A long time must-read on my buck-it list, Metamorphoses would have been extremely hard going, and probably I would have turned back before getting even halfway, were it not for this highly enjoyable and current, 2005 verse translation by Charles Martin.
The text is a massive synthesis, a compendium of mythology, lineage, tropes, and a detailed omnibus of the whole Greco-Roman epic soap opera. Turns out Greek mythology doesn't quite sum up as "Zeus can't keep it in his pants" after all, but close enough. There is a prevalent unifying theme of metamorphoses which keeps the whole shaggy haystack hanging together. Also, a lot of it gets schematic and repetitive: inadvertantly, heroes, gods and other creatures get into the same sort of feuds and jealousies, violence and rape abound, and the mighty fall right and left. Many are transformed into birds, flowers or wellsprings in the process, accounting for a lot of antique geograpy and wildlife.
Ovid single-handedly delivers some of the most epically tedious cast and location listings, and virtually all of the romance-intrigue, comicbook-superhero and notably, horror scenes, which are today more familiar from screenplays than antique lit. What a guy! I can even bring myself to overlook his shameless sucking-up to sponsor and patron Emperor Augustus at the end: there must have been strings attached. He rightly boasts, "My work is finished now: no wrath of Jove, nor sword nor fire nor futurity is capable of laying waste to it."
Overall, an accessible classic masterpiece.

Quite labouring to get through at times, but I do intend on buying the Penguin edition and rereading this at some point in my own time - I definitely would have enjoyed it more had I the option of reading it in my own time, rather than a one week time scale (it was a uni read). So yeah! I liked it, but often couldn't follow, especially when the longer stories dragged a bit. However I think under different circumstances, it might've been a higher rating because I'd love to spend time really taking in the stories.

The book is a collection of many ancient myths united by the theme of metamorphosis.

Plot. Rating 5
The myths collected by the author are very diverse. The vast majority of them are from Greek mythology; it is a real encyclopedia. There are simple plots, but many plots are quite intricate with unexpected twists and miraculous transformations. The poem shows and considers the whole spectrum of human emotions and deeds. From extreme cruelty and insane revenge (for example, the myth of Prokne and Philomela) to love and humor. I think most myths are little known; although, their heroes have turned into the concepts, beings, and words of our modern life. For example, such a phenomenon as an echo has a beautiful explanation in Greek mythology.
Nevertheless, the book has a general chronological movement from the creation of the world to Julius Caesar.

Characters. Rating 5
The poem features a huge number of characters. A frequent motive is the struggle of people against the gods through voluntary or involuntary rivalry. The Greek gods are cruel, vindictive, and capricious. However, Ovid manages to fill the characters with true emotions and experiences. He accurately uses words and phrases to depict heroes in states of passion, falling in love, spiritual uplift, or complete collapse of hopes. Many transformations correspond very well to the character and behavior of their heroes.

Dialogues. Rating 4
The meaning of the dialogues is conveyed well, but the florid style of the poem introduces some redundancy and emotionality. However, since the characters are almost always in extraordinary and unusual circumstances, these dialogues suit them. But this is a common feature of many ancient works.

Writing style. Rating 4
I liked the writing style of the book; although, in my opinion, it is not easy to read because the poem contains a large number of exclamations, rhetorical questions, self-talk, and various topics little known to the modern reader. Also, the stories change quite abruptly. However, this is offset by the excellent descriptions. Ovid builds a detailed scene of dramas and tragedies and shows the character behavior well. He also describes the details of the situation, the unusual appearance of various gods and monsters, and their metamorphoses well.

Worldbuilding. Rating 5
This is a grandiose study and reconstruction of ancient mythology. Ovid conveyed the myths in a precise and tangible way, unfolding a poetic movie before the reader's eyes. His worldbuilding details always work to change the plot, motives, and emotions of the characters. This creates a vast and rich fantasy world, which when read, comes to life.
And of course, the metamorphoses themselves are excellent worldbuilding. It was interesting for me to find out which animals, birds, plants, constellations, and concepts have roots in Greek mythology.

