Cla 204s
V.6 – Roman Myth – Ovid’s Metamorphoses
- Massive epic, compendium of mythology / history, underlying theme of transformations
- start with transformation from chaos to cosmos and ends with deification of J. Caesar
- urbane retelling, myths lose the religious overtones of Greek myths
- appeal to refined, good-humoured (but often idle) Roman elite
- most important source of mythology for artists esp. in renaissance
- Ovid supremely talented at inventio
- chronological arrangement makes myth handbook look like a universal history
- transitions often fanciful, sometimes even preposterous
- only rarely do the stories focus on change of form – interest lies in how story told
- narrative tone shifts from serious to grotesque, to comic and playful
- deep meanings of myth, (meditations on cosmic origins, moral behaviour, and meaning of
human experience) are gone. Delight in narrative, of brilliant telling of the story.
- often skilfully combines stories / scenes from different sources
- metamorphosis often robs the story of tragic / moral dimension by preventing crushing
finale. Due to metamorphosis characters never feel the weight of their tragic suffering
- interest in psychology, focus on the human anguish, descriptions of states of feeling
- humans pay for mistakes, but gods give excessive punishments
- humans are often innocent victims of petty divine emotions
- gods behave like petty, ill-tempered humans (also in Homer but exaggerated in Ovid)
METAMORPHOSES end of book III
- skilful narrative combines the story of the Bacchae with the Homeric Hymn to Dionysus
- Pentheus full of contempt towards gods
- capture Lydian priest, ACOETES. In Euripides the ‘priest’ is Dionysus in disguise. It is
never made clear if Acoetes is Dionysus in disguise or if Ovid is modifying the myth.
- Acoetes tells the story of Dionysus transforming the pirates into dolphins
- Ovid includes a reference to ACTAEON as a parallel for the sake of comparison
- son of Autonoe, torn apart by his own dogs because he saw Artemis naked
- Ovid focuses on the gruesome details and violence rather than any underlying meaning
METAMORPHOSES book IV
- greatly expanded version of the daughters of Minyas (MINYADES)
- all women in Orchomenos worship Bacchus except Minyades who continue to weave
- Minyades tell each other stories to help pass the time while they work
- skilful narrative as Ovid embeds three myths within a frame myth
- lay stress on the novelty of the tale
- first tale – PYRAMUS and THISBE
- psychology – both burned with passion of forbidden love
- similar to Romeo and Juliet. Son and daughter of feuding families fall in love
- Pyramus and Thisbe decide to elope and arrange to meet at Ninus’ tomb
- Thisbe arrives first but is scared by a lion and runs away dropping her scarf
- Lion chews scarf, Pyramus sees lion and bloody scarf and assumes Thisbe dead
- Pyramus commits suicide. Thisbe returns and kills herself over his body
- Mulberry tree with blood red fruit
- Pyramus’ soliloquy focus on psychology before Ovid shifts focus to gratuitous gore
- second tale – The SUN in LOVE --- a clever sequel to the famous Venus and Mars
- LEUCOTHOE turned into a sunflower
- third tale (after catalogue of topics omitted) SALMACIS and HERMAPHRODITE
- Hermaphrodite son of Mercury (Hermes) and Venus (Aphrodite), a beautiful young man
- Salmacis in love but spurned by Hermaphrodite
- when Hermaphrodite bathing in pond, Salmacis jumped in and embraced
- Salmacis and Hermaphrodite fused into one being with both sets of equipment
- Salmacis name of a spring which rendered bathers effeminate
- Ovid combines two stories into one myth
- incorporates allusion to Odyssey VI – Odysseus and Nausicaa
- section ends with transformation of Minyades into bats
- transition through wrath of Juno (allusion to Virgil’s Aeneid - book I and VII)
- journey to Underworld and catalogue of famous sinners
- story of INO and ATHAMAS
- Ino, the sister of Semele, raised baby Dionysus because Semele died
- Hera (Juno) drives Ino and Athamas insane because help raise child of adultery
- Athamas shot one of his sons under the illusion that he was a fawn
- Ino grabs the other child and jumps off a cliff. Transformed into sea deity LEUCOTHEA
- metamorphosis of CADMUS into a snake concludes Ovid’s version of Theban myths