Orpheus was considered the greatest poet and musician of mythology. He was the son of Muse Calliope and had been given a golden lyre from God Apollo himself, who also taught him to play it. So divine was the sound of his music that all living things, even Gods were enchanted. His tragic story unfolds when his wife Eurydice during her wedding is set upon by a satyr. Eurydice in her efforts to escape from the vile creature fell in a pit of venomous snakes. She was bit fatally on her heel. Orpheus discovered her body later and in his sour grief played his lyre, producing a lament so enchanting the all the nymphs and gods wept. Gods advised Orpheus to go to the underworld and claim back his wife. And so he did… Never look back:
Indeed he traveled to the underworld and played his music to Hades and Persephone, the royal family in the sad kingdom of the dead. He managed to warm their hearts and so they agreed to let Eurydice return to earth, but under one condition. Eurydice would have to follow Orpheus the entire way, but he should under no circumstances turn back to look at her until they had both reached the world of the living. So they both set off… Once Orpheus set foot on the upper world, in his anxiety he turned around to see her. But he forgot that they both needed to be in the upper world first. And so she vanished forever…
Cassandra, whose name became a synonym of prophet of bad tidings, was the fourth and most beautiful daughter of Priam, the king of Troy.
Echo drama begins later when she falls in love with Narcissus, the handsome but vain son of the Nymph Liriope of Thespia. Echo would follow him everywhere longing to address him but would be unable to speak.
Psyche, whose name means soul in Greek was neither a goddess nor a divine creature of mythology. She was just a woman, but an extraordinary woman.
Harmonia in Greek mythology is the goddess of harmony and unity, the exact opposite of Eris. She is the patron goddess of the love that unites all people, the embodiment of order and civic unity.
Icarus was the son of Daedalus, the most talented Athenian craftsman of his time.
Zagori is an area of great natural beauty and unique architecture in the Pindus Mountains in Epirus in Northwestern Greece. The area is of about 1.000 square kilometers and contains 46 villages. Zagoria villages is called by Greeks “Zagorochoria” meaning the villages behind the mountain.
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In 1989, Professor of Byzantine Studies, Helen Ahrweiler is appointed Chairman of the Cultural Centre Pompidou in Paris