"The first taste I had for books came to me from my pleasure in the
fables of the Metamorphoses of Ovid. For at about seven or eight years
of age I would steal away from any other pleasure to read them, inasmuch
as this language was my mother tongue, and it was the easiest book I
knew and the best suited by its content to my tender age." -Michel de
Montaigne
The Metamorphoses of Ovid (8 AD) is an epic poem by Ovid. Published
the same year the poet was sent into exile for the rest of his life, the
Metamorphoses are the crowning achievement of the first major poet of
the Roman empire. Written in dactylic hexameter, the meter of Homer's
Iliad and Odyssey and of Virgil's Aeneid, Ovid's work is an epic
poem of transformations, of shape-shifting matter and beings bound to
the power of love. Taking as its scope the whole history of the universe
from the arrangement of order from chaos to the death of Julius Caesar,
the Metamorphoses pays heed to desire's ability to enact long-lasting
and at times irreversible change.
The story begins at the very beginning, with the creation of the cosmos
out of nothing, of order out of unimaginable chaos. Gods and goddesses
have their moment in the sun, mankind is born only to be wiped out by an
immense flood, then to rise again. Amidst countless little-known
descriptions of war, romance, and change are the timeless tales of
Perseus, Jason and Medea, Theseus and the Minotaur, and the labors of
Hercules. Icarus soars too close to the sun. Orpheus tragically condemns
Eurydice to the underworld. Troy is built and destroyed, the immortal
Achilles is killed, and Aeneas sets sail to save his life and lay the
foundations for Rome itself. Throughout these interwoven stories of
individual and epochal change, Ovid explores the inescapability of love
and death, essential themes both shared by all and constitutive of
everything that was or ever will be. The Metamorphoses of Ovid is an
intricate masterpiece of world literature that stands the test of time
just as much as it defines it.
With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript,
this edition of The Metamorphoses of Ovid is a classic work of Roman
literature reimagined for modern readers.
