Orpheus, Lot and Faith

Could the Orpheus myth be a distillation of the story of Lot?

In chronological terms, this could be true. The story of Lot as featured in Genesis would have been part of the oral tradition, before any establishment of the greek tradition. There are certainley similarities with the general plot of both stories: the leaving of a place; of God's/the Gods' instruction not to look back; and the fateful action of looking back. However the differences are far more pronouced and a lot more siginificant in both action and meaning.

Lot is fleeing Sodom and Gomorrah at the command of God, where as in the greek myth Orpheus leading Eurydice out, follows from the choice Orpheus had made when he had entered the Underworld.

It is Lot's wife (Edith/Ildith (ref: wikipedia)) who looks back, whereas it is Orpheus, not Eurydice who looks back in the greek story. Though whilst one might find an equality of physical action it doesn't follow there is an equality of meaning. The common moral extracted from Lot's story is that of the temptation and failure of man. This is definitely not the meaning behind Orpheus' action - the story of Orpheus and Eurydice is not a morality tale.

The tension established in the Orpheus and Eurydice is one between the Gods and Man. In Ovid's Metamorphosis, the Gods are often shown to be deceitful and cruel, where the human heroes of greek and roman myth are celebrated for their humanity.

Orpheus and Eurydice is a story is about a man's humanity. Orpheus uses his humanity to travel to the Underword. through his art he expresses his humanity to win Eurydice from death. In this story it is the Gods who behave poorly, it is their trivility in placing the condition on Orpheus. In the face of this banality, in his humanity, Orpheus looks back with love for Eurydice.

The story also demonstrates man with choice, it is Orpheus' choice to enter the Underworld, and only because Orpheus was certain that he would succeed. Michael Cadnum, in his novel Nightsong interprets from the myth that Orpheus has complete faith in his skill and art with song and lyre that he knows that he can not fail to express his love of Eurydice before Hades and Persephone.

In Lot, man is his faith in his god, In Orpheus man is his faith in his humanity and his art.