METAMORPHOSES

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Publius Ovidius Naso (20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known as Ovid  in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of Virgil and Horace.He is best known for the Metamorphoses, a 15-book continuous mythological narrative written in the meter of epic, and for collections of love poetry in elegiac couplets, especially the Amores ("Love Affairs") and Ars Amatoria ("The Art of Love"). His poetry was much imitated during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and greatly influenced Western art and literature. The Metamorphoses remains one of the most important sources of classical mythology.
Ovid is traditionally ranked alongside Virgil and Horace, his older contemporaries, as one of the three canonic poets of Latin literature. He was the first major Roman poet to begin his career during the reign of Augustus,and the Imperial scholar Quintilian considered him the last of the Latin love elegists. He enjoyed enormous popularity, but, in one of the mysteries of literary history, he was sent by Augustus into exile in a remote province on the Black Sea, where he remained until his death. Ovid himself attributes his exile to carmen et error, "a poem and a mistake", but his discretion in discussing the causes has resulted in much speculation among scholars.

SUMMARY:

BACCHUS (FROM BOOK-3)

Europa’s father, Agenor, threatens Cadmus with exile if he does not find Europa. Cadmus tries and fails. He can’t go home, so he prays to Apollo about where he should live. Apollo says he a pristine heifer will lead him to a place where he will establish a city. Apollo’s prophecy is born out. However, Cadmus’s men encounter an enormous serpent, which kills them. Cadmus slays the serpent and, at Minerva’s request, buries its teeth in the ground. Immediately, a group of belligerent men emerge from the land and begin to kill each other. The five remaining men agree to live in peace, and Thebes is established.
Cadmus’s household is plagued. While hunting, his grandson, Actaeon, stumbles upon Diana bathing in her sacred grove. Diana is so offended that she transforms Actaeon into a deer, and Actaeon’s own hunting dogs kill him. Semele, Cadmus’s daughter, is pregnant with Jupiter’s child. Juno, filled with rage at yet another dalliance of Jupiter’s, disguises herself as an old woman and convinces Semele to ask Jupiter to make love to her with all his power as a god, just as he makes love to Juno. Semele gets Jupiter to promise her an unspecified gift. When she makes her request, Jupiter cannot go back on his word. He makes love to her with all his power. She cannot withstand it, and she dies. Jupiter brings their son, Bacchus, to full term in his thigh.

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The scene changes. Jupiter and Juno banter about which gender enjoys sex more. Jupiter says women do, and Juno says men do. They decide to ask Tiresias, who reportedly has experienced life as both a man and woman. Tiresias agrees with Jupiter. In her anger, Juno strikes Tiresias blind. Jupiter compensates Tiresias by giving him supernatural foresight. Ovid records Tiresias’s first prediction: that Narcissus will live a long life as long as he does not know himself. These cryptic words were born out when Narcissus, who had rejected all would-be lovers, fell in love with his own reflection.
Ovid returns to the story of Cadmus’s family. Pentheus tries to persuade his family and others not to worship Bacchus. No one is convinced, but Pentheus stands firm. Not even Acoetes, a convert to the worship of Bacchus, can change his mind. Pentheus threatens to make Acoetes into an example by killing him. Pentheus sets out for Mount Cithaeron to spy on the rites of Bacchus. When he arrives, his own aunt and mother mistake him for an animal and hunt him. His aunt, Autonoe, rips off his arms, and his mother tears off his head and lets out a shout of victory.

PYRAMUS AND THISBE (FROM BOOK-4)

Pyramus and Thisbe are a couple of young Babylonians in love. Unfortunately, their families totally hate each other. The star-crossed lovers whisper sweet nothings through a crack in the wall that separates their houses, until they eventually can't take it anymore and decide to elope.
But when Thisbe shows up under the mulberry tree where they're supposed to meet, a bloody-jawed lioness is hanging out there. Thisbe screams and runs, leaving her shawl behind. Pyramus arrives a little while later and finds the bloody lioness ripping apart the shawl. Uh oh—we can see where this is headed.
Assuming Thisbe has been devoured, he stabs himself with his sword. Later, Thisbe returns, figures out the horrible thing that's happened, and stabs herself with Pyramus's sword, too. To this day, the formerly white berries of the mulberry tree are stained red with the blood of these tragic lovers.

PHILOMELA (FROM BOOK-6)

Minerva approaches Arachne, her rival in the art of weaving. Disguised as an old woman, Minerva advises Arachne to ask Minerva for forgiveness. When Arachne will not comply, Minerva drops the disguise and upbraids Arachne. They compete. Minerva fashions a portrait that glorifies the gods in general and herself in particular. Her tapestry depicts the Olympian gods, her victory over Neptune, and four scenes of the gods conquering humans and turning them into animals. Arachne creates a flawless portrait of gods raping and deceiving humans. Minerva is so enraged by Arachne’s skill that she begins to beat her. Unable to endure such treatment, Arachne hangs herself, and Minerva transforms her into a spider.
When they hear of Arachne’s fate, people know they should revere the gods. However, a woman named Niobe does not feel inferior to the gods. She has a great husband, Amphion, a distinguished lineage, a large kingdom, and many children. Tiresias’s daughter, Manto, tells Niobe to worship the goddess Latona and her two children, Apollo and Diana. Niobe ignores the advice and mocks her people for listening to Manto. She even wonders why people do not worship her. Latona is outraged. With her children, she causes disaster after disaster to strike Niobe’s family. Seven of Niobe’s sons and seven of her daughters are killed, she turns into tears, and fear of Latona spreads.

Tereus, the tyrant from Thrace, enters the narrative. He liberates Athens from barbarians and marries Procne, the daughter of the king of Athens, Pandion. The marriage is ill-fated. Juno, Hymenaeus, and the Graces do not attend the wedding. After five years of marriage, Procne asks Tereus for permission to see her sister, Philomela. Tereus sets sail for Athens to fetch Philomela. As soon as he sees Philomela, lust grips him. Back in Thrace, he repeatedly rapes her and hacks off her tongue to prohibit her from speaking. Philomela weaves a portrait of Tereus’s crime onto cloth and sends it to Procne. To get revenge, Procne slays Itys, her only child with Tereus, and serves him to Tereus as a meal. Procne and Philomela tell Tereus that he has eaten his son, and Tereus goes mad. He wants to kill the sisters, but they escape by turning into birds. Tereus, too, becomes a bird.