Orpheus, son of Calliope (muse of epic poetry) by river-god Oeagrus (others say Apollo). The music of his lyre was so beautiful that  wild beasts were soothed, trees danced, and rivers stood still.

Orpheus married the dryad, Eurydice. When Aristaeus tried to rape her, she fled, was bitten by a snake, and died.

Orpheus went to Hades after her. He was granted the chance to regain Eurydice if he would not look at her till they reached sunlight. Orpheus could not resist, and Eurydice vanished forever.

Grieving inconsolably, he became a devoted follower of Dionysus and introduced that god’s cult in many places. 

The women of Thrace, jealous of his neglect, tore him to pieces.  His head, thrown in the river Hebrus, floated, still singing, into the sea to the island of Lesbos, where an oracle of Orpheus was established. Another story says Orpheus taught Thracian men to worship Apollo above all other gods; in revenge Dionysus caused the wives to murder their husbands and tear Orpheus to pieces.

The mystery cult taught the revelations that Orpheus  brought back from his descent into Hades. Orphism later became mingled with the Eleusinian Mysteries and with Pythagoreanism.