Term 3 - Lecture 7 Flashcards
Where was Ovid from? When did he live?
From Rome. Lived from 43 BCE to 17 CE
What is the favourite theme of Ovid?
Erotic love
What does metamorphoses mean?
Book of transformations
What language is the metamorphoses written is? How many books?
Written in Latin, 15 books
What time period does the Metamorphoses cover?
Creation to Augustan Rome
Essentially, what happens in Ovid’s story of creation?
First chaos. The order begins to come with separation of elements and establishment of boundaries. Then animal creation.
Finally humans are made, they ALONE can look up to heaven.
What are the four ages detailed in the Metamorphoses? Compare this to Works and Days by Hesiod.
- Golden (Saturn) - peace, abundance, spring
- Silver (Jupiter) - world of Jove, seasons, houses, agriculture
- Bronze - war
- Iron - evil, violence, greed, navigation, mining, impiety, injustice, assaults on Heaven, contemptuous of the gods
They are the same as in Works and Days, except for the Age of Heroes is 4th for WAD and Iron is 5th.
However, both go from order to chaos.
In Meta. what is the age of Kronos? What about in WAD?
Both are the golden age
Which age is Metamorphoses missing compared to WAD?
The Age of Heroes
How old is Ovid compared to Virgil?
A generation younger. He is wittier, he is extremely well-educated. He knows less about the civil wars. `
Is the metamorphoses in epic poetry style?
Yes
Does Ovid call on the muses? How does he start his poetry?
No he does not. HE is the poet, he does not need to call on anyone to give him authority.
What occurs during Ovid’s Iron Age?
- boats are made to harness the ocean (violation against nature)
- a man would kill his wife
- piety lay vanquished
What does Jove suggest to do with Ovid’s bronze age?
To wipe them out. The other gods shuttered at this idea.
What occurs in the story of Lycaon? How does Zeus punish Lycaon?
The gods assemble on EARTH. Other people gather to worship, but Lycaon resists worship, and killed another person. He served it to the gods at dinner.
Zeus punishes Lycaon by throwing a bolt of lightning at his house, which turns him into a wolf.
What is Lycaon an example of? What does his name mean?
Evil and hybris.
Name means wolfy-guy
“He took a hostage, cut his throat, boiled pieces of flesh and set them before me on a table”
Lycaon
After Zeus meets and turns Lycaon into a wolf, what does he think?
He thinks its about time to eradicate the human race
How does Zeus intend to wipe out the human race?
By using a flood
What oracle do Deucalion and Pyrrha consult?
Themis
What metamorphosis occurs in Deucalion and Pyrrha?
Stones to humans
Who is Deucalion the son of? Who is Pyrrha the daughter of?
Deucalion: Prometheus
Pyrrha: Pandora and Epimetheus
What can the flood be compared to?
The beginning of time. Everything suddenly becomes utterly chaotic
Who are the two divine archers?
Apollo and Cupid
Why are Deucalion and Pyrrha chosen to survive the flood?
Because of their virtue
Who does Cupid hit with an arrow?
He hits Apollo with a love arrow, and he falls in love with Daphne (river goddess).
Daphne is hit by Cupid with an anti-love arrow.
What does Daphne do after being hit by Cupid’s anti-love arrow?
She prays to become a perpetual virgin because she does not love Apollo. She is transformed into a laurel tree, which is symbolic of Apollo
How does Ovid make the story of Apollo and Daphne positive?
He allows Apollo to use the laurel tree as a gift as a healer
Why was Apollo hit with the anti-love arrow by Cupid?
For mocking him for being you and for being cocky about the fact that he defeated Python
What is Apollo unable to heal?
His broken heart
What is Daphne metamorphosed into?
A laurel tree
What is Lycaon transformed into?
A wolf
Who is the god of marriage?
Hymen - called to celebrate the marriage between Orpheus and Eurydice
How is Eurydice a bride of death?
She is bitten by a venomous snake and dies while walking down the isle (OMEN)
“If fate denies us this privilege for my wife, one thing is certain: I do not want to go back either triumph in the death of two”
Orpheus after Eurydice dies and he goes down into the underworld
Why does Orpheus perform katabasis?
For love. He came there not to bind Cerebus (Herakles), or steal Persephone (Theseus), but for love.
What is Hades’ condition for letting Orpheus return from the underworld with Eurydice?
That he must not look at her until he passes Avernus
What power does Orpheus’ music have in the underworld?
Pale phantoms weep, Ixion’s wheel was still, Tityus’ vultures left his liver, Tantalus tried to reach for water no more. First time in the world that the Furies wept.
It is his music that allows him to have Eurydice back
What was the “double-death”?
Orpheus “looks back in love” to ensure that Eurydice is following close behind and she is gone.
The double-death stunned Oprheus
What is the significance of the power Orpheus’ music in the underworld?
OVID is a musician. He is a poet. He is an artist. Tooting his own horn.
After the double-death of Eurydice, what does Orpheus do?
“Trouble, grief, tears were all his sustenance. He did not eat”
Many women wanted the poet for their own, but instead Orpheus gave his love to young boys only and tamed nature with his lovely music
Orpheus tames nature with his music, how do Gilgamesh and Herakles tame nature?
With their brawn. This is a key difference between the Greeks and the Romans.
What happens when Orpheus “tames nature”?
He draws all of the trees and the shade and everything towards him
What women attack Orpheus with stones?
Ciconian women
“There is our disguiser”! Compare this to something.
Ciconian women say this when they see Orpheus, similar to when Agave sees Pentheus
What happens when the Ciconian women attempt to attack and stone Orpheus?
The stone fell at his feet and asked him for pardon as he sang
How does Orpheus die?
Sparagmos (very similar to Pentheus)
Howw did the Ciconian women eventually be able to kill Orpheus?
They used percussive instruments to drown out his music.
What happens to Orpheus’ head and lyre after his death?
They are taken by a river to the island of love; Lesbos
What happened to the Maenadic women (Ciconians) who tore apart Orpheus?
They are turned into oak trees
Where does Orpheus’ soul go?
Orpheus is brought to the underworld and reunited with Eurydice
How does Julius Caesar become immortal?
Through catasterization, and through his SON, AUGUSTUS Caesar
“Therefore our Julius must be made a god to justify his son”… who is his son?
Augustus Caesar. The ruler at the time that Ovid wrote the metamorphoses.
Who is “the newest star in heaven”?
Julius Caesar
How is said to be greater: Augustus or Julius Caesar?
Augustus Caesar. Julius is deified because he has such a great son.
What happens to Julius Caesar when he dies?
He is deified
Why does Ovid say that Julius was assassinated?
Because Jove fated it to happen
“So must Atreus defer to Agamemnon, so does Theseus surpass Aegeus, Achilles Peleus, Saturn is less than Jove”
Ovid making a statement about sons surpassing fathers
In the Odyssey, Athena is on the side of Odysseus. In the Iliad, Thetis is on the side of Achilles. In Metamorphoses, who is on the side of Augustus Caesar?
Aphrodite
Will Augustus also become a god?
Yes
What occurs in the epilogue of the Metamorphoses?
Essentially, Ovid states that he will also be immortalized. He will be ABOVE the stars, not among them!!!!
How do the Metamorphoses end?
With Ovid stating that he will be living, always.
