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Born in 43 B.C. to a respectable Roman family, Ovid was a poet best known for his collection of myths and legends titled the Metamorphoses. As expected of a young man of his station, he studied rhetoric—oratory—in both Rome and Athens and served in several minor government posts. However, writing poetry was his first love, and he quickly gave up public life to pursue this art.

The Metamorphoses tells many of the ancient myths and legends of Greece, Rome, and the Near East. All the stories have a common theme: change, or metamorphosis. For example, when the nymphminor goddess of nature, usually represented as young and beautiful Daphne is pursued by ApolloGreek god of the sun, the arts, medicine, and herdsmen; son of Zeus and Leto and twin brother of Artemis, she escapes by being turned...