Antoninus Liberalis: Metamorphoses
Also known as: Metamorphoseis, Transformations, Heteroioumena (sources cited within)
A compact Greek collection of transformation myths in prose, attributed to Antoninus Liberalis, likely 2nd-century CE. Forty-one brief chapters retell earlier tales—often from Nicander—where humans and beings become birds, beasts, plants, or stones as divine justice, rescue, or memorial.
Description
Antoninus Liberalis’ Metamorphoses assembles short prose accounts of mythic transformations circulating in earlier Greek poetry and local legend. The author paraphrases and condenses older authorities—most frequently Nicander—preserving rare variants alongside well-known motifs: oath-breaking punished, impiety answered by divine change, lovers memorialized as birds or stars, and hunters or tricksters fixed into stone or wood. Its style is plain and reportorial, naming sources and locales, with strong emphasis on cult aetiologies and onomastics (how sanctuaries, rituals, and species acquired their names). Although modest in length, the work is a crucial witness for otherwise lost Hellenistic metamorphosis lore and regional myth traditions, complementing grander poetic treatments while retaining Greek religious and civic context.
Historiography
The text is preserved in one manuscript (Pal. gr. 398), copied in the 9th century, from which all editions descend. Chapters cite authorities like Nicander, Areus, and Hesiodic catalogues, indicating an epitomizing method. Modern scholarship relies on collation of the sole witness and comparison with parallel traditions (Ovid, Hyginus, Apollodorus). Francis Celoria’s 1992 English translation helped standardize chapter numbering (1–41) and cross-reference to named sources.
Date Notes
Survives in a single 9th-century manuscript (Codex Palatinus Graecus 398); prose paraphrases of earlier Hellenistic sources, especially Nicander’s lost "Metamorphoses" (Heteroeumena).
Archetypes
Major Characters
- Zeus
- Artemis
- Apollo
- Hermes
- Aphrodite
- Ares
Myths
- Transformations of Nymphs and Mortals
- Origins of Birds, Beasts, and Plants
- Divine Retributions and Metamorphoses
- Foundational Myths Explained by Transformation
Facts
- Comprises 41 short prose chapters focused on metamorphosis motifs.
- Frequently names sources (e.g., Nicander, Hesiodic catalogues, local historians).
- Preserves rare aetiological myths linking transformations to cults, place-names, and species.
- Tone is concise and reportorial; episodes often end with the specific metamorphosis.
- Bird transformations are especially common (dove, hawk, swan), alongside trees, stones, and stars.
- Provides early attestations of myths like Laelaps versus the Teumessian Fox and Cephalus–Procris variants.
- The sole textual witness is Codex Palatinus Graecus 398 (9th century).
- Chapter numeration 1–41 is standard in modern editions and translations.
- The work is an epitome of earlier Hellenistic metamorphosis literature now mostly lost.
- Key modern English translation is by Francis Celoria (1992).