The Mask of Orpheus and Euridice fall in love and marry. Euridice later dies from a snake bite, and Orpheus consults the Oracle of the Dead, intending to follow her to the Underworld. Orpheus journeys to the Underworld through seventeen arches, each with a symbolic name. On his journey back, he believes Euridice is following him, but it is actually Persephone and the mime Euridice. Orpheus goes back for Euridice but realises she cannot follow him. Orpheus hangs himself. The act ends with Orpheus waking up, realising that his journey to the Underworld was a dream. The Seventeen Arches Each of the arches that
Hades to his new realm. Hades obtained his wife and queen, Persephone, through abduction at the behest of Zeus. This myth is the most important one Hades takes part in; it also connected the Eleusinian Mysteries with the Olympian pantheon, particularly as represented in the "Homeric Hymn to Demeter", which is the oldest story of the abduction, most likely dating back to the beginning of the 6th century BC. Helios told the grieving Demeter that Hades was not unworthy as a consort for Persephone: Despite modern connotations of death as evil, Hades was actually more altruistically inclined in mythology. Hades was