Thursday, March 11, 2010

Myths and Legends: The Head of Orpheus

The Head of Orpheus. To find out more about the death of Orpheus, see this Wikipedia article: link; for information about the image: image source.

Legend has it that the musician Orpheus was killed by the frenzied female followers of the god Dionysus, the Maenads, who tore him to pieces. Even after Orpheus was dead, however, his head still continued to sing songs, accompanied by the music of his lyre. Orpheus' head and lyre floated down the Hebrus River to the Mediterranean, and they eventually washed ashore on the island of Lesbos. The inhabitants of the island found his head and buried it there, while his lyre was mysteriously transported into the heavens.

You can also find more myths and legends for the week of March 11-17 here. For more information and links to the actual javascript code, see the Myths & Legends Widget Reference Page.