Conclusion. Overall rating 5
Ovid perfectly conveyed the vast world of ancient mythology to human civilization in a concentrated and fascinating form.

This is the ONE book that you must have read if you any reader of classic literature,
Whatever you read you will find refernces and quotations to Ovids Metamorphoses.
And anyway, The book in itself is soo imaginatif and wonderfull. Where is the line between legend and fiction, if there is any.

The Metamorphoses are Ovid’s masterpiece and one of the literary monuments of Antiquity, alongside the Bible, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and Virgil’s Aeneid. As the title suggests, Ovid’s book is about change, transformation, mutation. Its scope is exceptionally ambitious, encyclopaedic even. It covers the whole of ancient mythology, from the creation of the world and the flood to the epic of Phaëton, from Jupiter’s rape of various nymphs to the abduction of Europa, from Narcissus in love with his own reflection to Perseus and Medusa, from the rape of Proserpina to Medea and Jason, from Theseus and the Minotaur to the fall of Icarus, from Meleäger and the Calydonian Boar to Byblis’ and Myrrha’s incestuous passions, from the works of Hercules to the doomed love of Orpheus and Eurydice in the underworld, from the desire of Venus for Adonis to King Midas turning everything into gold, from the shipwreck of Cëyx to the battle of the Centaurs and to the Trojan War, from the sufferings of Hecuba to the wanderings of Aeneas, from Ulysses in Polyphemus’ cave to Circe’s witchcraft, and last but not least, from Romulus down to Julius Caesar. In short, Ovid has it all figured out!

Ovid’s Metamorphoses, like Virgil’s Aeneid, was written under the reign of Augustus and both works are, in their way, a glorification of the Roman Empire. All prior tribulations of gods and men aim towards this apex of history, this ideal order of civilisation. But Virgil’s and Ovid’s ways are very different. While Virgil unfolds the story of Aeneas in a single grand narrative, taking inspiration from the Odyssey, Ovid seems to be jumping randomly from one legend to the next, sometimes arranged into a Russian doll structure, thus covering a vast body of material (several hundreds of tales borrowed mostly from Greek literature). Within this colourful poem, there is one obsessive idea: the metamorphose (other recurring themes are romantic passion and sexual obsession). In a way, Virgil and Ovid could be compared to the myth of Arachne, exposed in book 6: Virgil being the Minervean, elevated, distinguished bard and Ovid the Arachnean, careless, disorganised poet.

At first, it seems he has gathered together every legend where some magical transformation is involved (Jupiter turning himself into a white bull, Actaeon changed by Diana into a stag, and so on). But by the end of the epic, primarily through Pythagoras’ speech in book 15 (my fave section), we come to understand that Ovid has a sort of profound ontological idea in mind. His book illustrates some kind of Heraclitean world view, whereby everything is in constant transmutation and flux. In a way, while Virgil is putting forward a historical statement about the origins of Rome, placing everything in a genealogical line, Ovid suggests something much more unstable and uncertain. If Augustus’ Empire is the pinnacle of human history, the poem makes room for further transformations and alterations down the line — a non-dogmatic, almost modern vision of history. Ovid knows that the Augustinian Empire, like everything else under the moon, is condemned to decay and death. (Did this contribute to his later banishment to the Black Sea — see the fantastic Poems of Exile?) The only thing that will remain through time is, according to the Epilogue (15, 870 sqq.), the poem itself, a poem about growth, transformation, and degeneration.

Another surprising fact about the Metamorphoses, also in line with Ovid’s metaphysical view of an all changing universe, is the justification of vegetarianism in book 15: “What a heinous crime is committed when guts disappear inside a fellow-creature’s intestines” (15, 86-87). Indeed, if gods and men can mutate into animals, a meat-eating individual is in some way a barbaric cannibal or a sacrilegious god-eater. Note the similarities between Ovid’s pagan doctrine on this issue and modern religious practices based on the belief on reincarnation (Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism). In a broader sense, this very much resonates with our contemporary concerns about animal suffering and climate change. (One last thing that resonates with me in that same book 15, during this present time of coronavirus global pandemic, is the mention of Aesculapius, the saviour of Rome during the plague.)

