Ovid, Metamorphoses (3.511–733)
Latin Text with Introduction, Commentary, Glossary of Terms, Vocabulary Aid and Study Questions
Ingo Gildenhard, Andrew Zissos
- 242 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
Ovid, Metamorphoses (3.511–733)
Latin Text with Introduction, Commentary, Glossary of Terms, Vocabulary Aid and Study Questions
Ingo Gildenhard, Andrew Zissos
About This Book
This part of Ovid's 'Theban History' recounts the confrontation of Pentheus, king of Thebes, with his divine cousin, Bacchus, the god of wine. Notwithstanding the warnings of the seer Tiresias and the cautionary tale of a character Acoetes (perhaps Bacchus in disguise), who tells of how the god once transformed a group of blasphemous sailors into dolphins, Pentheus refuses to acknowledge the divinity of Bacchus or allow his worship at Thebes. Enraged, yet curious to witness the orgiastic rites of the nascent cult, Pentheus conceals himself in a grove on Mt. Cithaeron near the locus of the ceremonies. But in the course of the rites he is spotted by the female participants who rush upon him in a delusional frenzy, his mother and sisters in the vanguard, and tear him limb from limb.This course book offers a wide-ranging introduction, the original Latin text, study aids with vocabulary, and an extensive commentary. Designed to stretch and stimulate readers, Gildenhard and Zissos's incisive commentary will be of particular interest to students of Latin at AS and undergraduate level. It extends beyond detailed linguistic analysis to encourage critical engagement with Ovid's poetry and discussion of the most recent scholarly thought.
Frequently asked questions
Information
Acknowledgements
Statue of Ovid in Constanţa, Romania. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Constanta_-_Ovid-Platz_-_Statue_des_Ovid.webp
Abbreviations
Symbols and Terms
§ | Indicates a section (e.g. of the Introduction or of a reference work). |
* | Indicates a term defined in either Appendix 1 (Versification) or Appendix 2 (Glossary of Rhetorical and Syntactic Figures). |
⌣ | Indicates a syllable that scans short (for details of scansion, see Appendix 1). |
— | Indicates a syllable that scans long (for details of scansion, see Appendix 1). |
CE/BCE | Common Era/Before Common Era (a designation for the calendar year, equivalent to AD/BC). In this volume CE should be assumed when no indication is provided. |
Comm. | Refers to the Commentary in this volume. |
Intro. | Refers to the Introduction (normally with following section specification). |
n. | Refers to an entry in the Commentary (normally with preceding line specification). |
Reference Works
AG | Allen and Greenough’s New Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges , edited by J. B. Greenough, G. L. Kitteredge, A. A. Howard, and B. L. D’Ooge (Boston, 1903). |
CIL | Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (Berlin, 1862). |
L-S | A Latin Dictionary, edited by C. T. Lewis and C. Short (Oxford, 1879). |
LSJ | A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th edition, with Supplement, edited by H. J. Liddle and R. Scott, revised by H. S. Jones (Oxford, 1968) |
OLD | Oxford Latin Dictionary, edited by P. G. W. Glare (Oxford, 1968–82). |
TLL | Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (Leipzig, 1900). |
Grammatical Terms
abl. | ablative (similarly nom. = nominative; gen. = genitive; dat. = dative; acc. = accusative) |
act. | active voice (similarly pass. = passive voice) |
fut. | future tense (similarly perf. = perfect; pres. = present; etc.) |
indic. | indicative (similarly subjunct. = subjunctive) |
