Editing Metamorphoses (section)

==Contents==
[[File:Virgil Solis - Deification Caesar.jpg|thumb|A [[woodcut]] from [[Virgil Solis]], illustrating the [[apotheosis]] of [[Julius Caesar]], the final event of the poem (XV.745–850)]]

Scholars have found it difficult to place the ''Metamorphoses'' in a genre. The poem has been considered as an [[epic poem|epic]] or a type of epic (for example, an anti-epic or mock-epic);{{sfn|Farrell|1992|p=235}} a {{lang|de|Kollektivgedicht}} that pulls together a series of examples in miniature form, such as the [[epyllion]];{{sfn|Wheeler|2000|p=1}} a sampling of one genre after another;{{sfn|Solodow|1988|pp=17–18}} or simply a narrative that refuses categorization.{{sfn|Galinsky|1975|p=41}}

The poem is generally considered to meet the criteria for an epic; it is considerably long, relating over 250 narratives across fifteen books;{{sfn|Galinsky|1975|p=4}} it is composed in [[dactylic hexameter]], the [[Metre (poetry)|meter]] of both the ancient ''[[Iliad]]'' and ''[[Odyssey]]'', and the more contemporary epic ''[[Aeneid]]''; and it treats the high literary subject of myth.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=87}} However, the poem "handles the themes and employs the tone of virtually every species of literature",{{sfn|Solodow|1988|p=18}} ranging from epic and [[elegy]] to [[tragedy]] and [[pastoral]].{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=88}} Commenting on the genre debate, [[Karl Galinsky]] has opined that "...&nbsp;it would be misguided to pin the label of any genre on the ''Metamorphoses''".{{sfn|Galinsky|1975|p=41}}

The ''Metamorphoses'' is comprehensive in its chronology, recounting the creation of the world to the death of [[Julius Caesar]], which had occurred only a year before Ovid's birth;{{sfn|Solodow|1988|pp=17–18}} it has been compared to works of [[Universal history (genre)|universal history]], which became important in the 1st century BCE.{{sfn|Solodow|1988|p=18}} In spite of its apparently unbroken chronology, scholar [[Brooks Otis]] has identified four divisions in the narrative:{{sfn|Otis|2010|p=83}}
* Book I – Book II (end, line 875): The Divine Comedy
* Book III – Book VI, 400: The Avenging Gods
* Book VI, 401 – Book XI (end, line 795): The Pathos of Love
* Book XII – Book XV (end, line 879): Rome and the Deified Ruler

Ovid works his way through his subject matter, often in an apparently arbitrary fashion, by jumping from one transformation tale to another, sometimes retelling what had come to be seen as central events in the world of [[Greek mythology]] and sometimes straying in odd directions. It begins with the ritual "invocation of the [[muse]]", and makes use of traditional [[epithet]]s and [[circumlocution]]s. But instead of following and extolling the deeds of a human [[hero]], it leaps from story to story with little connection.

The recurring theme, as with nearly all of Ovid's work, is love—be it personal love or love personified in the figure of ''Amor'' ([[Cupid]]). Indeed, the other [[Roman mythology|Roman gods]] are repeatedly perplexed, humiliated, and made ridiculous by [[Cupid|Amor]], an otherwise relatively minor god of the [[Pantheon (gods)|pantheon]], who is the closest thing this putative mock-epic has to a hero. [[Apollo]] comes in for particular ridicule as Ovid shows how irrational love can confound the god out of [[reason]]. The work as a whole inverts the accepted order, elevating humans and human passions while making the gods and their desires and conquests objects of low humor.

The ''Metamorphoses'' ends with an epilogue (Book XV.871–879), one of only two surviving Latin epics to do so (the other being [[Statius]]' ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'').{{sfn|Melville|2008|p=466}} The ending acts as a declaration that everything except his poetry—even Rome—must give way to change:{{sfn|Melville|2008|p=xvi}}

{{poemquote|And now, my work is done, which neither [[Jove]]
Nor flame nor sword nor gnawing time can fade.
That day, which governs only my poor frame, 
May come at will to end my unfixed life,
But in my better and immortal part
I shall be borne beyond the lofty stars
And never will my name be washed away.
Where Roman power prevails, I shall be read;
And so, in fame and on through every age
(If bards foretell the truth at all), I'll live.{{sfn|Soucy|2023|p=xxx}}}}

===Books===
[[File:Pygmalion (Raoux).jpg|thumb|upright|A depiction of the story of [[Pygmalion (mythology)|Pygmalion]], ''Pygmalion adoring his statue'' by [[Jean Raoux]] (1717)]]

