Abstract

The question of orphism and its mysteries is one of the hottest problem of antiquity. The figure of Orpheus and his presence are hard to be strictly defined in the context of literature of fifth and sixth century b.c. One is obvious: his huge cultic and cultural influence. Beyond his role as husband of Euridice, he was thought as a founder of mysteries who acquired extraordinary magic skills. He was also thought as a founder od new dionysiac cult (of Dionysus Zagreus) and inventor of some new ideas of this time, like idea of live after death, prohibition of blood-sacrifice, reality of underground court, the order to be peaceful for every being. His ideas and inventios had a huge influence on the future, and were wiedly discussed in the christian era and after, in the time of Reinassance, when ancient texts were discovered, revaluated and appreciated. The reflexion on his cultural role, bases mainly on the discussion on the unusual role of world and poetry as a creative factors, which are able not only to invent and transmiss some new intellectual ideas but also and maybe first of all: new gods, cuts, and their own history.