Orpheus was a Thracian singer and the son of the muse Calliope. He was one of the few mortals to set foot in Hades. He journeyed there to bring back his recently departed wife Eurydice. He was permitted by the ruler of the Underworld to return home with his wife provided that he not look back during his journey to the land of the living. But Orpheus could not resist one look at his wife just before they reached the sunlight. She immediatly turned back into a ghost and sank back into the depths of the Underworld. Orpheus was later to be torn to pieces by the Thracian maenads. His head was all that remained and it was thrown into the river.