Key Points

- Wife of Orpheus

- Her death causes Orpheus's great Underworld journey to bring her back 

Brief Bio

Eurydice was the wife of musician Orpheus, who loved her dearly. One day, Aristaeus saw and pursued Eurydice, who stepped on a viper, was bitten, and died thereafter. 

Orpheus played his lyre to put Cerberus, the guardian of Hades, to sleep, after which Eurydice was allowed to return with Orpheus to the world of the living. Either way, the condition was attached that he must walk in front of her and not look back until both had reached the upper world. 

Soon, he began to doubt that she was there, suspecting that Hades had deceived him. Just as he reached the portals of Hades and daylight, he turned around to gaze on her face, and because Eurydice had not yet crossed the threshold, she vanished back into the Underworld. 

When Orpheus was later killed by the Maenads at the orders of Dionysus, his soul ended up in the Underworld, where he was reunited with Eurydice.