Ovid is always a delight to read, chiefly because his descriptions are still readable and to the point, often playful or emotional, and never shy away from graphic details, visceral or sexual. See, for instance, the gory wedding banquets at the beginning of book 5 and book 12 (possible influence to the “Red Wedding” in Game of Thrones). Also see the erotic and gruesome story of Tereus and Philomela (book 6) — incidentally a blueprint for Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus (which is, in turn, a recipe for the episode of the “Frey Pies”, again in Game of Thrones!). Furthermore (considering that the little Latin I have ever known is gone forever), David Raeburn’s recent translation into English hexameters is extraordinarily readable and never draws the reader’s attention to itself.

The Metamorphoses have had an enormous influence on Western culture, not just on other Roman writers, such as Apuleius with his spicy Golden Ass. It has made a particular impression on numerous artists since the Renaissance. Think of Botticelli, of course. Think of Titian’s Poesie, ordered by King Felipe II of Spain. Think of Brueghel’s Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (from book 8). Think of the Pre-Raphaelites (see below the exquisite Echo and Narcissus by Waterhouse — from book 3). Think of countless references made by Dante, Montaigne, Cervantes or Shakespeare in their works. Case in point: Pyramus and Thisbe (book 4) is inserted within A Midsummer Night's Dream and is the inspiration of Romeo and Juliet; the affliction of Hecuba (book 13) is slotted into Hamlet; Prospero’s late speech in The Tempest is inspired by Medea’s speech (book 7). Think too of all the plays based on the myth of Pygmalion (e.g. the Broadway musical and the film version of My Fair Lady). Think of the popular sword-and-sandal movies such as Jason and the Argonauts. And think nowadays of all the bestsellers that borrow from Greco-Roman myths — most of which are to be found chiefly in the Metamorphoses — indirectly, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, or more directly, Madeline Miller or Stephen Fry’s latest books.

In short, Ovid’s Metamorphoses is to Greco-Roman mythology more or less what Snorri Sturluson is to Norse myths. While Snorri is essential to understanding the culture of the Vikings, without some knowledge of Ovid’s book, it would be practically impossible to comprehend Mediterranean Antiquity and, indeed, Western culture.

Oh, Ovid. What I wouldn't give to travel back in time and make sweet love to you on an island in the middle of the Mediterranean.

No, I don't think it's unhealthy to have lustful fantasies about Ovid. I don't care what you think! I do very much care that his work was lush, provocative and unforgettable in its revolutionary translation (often taking liberties) of what was at the time contemporary folk literature. A treasury of verse!

Benim gibi bazen bir resim heykel üzerinden bazen sözlükten, tekrar tekrar mit okumaya doyamayanlar için harika bir yörünge çiziyor Ovid..
Dönüşümler'in, tıpkı iyi bir heykelin doğası gereği mekanını yaratmasının ötesinde, kendi zamanını da yaratması gibi bir etkisi var!.

Is six stars possible? Awesome .... just awesome.

“Happy is the man who has broken the chains which hurt the mind, and has given up worrying once and for all.”
― Ovid, Metamorphoses



Ovid -- the David Bowie of Latin literature. I chewed on this book of myth-poems the entire time I was tramping around Rome. I was looking for the right words to describe my feelings about it. It isn't that I didn't like it. It is an unequivocal masterpiece. I'm amazed by it. I see Ovid's genes in everything (paintings, sculptures, poems and prose). He is both modern and classic, reverent and wicked, lovely and obscene all at once. It is just hard to wrestle him down. To pin my thoughts about 'the Metamorphoses' into words. Structure really fails me.

