Eurydice
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Eurydice (/jʊəˈrɪdɪsiː/; Ancient Greek: Εὐρυδίκη 'wide justice') was a character in Greek mythology and the Auloniad wife of Orpheus, whom Orpheus tried to bring back from the dead with his enchanting music.
Etymology
Several meanings for the name Eurydice have been proposed such as "true judgement"[1] or "profound judgement" from the Greek: eur dike.[2] Fulgentius, a mythographer of the late 5th to early 6th century AD, gave the latter etymological meaning.[2] Adriana Cavarero, in the book Relating Narratives: Storytelling and Selfhood, wrote that "the etymology of Eurydice seems rather to indicate, in the term eurus, a vastness of space or power, which, joining to dike [and thus deiknumi, to show], designates her as 'the one who judges with breadth' or, perhaps, 'she who shows herself amply.'"[3]
In some accounts, she was instead called Agriope, which means "savage face."[4]
Mythology
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Marriage to Orpheus, death and afterlife
Eurydice was the
The story in this form belongs to the time of Virgil, who first introduces the name of Aristaeus and the tragic outcome.[9] Other ancient sources, however, speak of Orpheus's visit to the underworld in a more negative light; according to Phaedrus in Plato's Symposium,[10] the infernal deities only "presented an apparition" of Eurydice to him. Plato's representation of Orpheus is that of a coward; instead of choosing to die to be with the one he loved, he mocked the deities by trying to go to Hades to get her back alive. Since his love was not "true"—meaning he was not willing to die for it—he was punished by the deities, first by giving him only the apparition of his former wife in the underworld and then by being killed by women.[10]
The story of Eurydice may be a late addition to the Orpheus myths. In particular, the name Eurudike ('she whose justice extends widely') recalls cult-titles attached to Persephone. The myth may have been derived from another Orpheus legend in which he travels to Tartarus and charms the goddess Hecate.[11][clarification needed]
Eurydice's story has many strong universal cultural parallels, from the
Cultural depictions
The story of Orpheus and Eurydice has been depicted in a number of works by artists, including
Film and literature
- Sir Orfeo, a Middle English Romance poem from the late 13th or early 14th century, inspired by the Orpheus and Eurydice tale
- "Orpheus. Eurydice. Hermes." (1904), a poem retelling the journey from the underworld by Rainer Maria Rilke
- "Eurydice" (1917), a feminist retelling of the myth from the perspective of Eurydice, written by modernist poet H.D.
- Orphée (1950), directed by Jean Cocteau
- Orfeu Negro (1959), an adaptation of the classic myth filmed in Brazil by Marcel Camus
- Evrydiki BA 2O37 (1975), directed by Nikos Nikolaidis.
- "Eurydice" (1999), a poem that retells the traditional myth through a feminist lens by British poet Carol Ann Duffy in her book The World's Wife
- Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) written and directed by Céline Sciamma uses the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice as an allegory for the relationship depicted in the film, and proposes an alternate explanation for why Orpheus turned to look.[15]
Operas and stage productions
The myth has been retold in
.- Euridice (1600), an opera by Jacopo Peri, the first genuine opera whose music survives to this day[16]
- Orfeo ed Euridice, an opera by Christoph Willibald Gluck[17]
- L'Orfeo (1607), by Claudio Monteverdi, widely regarded as the first operatic masterwork[18]
- La Descente d'Orphée aux enfers H.488 (1686), opera by Marc-Antoine Charpentier
- Orphée descendant aux enfers H.471 (1683), cantata by Marc-Antoine Charpentier
- Le Retour d’Euridice aux enfers (1717) by Charles Piroye
- Orphée (1926), a play written by Jean Cocteau
- Eurydice (1941), a play by Jean Anouilh
- Orpheus Descending (1957), by American playwright Tennessee Williams.
- Orfeo ed Euridice (1996), a new production of Gluck's opera by choreographer Mark Morris and the Handel and Haydn Society conducted by Christopher Hogwood.[19]
- Eurydice (2003), a play by Sarah Ruhl, later made into an opera by Matthew Aucoin in 2020.[20][21]
- Orpheus and Eurydice: A Myth Underground (2011), a theatre production written by Old Vic Tunnels, directed by James Dacre
- same name, which opened in 2019. Featuring Eva Noblezada as Eurydice and Reeve Carney as Orpheus [22][23]
Science and geography
- Eurydice Peninsula in Antarctica is named after Eurydice.
- A species of Australian lizard, Ctenotus eurydice, is named after Eurydice.[24]
- A species of snake native to Papua New Guinea, Gerrhopilus eurydice, is named after Eurydice.[25]
- An asteroid 75 Eurydike is named after Eurydice.
Video games
- The platform game Don't Look Back created by Terry Cavanaghfollows a modernized version of the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice.
- In
References
- OCLC 12724249.
- ^ OCLC 42690124.
