Dec 21, 2009

The Metamorphoses of Ovid | Topics for Further Study

The story of Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha is often referred to as an “archetypal” flood story. What is meant by that term? What is an archetype? Find flood stories in other traditions and compare them to the flood story in Metamorphoses.

Epic poems usually tell historical and mythical tales of war or conquest, yet Metamorphoses is considered an epic poem. Research the characteristics of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and Virgil’s The Aeneid and compare them to the characteristics of Metamorphoses. What are the major similarities and...