Some make Orpheus by birth a Thracian; some an Arcadian: others a Theban. Pausanias mentions it as an opinion among the [1025]Egyptians, that both Orpheus, and Amphion, were from their country. There is great uncertainty about his parents. He is generally supposed to have been the son of Œagrus, and Calliope: but Asclepiades made him the son of Apollo, by that [1026]Goddess. By some his mother was said to have been Menippe; by others [1027]Polymnia. He is also mentioned as the son of [1028]Thamyras. Plato differs from them all, and styles both Orpheus, and Musæus, [1029]Σεληνης και Μουσων εγγονοι, _the offspring of the Moon, and the Muses_: in which account is contained some curious mythology. The principal place of his residence is thought to have been in Pieria near mount Hæmus. He is also said to have resided among the Edonians; and in Sithonia, at the foot of mount Pangæus; also upon the sea-coast at Zona. In all these places he displayed his superiority in science; for he was not only a Poet, and skilled in harmony, but a great Theologist and Prophet; also very knowing in medicine, and in the history of the [1030]heavens. According to Antipater Sidonius, he was the author of Heroic verse. And some go so far as to ascribe to him the invention of letters; and deduce all knowledge from [1031]him. Many of the things, reported to have been done by Orpheus, are attributed to other persons, such as [1032]Eetion, Musæus, Melampus, Linus, Cadmus, and Philammon. Some of these are said to have had the same [1033]parents. Authors in their accounts of Orpheus, do not agree about the manner of his [1034]death. The common notion is, that he was torn to pieces by the Thracian women. But, according to Leonides, in Laërtius, he was slain by lightning: and there is an [1035]epitaph to that purpose. The name of Orpheus is to be found in the lists of the Argonauts: and he is mentioned in the two principal poems upon that subject. Yet there were writers who placed him eleven generations before the war of Troy, consequently ten generations before that expedition. [1036]Γεγονε προ ια γενεων των Τρωικων--βιωναι δε γενεας θ· ὁι δε ια φησιν. _He was born eleven ages before the siege of Troy, and he is said to have lived nine ages; and according to some eleven_. This extent of [1037]life has been given him in order to bring him down as low as the aera of the Argonauts: though, if we may believe Pherecydes Syrus, he had no share in that expedition.