ABSTRACT
In the middle of the nineteenth century there started a debate between classical scholars and anthropologists on the nature of mythology. The classical scholars, led by Max Müller and full of the recent discovery of comparative linguistics, regarded mythology as an unexpected product of verbal misunderstanding, a sort of 'disease of language'. A century after Tylor, social anthropology is taking the initiative in re-opening the dialogue with the classical fraternity by proposing that one of the most famous myths of the Graeco-Roman world should be re-examined in the light of data from Latin America. The main element which ancient mythology preserved from the myth of Orpheus and Aristaeus was the death of Eurydice and the tragic passion which drove Orpheus to go down to the underworld. Orpheus's bitterness and the Nymphs' anger are therefore reactions to a sexual offence.
