Metamorphoses

by Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)

Also known as: Transformations

"Metamorphoses captures the essence of transformation—divine, human, and natural—emphasizing change as the only constant in existence. It is both playful and tragic, combining myth, love, violence, and cosmic order into a sweeping vision of history from creation to Rome."

Type:Epic Poem

Source:Ancient Rome

Original Date:c. 8 CE (early Roman Empire, during Augustus)

Written Date:8 CE

Length:15 books, 11,995 lines (~14 hours)

Summary

Ovid’s Metamorphoses is a 15-book narrative poem recounting over 250 myths, unified by the theme of transformation. Beginning with the creation of the world and ending with the apotheosis of Julius Caesar, it retells Greek and Roman myths in Ovid’s witty, sensuous, and ironic style. The work includes famous tales like Apollo and Daphne, Pygmalion, Orpheus and Eurydice, and Narcissus. More than any other classical work, it shaped medieval and Renaissance mythological imagination.

Themes

Transformation and changeLove and desireHubris and punishmentCosmic orderThe power of art and storytellingMortality and immortality

Major Characters

ApolloDaphneOrpheusEurydicePygmalionNarcissusPentheusBacchus (Dionysus)PerseusMedusaDaedalusIcarusJulius Caesar (apotheosized)

Notable Quotes

"Let me sing to you now of changes: nothing in the whole world persists unchanged."
Book 1, Line 1

"Love conquers all; let us too yield to Love."
Book 10, Line 69

"Time, devourer of all things, and envious age, you destroy all that is, and as you consume, you create anew."
Book 15, Line 234

Notable Translations

Arthur Golding(1567)

Influential Elizabethan version; Shakespeare read this translation.

Rolfe Humphries(1955)

Readable and poetic mid-century version.

Allen Mandelbaum(1993)

Elegant modern translation.

Charles Martin(2004)

Highly praised for combining fidelity with poetic flow.

Stephanie McCarter(2022)

Latest acclaimed translation; highly accessible.