Eurydice
Eurydikē
Dryad nymph, wife of Orpheus. Killed by a serpent's bite on their wedding day — fleeing the shepherd Aristaeus's pursuit in Virgil's version (Virg. *Georg.* 4.457–459), with no pursuer named in Ovid (Ov. *Met.* 10.8–10). Orpheus descended to the underworld to plead for her; Persephone and Hades granted her return on condition he not look back until both had reached the upper air, but he turned at the threshold and she faded with a single *vale*, 'farewell' (Virg. *Georg.* 4.485–503; Ov. *Met.* 10.50–63). The name Eurydice ('wide justice') is shared with several other mythological figures — the wife of Creon of Thebes, the wife of Acrisius of Argos — but the bride of Orpheus is by far the most famous and the Virgilian-Ovidian narrative is the canonical one.
Origin
Thracian or Thessalian nymph, named as a Dryad in the tradition inherited by Virgil; her parentage is not fixed in the primary sources.
