Orpheus (attributed)
Ὀρφεύςlegendary singer; the hymns date from the Roman imperial period (probably 2nd-3rd century AD)
Orpheus is the legendary Thracian singer who charmed beasts and trees with his lyre and went down to the underworld to bring back Eurydice. In antiquity a large body of poetry, including hymns, theogonies and ritual texts, circulated under his name, and the Orphic mysteries claimed him as their founder. The eighty-seven surviving Orphic Hymns are anonymous poems of the Roman imperial period, probably composed in Asia Minor around the 2nd or 3rd century AD for the use of small cult groups.