That I guess is the sign for me of a book's depth or success with me. It makes me wish I could read it in the original form. I'm not satisfied with Dante in English. I want him in Italian. I'm not satisfied with Ovid in English. I want to experience his poetry, his playfulness, his wit in Latin.

I still prefer the poetry of Homer and Dante, but Ovid isn't embarrassed by the company of the greats; so not Zeus or Neptune, but maybe Apollo.

The Romans have a reputation as the great copycats of antiquity. After all, these were a people who borrowed a large amount of their culture, including most of their gods, from their neighbors. This reputation for imitation certainly holds true when looking at Roman literature. Plautus and Terence borrowed wholesale from Menander and other Greek playwrights. Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura, for all of its merits, is basically restating the views of Epicurus. Catullus and Propertius imitated Callimachus. Horace imitated the Greek lyric poets (the Odes) and Archilochus (the Epodes). Virgil was inspired by Theocritus (the Eclogues), Hesiod (the Georgics), and Homer (the Aeneid).



“In all this world, no thing can keep its form. For all things flow; all things are born to change their shapes. And time itself is like a river, flowing on an endless course.” Ovid, Metamorphoses

And then there’s Ovid. By 8 BC, Virgil, Horace, and Propertius were all dead, leaving Ovid as the foremost living poet in Rome. By the time of Ovid’s death around 17/18 AD, Ovid’s poetic output was more than that of Lucretius, Catullus, Virgil, and Horace combined. Ovid wrote in a variety of poetic genres, and while some of his early love poetry was imitative he also showed an originality that was unique among his peers. First in the Heroides, and later with his masterpiece the Metamorphoses Ovid showed an originality of thought that causes him to stand out amongst his contemporaries to this day.



The Metamorphoses is a long poem divided into 15 books. The poem recites a history of Greco-Roman mythology, from the creation of the universe to the deification of Julius Caesar, and mostly moves in chronological order. However, the poem is not simply a catalogue of familiar myths and legends. Although the poem touches almost all of Greek mythology’s high points (Perseus, Theseus, Hercules, Jason, Achilles, and all the rest appear at some point), the Metamorphoses is not interested in telling the full story for all of its characters. The poem assumes that its readers have some background knowledge of these stories anyway, and instead weaves a long mythological history using the concepts of metamorphosis and change as a unifying theme. It’s an incredibly ambitious idea, but Ovid pulls it off beautifully. I mentioned in my review of the Heroides that I think Ovid has a real gift for getting inside the heads of these mythological characters and treating them as real people with genuine emotions and depth. Those skills are on full display here. This book may not be the best introduction to Greek mythology (although you could do far worse), as it does assume a certain level of familiarity and skips over some things. But the Metamorphoses is on par with Homer’s epics as the most impressive retelling of Greek mythology I’ve ever read.

I’m not the only person to gush so shamelessly over this poem, which was wildly popular in Roman times. There were a few dicey years towards the end of the Roman Empire, when Christian leaders condemned the poem as shamelessly pagan, but the brilliance of Ovid won out and the poem survived to influence thinkers in the Middle Ages and beyond. The poem continued to be extremely popular throughout this time, and the Metamorphoses was one of the most popular books in the Western world for over a thousand years (over 400 manuscripts survive from the Middle Ages alone, which is a lot). It has inspired countless artists, poets, and writers throughout this time. W.R. Johnson pretty much summed it up in stating that “no other poem from antiquity has so influenced the literature and art of Western Europe as has the Metamorphoses.” That’s a pretty good legacy, and one that Ovid predicted in the final lines of his poem:

“And now my work is done: no wrath of Jove nor fire nor sword nor time, which would erode all things, has power to blot out this poem…my name and fame are sure: I shall have life.”



To sum up, this was an incredible book and, in my humble opinion, the only truly original piece of literature surviving from the Roman Republic/early Roman Empire*. If somebody wanted to read just one book from this period, I’d still probably recommend The Aeneid, which is the “most Roman” book in a lot of ways and a little more representative of the period. But I think the Metamorphoses was the best work of its era. 6 stars, a must read for anyone with an interest in classical literature (both for the poem's own merits and for the influence it has had throughout the centuries).

