# Orpheus — Metamorphoses character guide

> Orpheus in Metamorphoses by Ovid.

**Role:** major

**First appearance:** 0107-death-of-orpheus

## Snapshot

The poet whose music could move trees and stones, and whose grief after losing Eurydice turned him away from all women forever.

## Who they are

Orpheus is the son of a Muse, a singer whose songs uproot entire forests and draw them to listen. After failing to bring Eurydice back from the underworld, he renounces women entirely, and the rejected nymphs of Thrace eventually turn on him. His story anchors the poem's meditation on art, loss, and the dangerous power of a voice that can charm even the dead.

## In the story

### [Book IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/book-ix)

Mentioned in the prophecy of Themis as the bard who will find his tomb in the earth.

### [Book X: Orpheus and Eurydice](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/book-x)

Descends to Hades to retrieve Eurydice; loses her by looking back; later shuns women and charms nature with his music.

### [Story of Orpheus and Eurydice](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/story-of-orpheus-and-eurydice)

The Thracian bard who descends to Hades to reclaim his wife Eurydice, loses her by looking back, and later shuns womankind.

### [Book XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/book-xi)

Torn to pieces by Thracian women; his head and lyre float to Lesbos; his ghost reunites with Eurydice in the underworld.

### [Death of Orpheus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/death-of-orpheus)

The Thracian bard whose enchanting music soothed beasts and woods; he is torn apart by the female Bacchanals and his head and lyre float to Lesbos.

### [Thracian Women Transformed to Trees](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/thracian-women-transformed-to-trees)

Mentioned as the murdered victim whose wrong Bacchus avenges.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/characters/orpheus
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/characters