Overview Summary
Metamorphoses is a collection of myths ranging from the beginning of the world to the poet’s lifetime and unfolding through an extended narrative poem. Ovid begins by sharing his theme: as the title implies, the myths depict changes in forms: from human to animal, human to god, and other such transformations. He first describes how the world is consumed with chaos until, one day, “The god who is nature” starts shaping and separating the heavens from the earth and sea.
Ovid then describes the ages of man, beginning with the Golden Age, an innocent time with no need for laws or rules; by the Iron Age, however, deception, greed, murder, and vice run rampant.
Gazing down on the immoral tumult of man, Jupiter sees only one solution: the gods must destroy the entire race. They bring down a torrential flood that eradicates humanity, sparing only two, the devout Deucalian and Pyrrha. The pious pair throw stones behind them and form a new race of men who are less burdened by the failures of their predecessors.
Following the tale of the destruction and revival of men, Ovid tells some of the earliest myths of metamorphosis, such as Daphne, a water nymph who transforms into a tree to avoid Apollo’s relentless pursuit, and Jupiter, who changes the princess Io into a cow to hide his dalliances with her from his wife, Juno.
In other stories, Phaeton—the supposed son of Helio—attempts to prove his divine paternity by visiting the sun and driving its chariot but dies during the attempt, throwing the world into chaos. Jealous that Jupiter has impregnated the nymph Callisto, Juno changes the girl into a bear. Jupiter continues his licentious ways with Europa, a mortal woman he kidnaps while in bull form.
Cadmus slays the dragon and founds the city of Thebes; Jupiter impregnates Cadmus’s daughter, Semele, leading Juno to arrange Semele’s death. However, Jupiter sews the baby—who will become the god Bacchus—into his thigh. Pentheus, a later king of Thebes, bans the worship of Bacchus, but the shunned god gets his revenge when his worshippers tear Pentheus to pieces for interrupting their ritual.
Later, Perseus defeats Medusa, then takes her head, which can turn men to stone, as a trophy. He rescues Andromeda, winning her hand in marriage; however, she is already betrothed. Andromeda’s jilted ex-fiancé, Phineus, starts a disastrous riot that Perseus ends using Medusa’s head.
Minerva visits with the Muses, who tell the story of how the Pierides lost a storytelling contest to Calliope, the muse of epic poetry. In the contest, Calliope told the story of Proserpina, the queen of the underworld, which reminds Minerva of the story of Arachne, a mortal woman who thought herself a better weaver than Minerva. The goddess defeated the mortal in a competition, then turned her into a spider as punishment for her pride.
Ovid turns to the story of Jason and the Argonauts, describing their journey to Colchis to obtain the Golden Fleece. The princess of Colchis, Medea, immediately falls for Jason but feels conflicted about helping him because doing so would mean betraying her homeland. She decides to arm him with magical herbs that allow him to complete all of his tasks. Jason returns to Iolcos with Medea as his bride, and Medea casts a spell to make his father, Aeson, forty years younger.
However, Jason eventually abandons Medea, so she kills their children in revenge. Medea remarries Aegeus of Athens. After some time, Aegeus’s son, Theseus, returns; however, Aegeus struggles to identify him, so Medea prepares a poison for the potential stranger. When Aegeus recognizes the family...
(This entire section contains 1338 words.)
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seal on Theseus’s sword, he knocks the glass away, narrowly avoiding tragedy.
Meanwhile, Minos of Crete declares war on the city of Megara. Scylla, a princess of the city, becomes enamored with the invader and offers herself to him, but he is disgusted by her betrayal. When Scylla attempts to follow him, she drowns and is turned into a bird. Back in Crete, Minos hides the Minotaur—the product of his wife’s illicit mating with a bull—locked in a labyrinth designed by the inventor Daedalus. Theseus volunteers to try to kill it and, with the help of the princess Ariadne, succeeds. Soon after, Theseus abandons her on an island.
Daedalus wishes to escape Crete with his son Icarus, so he builds them wings sealed with wax. He warns his son not to fly too high, as the sun will melt the wax. Icarus does what his father warns against, and he drowns in the sea.
Theseus continues his adventures by participating in the Calydonian boar hunt with Prince Meleager and several other heroes. The female warrior Atalanta strikes the first hit, and once Meleager finishes the boar off, he wants to share his prize with her, despite the misogynistic insults of his uncles. Enraged by their words, Meleager kills his uncles immediately, much to his mother’s grief. Queen Alathea digs out a piece of wood given to her by the Fates when Meleager was born; it would last as long as his life, so she burns it to kill him.
Hercules seeks the hand of Deianira in marriage, much to the chagrin of Achelous, a river god who challenges Hercules to a wrestling match but ultimately loses. Shortly after, Deianira is nearly kidnapped by the centaur Nessus, but Hercules shoots the centaur, killing him. As Nessus dies, he gives Deianira his bloody tunic, claiming it has the power to “excite [Hercules’s] love.”
Years later, Deianira begins to suspect that Hercules has been unfaithful and tries to win back his love by sending the tunic to him, not realizing it is full of poison from Hercules’s arrow. Hercules dons the robe and feels immediate pain; sensing imminent death, Hercules mounts a funeral pyre. However, the gods do not want to see the great hero die and agree to deify Hercules, who is brought to Olympus.
Ovid turns away from stories of combat and heroes to tell the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. After Eurydice dies from a snake bite, Orpheus attempts to save her from the underworld. Though he is granted permission to bring Eurydice back, Orpheus disobeys the one rule: he must not turn to look at her. Orpheus grieves and sings songs of transformation, such as those of Pygmalion, whose ivory statue changed to a woman, and of Venus’s ill-fated love for Adonis. As he mourns, a group of bacchants tear Orpheus apart and throw his head into the river. Bacchus punishes the offenders by turning them into trees. He meets another initiate of his cult, Midas, who reunites him with his foster father; in return, Bacchus grants Midas the golden touch.
Peleus and Thetis marry, producing Achilles, the great hero of the Trojan War. Before the war begins, the Greeks are stranded at Aulis, so Agamemnon sacrifices his daughter Iphigenia so they can sail to Troy. After nearly ten years of fighting, Achilles is killed in battle by Paris, with Apollo’s help. Achilles’s armor will be given to another warrior, either Ulysses or Ajax, who both give speeches to persuade the chieftains of their worthiness. Ultimately, the armor is awarded to Ulysses, and the war ends soon after; the Greeks sack the city, and Queen Hecuba mourns so much that she is turned into a howling dog.
Aeneas, a Trojan refugee, seeks to rebuild a city elsewhere and travels the world in search of a new home; after a heroic life, he is deified. Ovid then details the succession of Roman leaders after Aeneas. Closer to Ovid’s time is the reign of Julius Caesar, who was betrayed and assassinated in the Senate but was later venerated as a god. After his death, his great nephew Augustus rules and is described as Julius’s greatest achievement. Ovid concludes by asserting that his poem will keep his name alive.