I read the Mandelbaum translation, which was stellar.

*Certainly the stories within the Metamorphoses are not original. They had been told countless times for hundreds of years before Ovid’s birth. And you could point to the Theogony of Hesiod as an example of an earlier catalogue of mythology. But this goes far beyond the Theogony in size and scope, and the idea of linking all of these stories with the theme of metamorphosis and change is so novel that I don’t think you can really compare the Metamorphoses to anything that had come before.

This book is quite long. It’s actually a work consisting of fifteen books. Not all of its contents were equally as interesting for me, but I am glad I read the whole thing; and glad to be finished with it.

The most interesting part for me was the first book. This section deals with creation and world ages. The parallels with Middle Eastern and Levantine myths are pronounced in this section. It has been speculated by scholars before, that Greek and Roman mythology was often influenced by Phoenician and Middle Eastern mythology. I’ve taken the position that this was almost certainly the case. The mythological founder of Thebes, Cadmus, was said to have been a Phoenician prince, so I don’t think it’s over speculative to posit a Phoenician provenance for much of Greco-Roman myth. This seems to be the case even more so when the mythology deals with the origins of the gods and humanity. Even the Deucalion myth seems to have its origin in the Middle East. Also, the myth of Phaethon is particularly intriguing in this regard. Phaethon was said to be the son of Helios (the Sun). He wanted his father, Helios, to allow him to drive the sun chariot for a day. Helios reluctantly allows Phaethon to do this and Phaethon crashes the sun chariot into the earth and causes a conflagration. Plato used this myth as one of his bases for the theory that the earth experiences regular cataclysms of fire and water. Various Bible scholars have posited a myth such as this to be lurking behind the fall of Lucifer in Isaiah 14. It seems like myths either become conflated, or possibly, become fragmented into distinct myths over time. In the Greco-Roman myth of world ages, the Golden Age was ruled by Cronus and was basically a utopia. Zoroastrianism recognizes a similar world age that was ruled by Yima/Jamshid. Yima was not said to be a god (although in Hindusim, Yama is an underworld god) which is an interesting divergence, but he was said to have been the ruler of the entire world during this age, and it was considered to be an idyllic time. He also had superhuman powers, which included power over the daevas (demons). Eventually this supposedly righteous king fell from grace and was cast out of his kingdom. In Jewish myth (i.e. Midrash), Solomon takes on many of the attributes of this primordial king. This is even more pronounced in Islam’s adoption of Solomonic myth. Probably the influence of Zoroastrianism on Islam also played a role here. Also, the legend of Nimrod in Genesis seems to contain some interesting parallels here as well. The Lucifer (i.e. light bearer) spoken of in the Latin Vulgate of Isaiah 14 was, in the original Hebrew, Halel ben Shahar, that is, "son of the dawn." In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of “Halel” was “eosphoros” (i.e. dawn bringer). Just as this Son of the Dawn falls in Isaiah 14, the Greek Ceyx was also said to have been a son of Eosphoros and also fell because he claimed divine honors. The parallels are divergent to a degree, but undoubtedly still there.

Ovid’s Metamorphoses is a great source for Greco-Roman mythology. Ovid seems to have been dependent on the writer Nicander for some of his material, but Ovid was certainly not slavish to this source. The translator of this edition of the Metamorphoses, often says in his commentary that Ovid added details from his own imagination. But, considering that so much material has been lost over time, it is pure speculation to say that Ovid invented details in his various treatments of myth. It is just as likely that he had access to sources no longer extant and was able to pick and choose details he liked and reject those he didn’t. I have no negative criticisms in regard to the translation. Some of the translator’s commentary I thought was simply personal opinion and was not particularly necessary, but much of it was informative. I give this book around 4 to 4-and-a-half stars. A great resource for studying Greco-Roman mythology.

Nothing quite so strange, nor quite so near to home.