Reprint of the original, first published in 1882.

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Winner of the Translation Prize for non-fiction from the French-American Foundation. Son of a mortal king and an immortal Muse, Orpheus possessed a gift for music unmatched among humans; with his lyre he could turn the course of rivers, drown the fatal song of the Sirens, and charm the denizens of the underworld. The allure of his music speaks through the myths and stories of the Greeks and Romans, who tell of his mysterious compositions, with lyrics that only the initiated could understand after undergoing secret rites. Where readers of subsequent centuries have been content to understand these mysteries as the stuff of obfuscation or mere folderol, Marcel Detienne finds in the writing of Orpheus a key to the thinking of the ancient Greeks. A profound understanding of ancient Greek myth in its cultural contexts allows Detienne to recover a cultural system from fragments and ephemera—to reproduce, with sensitivity to variation and nuance, the full richness of the mythological repertoire flowing from the writing of Orpheus. His investigation moves from the Orphic writings to broader mysteries: how Greek gods became myths, how myths informed later religious thinking, and how myths have come into play in polemics between competing religions. An eloquent answer to some of the most vexing questions about the myth of Orpheus and its far-reaching ramifications through time and culture, Detienne's work ultimately offers a major rethinking of Greek mythology.

Excerpt from Orpheus and the Sirens: A Drama in Lyrics Death ye fear not, yet now 0 fear to gaze On these fair scenes and phantom-haunted skies, Whence goddess-shapes that ravish and amaze, Dream-like, with golden locks and starry eyes, Alluring bend the songs half heard, and sighs, At whose appeal the vital spirits fail, That ravish soul and sense with soft surprise, Tremble thereat, 0 yo with passion pale. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

"Psalms for the Sirens" is the tenth canto of Kit Ludlow's art-poetry epic, Orpheus. Years have passed since Orpheus journeyed into Hades to retrieve his wife. That adventure failed due to his cursed look-back. After Bedlam, the famed poet wandered into Sheol, a forgotten underworld. He had no narrative; only lyrical verse to make sense of the world. In the fifth canto, Orpheus awakens from his daze to begin the reclamation of his wife, poetry. Orpheus, in the sixth canto, realizes he must sacrifice himself to Dionysus. In the seventh, "Dance for Danace", Orpheus discovers that he is "no one". As no one, he calls for Charon to ferry him across the Styx and to the gates of Hades. There he tells Charon to pity the suicides. In the eighth canto, Orpheus is confronted by the sorrows of the shallow. There he must decide to continue his journey or rest. In the ninth canto, his vanity is tested. After being tested, Orpheus as "no one" must confront desire. Desire comes in the form of the Sirens. Every line of the poem is illustrated by the poet's artwork. All artwork is original to the canto. IG: kitludlow.