Fulgentius provided the first and most widely imitated etymological interpretation of the legend in his Mitologiae, a reference work which undertook to describe and explain the chief figures of Greco-Roman myth. He derived the name Orpheus from oraia phone, "that is, best voice," and Eurydice from eur dice, or "profound judgement." [...] By seeing in the names of his characters certain abstract qualities, Fulgentius was able to make Orpheus and Eurydice stand for those qualities.
- OCLC 871224431.
- ^
ISBN 9780241983386.
- )
- ISBN 9782372973663.
They are the particular type of nymphs, subgenus of Dryads and very similar to the Alseidae, which can be found in river valleys and mountain pastures, often in the company of the god Pan, the Lord of Nature. [...] Eurydice [...] is often indicated to be one of them.
- ^ OCLC 50447697.
- ^ Virgil, Georgica, 4.453ff
- ^ Lee, M. Owen. 1996. Virgil as Orpheus: A Study of the Georgics. Albany: State University of New York Press. p. 9.
- ^ a b Symposium 179d-e.
- ^ Graves, Robert. 1955. "Orpheus." Ch. 28 in The Greek Myths 1. London: Penguin Books Ltd. p. 115.
- ^ "The First Epic Poem: The Descent of Inanna". Interesting Literature. May 11, 2018.
- ^ Clark, Matthew. 2012. "The Judgment of Paris." Pp. 97–111 in Exploring Greek Myths. Chichester: Blackwell Publishing. p. 106.
- ^ Corot, Jean-Baptiste-Camille. 1861. "Orpheus Leading Eurydice from the Underworld" (painting). MFAH, Houston.
- S2CID 255149298.
- Grove Music Online, edited by L. Macy.
- S2CID 193655162.
- ISBN 0-521-28477-5. p. xi.
- ^ Cariaga, Daniel (February 12, 1995). "MUSIC AND DANCE NEWS : Morris and Hogwood Collaborate on Gluck's 'Orfeo'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
- ^ Tommasini, Anthony (February 3, 2020). "Review: Eurydice, a New Opera, Looks Back All Too Tamely". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
- JSTOR 44215423.
- ^ Read, Bridget (2019-06-06). "The Liberating, Radical Politics of Hadestown". Vogue. Retrieved 2021-09-11.
- ^ "Hadestown cast". Broadway.com. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
- ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Eurydice", p. 86).
- ^ Species Gerrhopilus eurydice at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.
- ^ "Hades: All Voice Actors From The Game & Who They Play". TheGamer. 2021-08-19. Retrieved 2021-09-07.
- ^ a b "Hades: How to Reunite Orpheus & Eurydice". CBR. 2021-01-25. Retrieved 2021-09-07.
- ^ Lunning, Just (10 December 2020). "2020's most beautiful video game makes diversity divine". Inverse. Retrieved 2021-09-11.
- ^ Dhanesha, Neel (2022-02-12). "Hades tells a love story through song and side quest". Vox. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
Additional sources
Primary sources
- Ovid, Metamorphoses 10
- The Library 1.3.2
- Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.30
- Virgil, Georgics 4.453
- Plato, Symposium
Secondary sources
- ISBN 90-5544-283-6.
- Butler, Judith. [2001] 2004. "Bracha's Eurydice." Theory, Culture & Society 21(1).
- Originally in de Zegher, Catherine, and B. Massumi, eds. 2001. Bracha Lichtenberg Ettinger: Eurydice Series, Drawing Papers 24. NY: Drawing Center.
- ISBN 978-0-330-37222-0.
- Ettinger, Bracha L., and Emmanuel Levinas. [1997] 2006. "Qui Dirait Eurydice? What Would Eurydice say?: Brache Lichtenberg Ettinger in Conversation with Emmanuel Levinas." Philosophical Studies 2.
- Glowaka, Dorota. 2007. "Lyotard and Eurydice." In Gender after Lyotard, edited by ISBN 978-0-7914-6956-9
- ISBN 978-0143106715
- Graves, Robert, The Greek Myths: The Complete and Definitive Edition. Penguin Books Limited. 2017. ISBN 978-0-241-98338-6, 024198338X
- Pollock, Griselda. 2009. "Orphée et Eurydice: le temps/l'éspace/le regard traumatique." In Guerre et paix des sexes, edited by J. Kristeva, et al. Hachette.
- —— "Abandoned at the Mouth of Hell." In Looking Back to the Future. G&B Arts. ISBN 90-5701-132-8.
- Grove Music Online, edited by L. Macy.
- ISBN 0-521-28477-5
Further reading
- Aken, Dr. A.R.A. van. (1961). Elseviers Mythologische Encyclopedie. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
- Hirsh, Jennie, and Isabelle D. Wallace, eds. 2011. Contemporary Art and Classical Myth. Farnham: Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-6974-6.
- Masing-Delic, Irene. 2011. "Replication or Recreation? The Eurydice Motif in Nabokov's Russian Oeuvre." Russian Literature 70(3):391–414.
External links
Media related to Eurydice at Wikimedia Commons