* '''Book I''' – [[Greek mythology#Origins of the world and the gods|The Creation]], the [[Ages of Man]]kind, the [[Flood myth|flood]], [[Deucalion]] and [[Pyrrha]], [[Apollo]] and [[Daphne]], [[Io (mythology)|Io]], [[Phaethon|Phaëton]].
* '''Book II''' – Phaëton (''cont.''), [[Callisto (mythology)|Callisto]], the [[Lycius (son of Clinis)|Raven]] and the [[Corone (crow)|Crow]], [[Ocyrhoe]], [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]] and [[Battus (mythology)|Battus]], the envy of [[Aglaurus, daughter of Cecrops|Aglauros]], [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]] and [[Europa (mythology)|Europa]].
* '''Book III''' – [[Cadmus]], [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]] and [[Actaeon]], [[Semele]] and the birth of [[Dionysus|Bacchus]], [[Tiresias]], [[Narcissus (mythology)|Narcissus]] and [[Echo (mythology)|Echo]], [[Pentheus]] and Bacchus.
* '''Book IV''' – The daughters of [[Minyas (mythology)|Minyas]], [[Pyramus and Thisbe]], [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]] and [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]], the [[Sol (Roman mythology)|Sun]] in love ([[Leucothoe (daughter of Orchamus)|Leucothoe]] and [[Clytie (Oceanid)|Clytie]]), [[Salmacis]] and [[Hermaphroditus]], [[Minyades|the daughters of Minyas transformed]], [[Athamas]] and [[Ino (Greek mythology)|Ino]], the transformation of [[Cadmus]], [[Perseus]] and [[Andromeda (mythology)|Andromeda]].
* '''Book V''' – Perseus' fight in the palace of [[Cepheus, King of Aethiopia|Cepheus]], [[Minerva]] meets the [[Muse]]s on [[Mount Helicon|Helicon]], the rape of [[Proserpina]], [[Arethusa (mythology)|Arethusa]], [[Triptolemus]].
* '''Book VI''' – [[Arachne]]; [[Niobe]]; the [[Lycian peasants]]; [[Marsyas]]; [[Pelops]]; [[Tereus]], [[Procne]], and [[Philomela]]; [[Boreas (god)|Boreas]] and [[Orithyia (Athenian)|Orithyia]].
* '''Book VII''' – [[Medea]] and [[Jason]], Medea and [[Aeson]], Medea and [[Pelias]], [[Theseus]], [[Minos]], [[Aeacus]], the plague at [[Aegina]], the [[Myrmidons]], [[Cephalus (son of Deione/Deioneus)|Cephalus]] and [[Procris]].
* '''Book VIII''' – [[Scylla (daughter of Nisus)|Scylla]] and [[Minos]], the [[Minotaur]], [[Daedalus]] and [[Icarus]], [[Perdix (mythology)|Perdix]], [[Meleager]] and the [[Calydonian Boar]], [[Althaea (mythology)|Althaea]] and [[Meleager]], [[Achelous]] and the [[Nymph]]s, [[Baucis and Philemon|Philemon and Baucis]], [[Erysichthon of Thessaly|Erysichthon]] and his daughter.
* '''Book IX''' – Achelous and [[Hercules]]; Hercules, [[Nessus (mythology)|Nessus]], and [[Deianira]]; the death and apotheosis of Hercules; the birth of Hercules; [[Dryope (daughter of Dryops)|Dryope]]; [[Iolaus]] and the sons of [[Callirrhoe (daughter of Achelous)|Callirhoe]]; [[Byblis]]; [[Iphis#Daughter of Ligdus|Iphis]] and Ianthe.
* '''Book X''' – [[Orpheus and Eurydice]], [[Cyparissus]], [[Ganymede (mythology)|Ganymede]], [[Hyacinth (mythology)|Hyacinth]], [[Pygmalion (mythology)|Pygmalion]], [[Myrrha]], [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]] and [[Adonis]], [[Atalanta]].
* '''Book XI''' – The death of [[Orpheus]], [[Midas]], the foundation and destruction of [[Troy]], [[Peleus]] and [[Thetis]], [[Daedalion]], the cattle of Peleus, [[Ceyx]] and [[Alcyone]], [[Aesacus]].
* '''Book XII''' – The expedition against Troy, [[Achilles]] and [[Cycnus of Kolonai|Cycnus]], [[Caeneus|Caenis]], the battle of the [[Lapiths]] and [[Centaur]]s, [[Nestor (mythology)|Nestor]] and Hercules, the death of Achilles.
* '''Book XIII''' – [[Ajax the Great|Ajax]], [[Odysseus|Ulysses]], and the arms of Achilles; the [[Trojan War#Sack of Troy|fall of Troy]]; [[Hecuba]], [[Polyxena]], and [[Polydorus of Troy|Polydorus]]; [[Memnon (mythology)|Memnon]]; the pilgrimage of [[Aeneas]]; [[Acis and Galatea]]; [[Scylla]] and [[Glaucus]].
* '''Book XIV''' – Scylla and Glaucus (''cont.''), the pilgrimage of Aeneas (''cont.''), the island of [[Circe]], [[Picus]] and [[Canens (mythology)|Canens]], the triumph and apotheosis of Aeneas, [[Pomona (mythology)|Pomona]] and [[Vertumnus]], the [[Messapian shepherds|Messapian shepherd]], legends of early [[Rome]], the apotheosis of [[Romulus and Remus|Romulus]].
* '''Book XV''' – [[Numa Pompilius|Numa]] and the foundation of [[Crotone]], the doctrines of [[Pythagoras]], the death of Numa, [[Hippolytus (son of Theseus)|Hippolytus]], [[Cipus]], [[Asclepius]], the apotheosis of [[Julius Caesar]], [[epilogue]].{{sfn|Melville|2008|pp=vii–viii}}