The Death of Orpheus

Orpheus was in despair after he lost his love, Eurydice, for the second time. He rejected the company of women and isolated himself from civilization.  A group of Maenads (female followers of Dionysus, who often celebrated in a state of drunken, ecstatic frenzy) discovered Orpheus where he sat singing beneath a tree. When he refused to join their drunken revels, they were infuriated by his rejection.  The women attacked him, throwing rocks and branches, but Orpheus' music was so enchanting that it charmed the rocks and sticks, and they refused to strike him. Finally, the furious Maenads tore him apart with their bare hands, and threw his dismembered body into the river. Orpheus' head floated down the river, still singing, until it finally came to rest on the isle of Lesbos.  His lyre was tossed up into the heavens, where it became the constellation Lyra.