Success or Failure?Ok, so in response to a question by Kate, I have decided to create a poll to figure out what all of YOU think about this image. Do you believe the image depicts Hermes giving up Eurydice to Orpheus, or taking her back to the underworld? If only we could know the answer to this question for sure... because if the nature of the artwork was clear, we would then be able to know whether Virgil actually invented the ending himself! You see, writers prior to Virgil, such as Isocrates, Euripides and Hermesianax, only refer to Orpheus' success in bringing Eurydice back from the Underworld. Virgil may in fact be the first to mention Orpheus' overall failure after his wandering eyes cause his wife's second death, and because he is the only one to include this tragic ending, we question its validity. So, even though we cannot know for sure, it would be interesting to see what you all think about this... Did Virgil make up Orpheus' failure? |
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