Is there any mythological hero more versatile than Orpheus? The founder of poetry, music and even of civilisation itself – according to some – he tamed men and beasts through the power of his lyre, originated a religion based on the immortal soul, and harrowed hell to rescue his Eurydice. His seven sympathetic strings echoed the music of the heavens. He journeyed with the Argonauts, his music drowning out the fatal Siren song. Socrates told his judges that one reason he didn’t fear death was that he was looking forward to conversing with Orpheus in the afterlife. Ovid writes that after the second loss of Eurydice, Orpheus forswore the love of women and was “the first of the Thracian people to transfer his love to young boys”; the slighted Maenads tore him to