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Ovid's Metamorphoses: Books 1-5
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One of the most influential and popular works in all literature, Ovid’s Metamorphoses is a weaving-together of classical myths, extending in time from the creation of the world to the death of Julius Caesar. This volume provides the Latin text of the first five books of the poem and the most detailed commentary available in English for these books. In his introduction to the volume, editor William S. Anderson provides essential background information, discussing Ovid’s life, the reception of the Metamorphoses during Ovid’s day and after, and the poem’s central issues. The Latin text of the five books is Anderson’s own edition, based on years of study of the surviving manuscripts. In the extensive notes that follow the text, Anderson offers both useful summaries of the stories and detailed line-by-line comments. Unlike other epic poems, which concern wars and heroism, the Metamorphoses centers on ordinary human beings, women as well as men, who live in a world of continuous change. The first five books, which include such well-known stories as Apollo and Daphane, Diana and Actaeon, and Narcissus and Echo, deal especially with the relationship between human beings and the gods. Arrogant and lustful, but all-powerful, the gods of Ovid’s universe selfishly pursue their own pleasures, frequently at the expense of their human targets. Yet these gods escape unscathed, while the humans, unjustly, are punished. Helpless to defend themselves, they are changed into animal or nonhuman forms. A resource for students and scholars of Latin, this volume enhances understanding and enjoyment of Ovid’s changeable poem about our changeable existence.
584 pages, Paperback
First published January 1,0008
This edition
- Format
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584 pages, Paperback
- Published
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January 15, 1998 by University of Oklahoma Press
- ISBN
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9780806128948
- ASIN
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0806128941
- Language
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English
About the author
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Publius Ovidius Naso (20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horatius, with whom he is often ranked as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature. The Imperial scholar Quintilian considered him the last of the Latin love elegists. Although Ovid enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime, the emperor Augustus exiled him to Tomis, the capital of the newly-organised province of Moesia, on the Black Sea, where he remained for the last nine or ten years of his life. Ovid himself attributed his banishment to a "poem and a mistake", but his reluctance to disclose specifics has resulted in much speculation among scholars.
Ovid is most famous for the Metamorphoses, a continuous mythological narrative in fifteen books written in dactylic hexameters. He is also known for works in elegiac couplets such as Ars Amatoria ("The Art of Love") and Fasti. 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 today.
Ovid is most famous for the Metamorphoses, a continuous mythological narrative in fifteen books written in dactylic hexameters. He is also known for works in elegiac couplets such as Ars Amatoria ("The Art of Love") and Fasti. 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 today.
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Good commentary, though the editor did tend to attribute rather more self-awareness and irony to Ovid than I am inclined to (I think he really was just [like the rest of his culture] that sexist, etc.). And reading connected books like this rather than piecemeal stories is interesting -- I don't think the poem suffers unduly from being chopped up (but I teach excerpts, so I guess I would say that), and it just makes me even more convinced than Ovid is super-problematic with the constant, constant rapes.
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fantastic!
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Chock full of helpful observations on the overall structure of the poem (complex and mysterious to scholars), this edition also offers useful introductory material and notes on Ovid's tone, style, meter, narrative techniques, tricky grammatical constructions, and the mythological background of many of the stories. Particularly illuminating is his discussion (in the Introduction) of how Ovid's style differs from that of Vergil. Indispensable for readers of the original Latin text. See also Anderson's edition of Books 6-10, which is equally helpful:
Ovid's Metamorphoses
Ovid's Metamorphoses
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Looks like I'm done myth 1/3 of Ovid's Metamorphoses or 33 1/3 %. And I'm really happy with them so far. OK, the only downfall is in my edition because there are some missing pages in book five. But so far it is like reading Nicholas Kun's myths from Ancient Greece, just more original. Too bad I don't know Latin - maybe I would like this more.
Anyway, from what I've read so far it is pretty fun. There isn't too much poetry and that's good for me because I don't understand poetry much. There are great characters and some action. Myth after myth, I get more and more interested and I will totally read the other 2/3 of the metamorphoses. So far from BAD 1 to EXCELLENT 6 Ovid's Metamorphoses from the first century BC gets EXCELLENT 6.
Anyway, from what I've read so far it is pretty fun. There isn't too much poetry and that's good for me because I don't understand poetry much. There are great characters and some action. Myth after myth, I get more and more interested and I will totally read the other 2/3 of the metamorphoses. So far from BAD 1 to EXCELLENT 6 Ovid's Metamorphoses from the first century BC gets EXCELLENT 6.
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This was a good mythical book.
I thought the metaphorical narration on transformation was pretty interesting.
Deep book!
3.6/5
I thought the metaphorical narration on transformation was pretty interesting.
Deep book!
3.6/5
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I used this in my Metamorphoses class, and we used this book to supplement Jones' book of the Metamorphoses. Anderson's notes are not nearly as thorough as Jones', causing us to groan every time my professor assigned a reading from it - it was definitely the "hard" text. However, the notes are fairly helpful: I just wish there were more of them... but then I suppose Anderson expects us to be grownups and be able to translate the Latin on our own. :P
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would've been five if it didn't ruin my life
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