The Mask of Orpheus Orpheus must travel through is given a symbolic name. At the start of this act, time is moving backwards: Orpheus travels back out of and into the Underworld, and Euridice dies once more. Then time moves forwards as Orpheus leaves the Underworld again. One version of the Orpheus story is that he is then killed by a thunderbolt thrown by Zeus, while another is that he is dismembered by the women of Dionysus. Orpheus then becomes the subject of a cult and an oracle. Time flows backwards once more, and Orpheus' death is acted out again, and the opera ends
Hades More elaborate names of the same genre were "Ploutodótēs" () or "Ploutodotḗr" (), meaning "giver of wealth". Epithets of Hades include "Agesander" () and "Agesilaos" (), both from "ágō" (, "lead", "carry" or "fetch") and "anḗr" (, "man") or "laos" (, "men" or "people"), describing Hades as the god who carries away all. Nicander uses the form "Hegesilaus" (). He was also referred to as "Zeus katachthonios" (Ζεὺς καταχθόνιος), meaning "the Zeus of the Underworld", by those avoiding his actual name, as he had complete control over the Underworld. In Greek mythology, Hades, the god of the underworld, was the