PURPOSE: The purpose of this course is to wallow in

the wit and wonder of the Metamorphoses, to examine Ovid's style, his times, his place in the epic tradition and his lasting influence on Western Civilization.

REQUIRED TEXTS: Anderson, Ovid's Metamorphoses: Books 1-5

(University of Oklahoma Press; 1998)

Anderson, Ovid's Metamorphoses: Books 6-10 (University of Oklahoma Press; 1999)Humphries, Ovid Metamorphoses

(Indiana University Press; 1955)

GRADING:Participation 15%

Presentations 10% Quiz(es) 15%

Exam 20%Paper 20%Final Exam 20%

Participation Come to class, Be Prepared, Contribute to class discussion Presentations

2 scheduled: Sandys 1640ed. Illustrations, Research Paper.

Quiz(es) Monday, February 9th Quiz over entire Metamorphoses, Identification of stories from quotes and illustrations. Essay.

v Only one Quiz scheduled, but reserve the option for additional quizzes if necessary

Exam Monday March 15th Translation, Parsing, Metrics, Short Essay

Paper: Research paper on selected topic due May 3rd. An initial abstract with working bibliography is due March 29th.

Final Exam

Wednesday, May 12th. Translation, Parsing, Metrics, Essay

Vita43BC Born March 20, in Sulmoc.29BC Studies law at Rome with rhetoricians

Arellius Fuscus and Porcius Latro.

Frequents poetry recitals by Vergil, Horace, Tibullus, PropertiusOn track for a career in the Senate

(tresviri monetales/capitales, decemuiri stlitibus iudicandis)

25BC Participates in literary circle of Messalla (Propertius)

22-21BC Publishes Amores15BC Publishes Heroides 12-7BC Publishes Amores 2nd edition2BC-AD2 Publishes Ars Amatoria, Remedia

AmorisAD2 Fasti, Metamorphoses in progressAD8 Relegated to Tomis (carmen et error)AD9-12 Ibis, TristiaAD13 Epistulae ex PontoAD17/18 Dies in exile

carmen et errorThough two crimes, a song and mistake, have

destroyed me,

on the cause of the one deed I have to remain silentfor I am not worthy of reopening your wounds, Caesar,It is more than enough that you have been pained

once. The other charge remains: I am accused of becoming by a shameful song a teacher of obscene adultery. Tristia 2.207

• Was the carmen his Ars Amatoria ?

"Why did I see anything? Why did I make my eyes guilty? Why did I recklessly learn of a sin?"

Tristia 2.103-104

Metamorphoses: nachleben

ü = Negative comments in 1st c. writers: Seneca the Elder (licentiam carminum), Aemilius Scaurus (Ovidius nescit quod bene cessit relinquere), Quintillian lascivia

ü = Influenced Neronian authors: Seneca the Younger,

Lucan ü (sententiae, analysis of psychological dilemmas,

fearsome allegorical figures, ü eye for the grotesque, thematic emphasis

on reversed values)

ü = Graffiti in Pompeii and Herculaneum attest to his popularity

ü = Popularity continues throughout antiquity.

Metamorphoses: nachleben

ü = Medieval rediscovery of poetry: 12th c. described as aetas Ovidiana

ü numbers of Ovid mss rival the Bible; (400 before the time printing began)

ü poets in Italy, Spain & France lived and breathed Ovid

ü = In England Chaucer, Milton, Shakespeare (to name but a few) knew and used Ovid’s Metamorphoses

ü = Painter’s Bible from 15th c. on

ü

Titian, Rape of Europa1559-62Gardner MuseumBoston, MA, US

Metamorphoses: nachleben

= 19th c. Romanticism did not value the wit and playfulness of Ovid= 20th c. academic tastes formed by 19th c.

= Resurgence of interest in Ovid at the end of the 20thcL.P. Wilkinson, Ovid Recalled (1955)

Number of scholarly works has increased dramatically in the last two decadesOvid the subject of several works of fiction. Ransmayr,The Last World (1990) Malouf, An Imaginary Life (1996) After Ovid , collection of poetic renditions of Ovid (1996) Tales from Ovid , Ted Hughes, England’s late Poet Laureate (1999) Ovid Metamorphosed, collection of fiction with Ovid as the starting points (2001)

Alison, The Love Artist (2002)

Metamorphoses

• Epicdactylic

hexameter

• mutatas formas• carmen

perpetuum epyllion

• ab origine mundi ad mea tempora

Thirteenth-century codex (bound manuscript volume) of Ovid's Metamorphoses

Brooks Otis, Ovid as a Epic Poet (1966,1970)

Structural Approach

• Divine Comedy Books I-II

Avenging Gods Books III-VI.400

• Pathos of LoveBooks VI.401-XI

• Troy to RomeBooks XII-XV