In Greek legend, Orpheus was the chief representative of the arts of song and the lyre, and of great importance in the religious history of Greece. The mythical figure of Orpheus was borrowed by the Greeks from their Thracian neighbors; the Thracian “Orphic Mysteries”, rituals of unknown content, were named after him.
The name Orpheus itself belongs to the oldest level of Greek names: those ending in -eus (for example, Atreus). Such names are pre-Homeric, thus Orpheus does not occur in Homer or Hesiod, but he was known in the time of Ibycus (c. 530 BC). Pindar (522—442 BC) speaks of him as “the father of songsâ€.
From the 6th century BC onwards, Orpheus was considered one of the chief poets and musicians of antiquity, and the inventor or perfector of the lyre. By dint of his music and singing, he could charm the wild beasts, coax the trees and rocks into dance, even arrest the course of rivers. As one of the pioneers of civilization, he is said to have taught mankind the arts of medicine, writing and agriculture. Closely connected with religious life, Orpheus was an augur and seer; practiced magical arts, especially astrology; founded or rendered accessible many important cults, such as those of Apollo and the Thracian god Dionysus; instituted mystic rites both public and private; and prescribed initiatory and purificatory rituals.
George Grote wrote that “Orpheus is celebrated by Pindar as the harper and companion of the Argonautic maritime heros.”
Several etymologies for the name Orpheus have been proposed. A probable suggestion is that it is derived from a hypothetical PIE verb *orbhao-, “to be deprived”, from PIE *orbh-, “to put asunder, separate”. Cognates would include Greek orphe, “darkness”, and Greek orphanos, “fatherless, orphan”, from which comes English “orphan” by way of Latin. Orpheus would therefore be semantically close to goao, “to lament, sing wildly, cast a spell”, uniting his seemingly disparate roles as disappointed lover, transgressive musician and mystery-priest into a single lexical whole. The word “orphic” is defined as mystic, fascinating and entrancing, and, probably, because of the oracle of Orpheus, “orphic” can also signify “oracular”.
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