part. | participle |
pers. | person |
pl. | plural (similarly sing. = singular) |
Ancient Literature
Apollod. | Apollodorus, Bibliotheca (Library) | |
Ap. Rhod. | Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica | |
Apul. | Apuleius | |
Met. | Metamophoses (or Golden Ass) | |
Arat. | Aratus | |
Phaen. | Phaenomena | |
Cat. | Catullus, Carmina (Poems) | |
Cic. | Cicero | |
Fam. | Epistulae ad Familiares (Letters to his Friends) | |
Leg. | De Legibus (On the Law) | |
Nat. D. | De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods) | |
Enn. | Ennius | |
Ann. | Annales (Annals) | |
Eur. | Euripides | |
Bacch. | Bacchae | |
Hdt. | Herodotus, Histories | |
Hes. | Hesiod | |
Op. | Opera et Dies (Works and Days) | |
Hom. | Homer | |
Il. | Iliad | |
Od. | Odyssey | |
Hor. | Horace | |
Carm. | Carmina (Odes) | |
Epod. | Epodes | |
Hyg. | Hyginus | |
Fab. | Fabulae | |
Hymn. Hom. | Homeric Hymns | |
Liv. | Livy, Ab urbe condita | |
Luc. | Lucan, Bellum Civile (Civil War) | |
Lucr. | Lucretius, De Rerum Natura | |
Mart. | Martial | |
Ep. | Epigrams | |
Ov. | Ovid | |
Am. | Amores | |
Ars | Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love) | |
Fast. | Fasti | |
Her. | Heroides | |
Met. | Metamorphoses | |
Trist. | Tristia | |
Plaut. | Plautus | |
Cas. | Casina | |
Merc. | Mercator | |
Plin. | Pliny (the Elder) | |
NH | Naturalis Historia (Natural History) | |
Plut. | Plutarch | |
Caes. | Caesar | |
Prop. | Propertius, Carmina (Poems) | |
Sen. | Seneca (the Younger) | |
Oed. | Oedipus | |
Serv. | Statius | |
Ach. | Achilleid | |
Silv. | Silvae | |
Theb. | Thebaid | |
Suet. | Suetonis | |
Aug. | Divus Augustus (Life of Augustus) | |
Theoc. | Theocritus | |
Id. | Idylls | |
Val. Max. | Valerius Maximus | |
Val. Flacc. | Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica | |
Varr. | Varro | |
Ling. | De Lingua Latina (On the Latin Language) | |
Virg. | Virgil | |
Aen. | Aeneid | |
Ecl. | Eclogues | |
G. | Georgics |
INTRODUCTION
1. Ovid and His Times
Maeonides2 nullas ipse reliquit opes’.
motus eram dictis, totoque Helicone3 relicto
scribere temptabam verba soluta modis.
sponte sua carmen numeros veniebat ad aptos,
et quod temptabam dicere versus erat.
(Trist. 4.10.21–26)
My father often said, ‘Why try a useless
Vocation? Even Homer left no wealth’.
So I obeyed, all Helicon abandoned,
And tried to write in prose that did not scan.
But poetry in metre came unbidden,
And what I tried to write in verses ran.
(tr. Melville)
Time-line | Historical Events | Ovid's Biography | Literary History |
50s BCE | Catullus, Lucretius | ||
44 | Julius Caesar murdered | ||
43 | Cicero murdered | Ovid born | |
30s | [Gallus Amores 1-4 (lost)], Horace Epodes | ||
35 | Virgil Eclogues Horace Satires 1 | ||
31 | |||
29 | Virgil Georgics | ||
27 | Octavian becomes 'Augustus' | ||
Early 20s | Livy 1-10 | ||
20s | Propertius 1-3, Tibullus, 1, Horace Odes 1-3, Epistles 1 | ||
19 | Virgil Aeneid, Tibullus 1-2 | ||
18 | Leges Iuliae (initial Augustan marriage legislation) | ||
17 | Horace Carmen Saeculare | ||
16 | Propertius 4 | ||
10s-0s | Amores 1-3, Heroides, Medicamina faciei femineae, Medea (a lost tragedy) | Horace Ars Poetica, Epistles 2, Odes 4 | |
2 BCE | Ars Amatoria 1-2 | ||
1 CE | Birth of Jesus | ||
2 | Ars Amatoria 3 and Remedia Amoris | ||
4 | Augustus adopts Tiberius | ||
8 | Scandal at court; Augustus relegates Ovid to Tomi on the Black Sea | Finished just before the relegation (?): Metamorphoses 1-15, Fasti 1-6 | |
8-17 | Tristia 1-5, Epistulae ex Ponto 1-4, Ibis, Double Heroides | ||
14 | |||
Manilius Astronomica | |||
Ovid dies | Livy dies |