Katabasis in book 10 is the last major inclusion of the theme by Ovid in the "Metamorphoses". Orpheus is distraught by the death of his wife, Eurydice. He enters the underworld through the Spartan Gates and visits Dis and Proserpina to beg for the return of his bride. Overcome by the heartfelt song of Orpheus, Proserpina calls Eurydice to leave with her husband–on the condition that he does not look back until he reaches the exit. When he looks back, his wife disappears, and he is pained by grief for her death a second time. Mesopotamian mythology Ancient Egyptian mythology Greek
Eurydice of Thebes Eurydice of Thebes In Greek mythology, Eurydice (; Ancient Greek: Εὐρυδίκη, "Eὐrudíkē" "wide justice", derived from "ευρυς eurys" "wide" and "δικη dike" "justice) sometimes called Henioche, was the wife of Creon, a king of Thebes. Eurydice was probably the mother of Creon's five children: Menoeceus (Megareus), Lycomedes, Haemon, Megara and Pyrrha. She appears briefly in Sophocles' "Antigone" (as an "archetypal grieving, saddened mother" and an older counterpart to Antigone), to kill herself after learning, from a messenger, that her son Haemon and his betrothed, Antigone, have both committed suicide. She thrusts a sword into her heart and curses Creon for