Ovid – 10 Songs of Orpheus

Ganymede The Trojan prince loved by Jupiter, who, taking the form of an eagle, abducted him.

Hyacinthus Apollo’s close friend, killed by Apollo in a discus accident.

Apollo and the dying Hyacinthus

Apollo and Hyacinthus

Pygmalion Pygmalion carved a woman out of ivory and fell in love with his creation. He prayed to Venus to make her real.

Pygmalion and his Galatea

My Fair Lady (based on the play, Pygmalion, by G. B. Shaw) Pretty Woman She’s All That Variations on the Pygmalion Theme:

Cinyras & Myrrha Myrrha fell in love with her father, Cinyras, and contrived to sleep with him without his knowing who she was. When he discovered what she’d done, he pursued her to kill her.

Myrrha turned into the myrrh tree and gave birth to Adonis, her child and brother.

Cinyras & Myrrha – Myrrha’s tranformation & birth of Adonis – Adonis was loved by Venus

The birth of Adonis, Venus looking on at left.

Adonis, the hunter, and Venus, who begged him not to hunt dangerous creatures

Artistic conceptions of Venus and Adonis.

Atalanta and Hippomenes

Adonis was killed by a wild boar and Venus’ grief was enormous.

End of Orpheus’ songs, followed in Ovid by the death of Orpheus at the hands of wild Baccants.