Metamorphoses

Metamorphoses (Metamorphoseon libri, Books of Changes) is a work by Ovid. It was written about 1 AD to 8 AD. The work consists of 15 books of between 700 and 900 verses of hexameters. In it, Ovid describes the history of the world as it was seen by Roman and Greek mythology.

Ovid selects those stories which happened often, a lower deity or a human is changed into an animal, a plant, or a star. The story starts with the beginning of the world, the flood. Only one couple survives the flood, Ducalion and Phyrrha. It ends with the change of the soul of Cesar into a star.

Metamorphoses Media

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  Title page of 1556 edition published by Joannes Gryphius (decorative border added subsequently). Hayden White Rare Book Collection, University of California, Santa Cruz

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  A woodcut from Virgil Solis, illustrating the apotheosis of Julius Caesar, the final event of the poem (XV.745–850)

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  Apollo and Daphne (c. 1470–1480) by Antonio del Pollaiuolo depicts one tale of transformation in the Metamorphoses—Apollo lusts after Daphne, but she is changed into a bay laurel and escapes him.

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  This panel by Bartolomeo di Giovanni depicts the second half of the story of Io. In the upper left, Jupiter emerges from clouds to order Mercury to rescue Io.

Other websites

• Latin text with English translation
• Ovid Metamorphosen (Latin text, 2.300 illustrations)
  • Ovid Illustrated: The Renaissance Reception of Ovid in Image and Text (An elaborate environment allowing simultaneous access to Latin text, English translations, commentary from multiple sources along with wood cut illustrations by Virgil Solis.)
  • Metamorphoses in Latin edition and English translations (From Perseus with hyperlinked commentary, mythological, and grammatical references)
• Latin text
  • University of Virginia: Metamorphoses
  • The Latin Library: P. OVIDI NASONIS OPERA
• English translation
  • By A. S. Kline, 2000
    • Poetry in Translation: Ovid: Metamorphoses Archived 2005-04-19 at the Wayback Machine. (Enhanced viewer with links and notes. Can be downloaded in different formats.)
    • Mythology: Metamorphoses Archived 2021-04-21 at the Wayback Machine
  • By Sir Samuel Garth, John Dryden et al., 1717
    • Internet Classics Archive: Ovid's Metamorphoses Archived 2002-08-02 at the Wayback Machine
    • Ovid's Metamorphoses Archived 2009-02-25 at the Wayback Machine
  • By Others:
    • Elizabethan Authors: Ovid's Metamorphoses, trans. by Arthur Golding, 1567.
    • Ovid's Metamorphoses trans. by George Sandys, 1632.
    • Ovid's Metamorphoses trans. by Brooke Moore, 1922.
    • TextKit: Ovid's Metamorphoses, Books I–IV, trans. Rev. Dr. Giles, a learning translation/crib in PDF graphic format.
• Insight and commentary
  • The Ovid Project: Metamorphising the Metamorphoses (Illustrations by Johann Whilhelm Baur (1600–1640) and anonymous illustrations from George Sandys's edition of 1640.)
  • A Honeycomb for Aphrodite by A. S. Kline
  • Ovid's Metamorphoses, An introduction and commentary by Larry A. Brown.
  • An Analytical Onomasticon to the Metamorphoses of Ovid Archived 2005-11-22 at the Wayback Machine (Concordance and narrative index.)
• Audio Readings
  • Ovid ~ Metamorphoses ~ 08-2008 Selections from Metamorphoses, read in Latin and English by Rafi Metz. Approximately 4 1/2 hours.