Ovid: Metamorphoses
09/25/2018
The Metamorphoses is a a Latin narrative poem in fifteen books by Publius Ovidius Naso (43 BC-17/18 CE), better known in English as Ovid. The theme of transformation unites a disparate collection of legendary stories which progress from the beginning of the universe to the deification of Julius Caesar. In some tales, however, the metamorphosis is a minor element in the story, leading many scholars to look for other interpretations of the poem.
Notable English translations in the public domain include the 1567 edition of Arthur Golding, the version known to Shakespeare, who mentions no classical poet in his works except for Ovid; an edition by George Sandys in the 1620s, and the 1717 edition of Sir Samuel Garth, whose translators included John Dryden, Joseph Addison, Alexander Pope and William Congreve as well as Garth himself.
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Free online texts
Elizabethan Authors: The Fifteen Books of Ovid's Metamorphoses, translated by Arthur Golding. HTML format.
Gutenberg: The Metamorphoses of Ovid, translated by Henry T. Riley (1893). Multiple formats.
Internet Archive: Shakespeare's Ovid, translated by Arthur Golding, edited by W.H.D. Rouse. Multiple formats.
Internet Classics Archive: Metamorphoses, translated by Sir Samuel Garth, John Dryden, et al. HTML and TXT formats.
Latin Library: Metamorphoses. Latin text. HTML format.
Loebulus: L042 - Ovid -- Metamorphoses I: Books 1-8. L043 - Ovid -- Metamorphoses II: Books 9-15. Public domain Loeb edition. PDF format.
Open Book Publishers: Ovid, Metamorphoses, 3.511-733. Latin Text with Introduction, Commentary, Glossary of Terms, Vocabulary Aid and Study Questions. HTML and PDF formats free, others paid.
Perseus: Latin text with Golding and Brookes More translations. HTML and XML format.
Poetry in Translation: The Metamorphoses, translated by A.S. Kline (2000). Multiple formats.
Sacred Texts: Metamorphoses, translated by Garth et al. HTML format.
Theoi: Metamorphoses, translated by Brookes More (1922). HTML format.
University of Adelaide (Internet Archive): Ovid's Metamorphoses, translated by Garth et al. Multiple formats.
University of Virginia Library: The Metamorphoses. Multiple texts and other resources.
Wikisource: Latin text and English translations. HTML and other formats.
BBC Radio 3 The Essay: Five Stories From Ovid's Metamorphoses.
BBC Radio 4 In Our Time: Metamorphosis. Melvyn Bragg with A S Byatt, and Dr Catherine Bates.
Internet Archive: Ovid's Metamorphoses, Latin and English readings by Rafi Metz
Librivox: Metamorphoses - public domain audiobook.
Literature and History: Changes of Shape - Ovid's Metamorphoses, Books 1-5 | A Curious Passion, Books 6-10 | All is in Flux, Books 11-15. Podcast by Doug Metzger.
Other Resources
Apollo: Ovid’s Metamorphoses is the ultimate sourcebook for artists, by Tim Smith-Laing. 22 April 2017.
Ancient-literature.com: Metamorphoses - summary and analysis.
British Library: Ovid's Metamorphoses.
The Conversation: Guide to the classics: Ovid’s Metamorphoses and reading rape, by Marguerite Johnson.
EDSitement: Ovid's Metamorphoses: Lesson plans.
JSTOR: The Creation Story in Ovid Met. I, Frank Egleston Robbins, Classical Philology, Vol. 8, No. 4 (Oct., 1913), pp. 401-414.
Guardian: Change is in the air, review of David Raeburn's verse translation, by Nicholas Lezard. 14 February 2004.
Medium: Ovid's Metamorphosis, by Gerald R. Lucas.
Medium/In Media Res: The Epic of the Sufferers, by John Byron Kuhner.
New Yorker: Reading Ovid in the Age of #MeToo, by Katy Waldman, February 12, 2018.
New York Times: Ovid's Metamorphoses - new edition of Sandys translation reviewed by John Hollander. 15 August 1971.
Ovid's Metamorphoses, an introduction and commentary by Larry A. Brown.
Ovid's Metamorphoses - blog by Tom Matrullo.
Pants on Fire: Ovid's Metamorphoses - theatrical production.
Poetry in Translation: A Honeycomb For Aphrodite - Reflections On Ovid’s Metamorphoses, by A.S. Kline (2003). Multiple formats.
The Paris Review: An Ovidian Taste Test - The Old Verse Translations of Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’, by Anthony Madrid. 29 August 2018.
Society for Classical Studies: Transforming Violence in Ovid's Metamorphoses, summary of paper by Rachel Cullick.
University of Cambridge: Metamorphoses - Tales of Change. Teaching materials.
Wikipedia: Metamorphoses - List of Metamorphoses characters - Cultural influence of Metamorphoses.
The Great Conversation: Further reading at Tom's Learning Notes
Homer: The Iliad - The Odyssey
Hesiod: The Theogony - Catalogue of Women
Epic Cycle: Cypria - Aithiopus - The Little Iliad
Sophocles: Women of Trachis - Ajax
Euripides: The Bacchae - Medea - Hippolytus - The Trojan Women - Hecuba
Apuleius: The Golden Ass
Bocaccio: L'Amorosa Fiammetta
Geoffrey Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales - The Book of the Duchess.
William Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream - Romeo and Juliet - Titus Andronicus - The Tempest - Venus and Adonis
Luis de Góngora: La Fábula de Polifemo y Galatea
Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Pygmalion
John Milton: Paradise Lost
George Bernard Shaw: Pygmalion
Latin Resources: Online materials for learning Latin.
Bloom's Western Canon: The Metamorphoses is listed.
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