl: Eurydice. It was love at first sight, for a while they were the most happy couple alive … alas what harsh fate these lovers struck. Out in the fields Eurydice was persued by a faun. In the rush of the pursuit she stepped on an adder. The venomous creature bit her heel and she died. Struck with grief Orpheus could not accept her death & he went to get her.

He descended towards the river Styx. There he softened the heart of Charon, he outwitted Cerberos with his snares and he warmed the spirits of the dead so they brought him to their master: Hades. The god of death lent his ear and Orpheus told of his love and of the grievous fate they met. Reminded of his love for Persephone Hades granted Orpheus what he never granted a living soul before. Orpheus could leave hades & take his love and bring her back to life. Overcome with joy Orpheus returned … only after hearing the one condition Hades demanded. Eurydice should follow Orpheus and he may not look back. You probably know what happened: Orpheus did look back, eurydice was inhaled by Hades. She died for the second time -the 2nd death.

in medieval christianity orpheus is considered to be a christ-figure. just like orpheus jesus christ descended into hades to bring back his beloved believers. in this blog i want to contemplate a different option and its consequences. More in the next post.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 13th, 2006 at 8:51 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.