myth of Orpheus and Eurydice

E160156

Greek myth katabasis narrative love story tragic myth

The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is an ancient Greek legend about a gifted musician who descends into the underworld to retrieve his beloved wife, only to lose her forever when he looks back too soon.

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All labels observed (9)

Label	Occurrences
myth of Orpheus and Eurydice canonical	3
Orpheus and Eurydice	2
Orpheus and Eurydice myth	1
Orpheus attempts to rescue her from the underworld	1
Orpheus myth	1
Orpheus’ descent to the underworld	1
Orpheus’s backward glance	1
pursuit of Eurydice	1
story of Orpheus and Eurydice	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1392311 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: myth of Orpheus and Eurydice
Context triple: [The Ground Beneath Her Feet, basedOn, myth of Orpheus and Eurydice]

A. Orphée et Eurydice
Orphée et Eurydice is a renowned opera by Christoph Willibald Gluck, based on the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and celebrated for its reformist, emotionally direct style.
B. Orpheus
Orpheus is a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek mythology, famed for his enchanting music that could charm all living things and even the gods of the underworld.
C. Orfeo
Orfeo is a classical music record label known for its high-quality recordings of orchestral, operatic, and chamber music.
D. Bacchae
Bacchae is an ancient Greek tragedy by Euripides that dramatizes the arrival of the god Dionysus in Thebes and the devastating consequences of resisting his cult.
E. Thebaid
Thebaid was a historic region of Upper Egypt centered around Thebes, known in late antiquity as a major administrative and monastic center.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: myth of Orpheus and Eurydice
Target entity description: The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is an ancient Greek legend about a gifted musician who descends into the underworld to retrieve his beloved wife, only to lose her forever when he looks back too soon.

A. Orphée et Eurydice
Orphée et Eurydice is a renowned opera by Christoph Willibald Gluck, based on the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and celebrated for its reformist, emotionally direct style.
B. Orpheus
Orpheus is a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek mythology, famed for his enchanting music that could charm all living things and even the gods of the underworld.
C. Orfeo
Orfeo is a classical music record label known for its high-quality recordings of orchestral, operatic, and chamber music.
D. Bacchae
Bacchae is an ancient Greek tragedy by Euripides that dramatizes the arrival of the god Dionysus in Thebes and the devastating consequences of resisting his cult.
E. Thebaid
Thebaid was a historic region of Upper Egypt centered around Thebes, known in late antiquity as a major administrative and monastic center.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (49)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	Greek myth ⓘ katabasis narrative ⓘ love story ⓘ tragic myth ⓘ
centralMotif	forbidden look back ⓘ journey to the land of the dead ⓘ music that charms all beings ⓘ
culturalTradition	Greco-Roman mythology ⓘ
earliestMajorSource	Georgics ⓘ surface form: Virgil’s Georgics
featuresEvent	Eurydice’s death by snakebite ⓘ myth of Orpheus and Eurydice self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: Orpheus’s backward glance descent to the underworld ⓘ second loss of Eurydice ⓘ
featuresLocation	Thrace ⓘ underworld ⓘ
hasCharacter	Aristaeus ⓘ Eurydice ⓘ Hades ⓘ Hermes ⓘ Orpheus ⓘ Persephone ⓘ
hasDeity	Hades ⓘ Persephone ⓘ
hasProtagonist	Eurydice ⓘ Orpheus ⓘ
hasTheme	death ⓘ disobedience ⓘ irreversibility of death ⓘ loss ⓘ love ⓘ the power of music ⓘ trust ⓘ
influencedGenre	ballet ⓘ lyric poetry ⓘ opera ⓘ oratorio ⓘ
languageOfOrigin	Ancient Greek ⓘ
majorSource	Ovid’s Metamorphoses ⓘ Georgics ⓘ surface form: Virgil’s Georgics Book 4
moralInterpretation	acceptance of mortality ⓘ importance of faith and obedience ⓘ
notableAdaptation	Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice ballet music ⓘ surface form: Christoph Willibald Gluck’s opera Orfeo ed Euridice Jacques Offenbach’s operetta Orphée aux enfers ⓘ Jean Cocteau’s film Orphée ⓘ Marcel Camus’s film Black Orpheus ⓘ
originatesFrom	Greek Antiquity ⓘ surface form: ancient Greece
usedAsSymbolFor	artist’s relationship to inspiration ⓘ art’s power and limits ⓘ irretrievable past ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (12)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

The Ground Beneath Her Feet → basedOn → myth of Orpheus and Eurydice ⓘ

Ovid’s Metamorphoses → containsEpisode → myth of Orpheus and Eurydice ⓘ

this entity surface form: story of Orpheus and Eurydice

Aristaeus → mythologicalEvent → myth of Orpheus and Eurydice ⓘ

this entity surface form: pursuit of Eurydice

ᾍδης → notableMyth → myth of Orpheus and Eurydice ⓘ

this entity surface form: Orpheus’ descent to the underworld

L'Orfeo → basedOn → myth of Orpheus and Eurydice ⓘ

myth of Orpheus and Eurydice → featuresEvent → myth of Orpheus and Eurydice self-linksurface differs ⓘ

this entity surface form: Orpheus’s backward glance

Eurydice → appearsIn → myth of Orpheus and Eurydice ⓘ

Eurydice → spouseAction → myth of Orpheus and Eurydice ⓘ

this entity surface form: Orpheus attempts to rescue her from the underworld

Dance of the Blessed Spirits → associatedMyth → myth of Orpheus and Eurydice ⓘ

this entity surface form: Orpheus and Eurydice

Reflektor → lyricTheme → myth of Orpheus and Eurydice ⓘ

this entity surface form: Orpheus and Eurydice myth

Orpheus Descending → basedOn → myth of Orpheus and Eurydice ⓘ

this entity surface form: Orpheus myth

Metamorphōsēs → containsStory → myth of Orpheus and Eurydice ⓘ