This book examines the fragmentary evidence for Orpheus as the author of rites and poems, redefining Orphism as a label applied polemically to extra-ordinary religious phenomena. Replacing older models of an Orphic religion, this richer and more complex model provides insight into the boundaries of normal and abnormal Greek religion.

In a paradigm shift, this book redefines Orphism as a polemical label for extra-ordinary religion, good or bad.