ABSTRACT

Ovid’s Metamorphoses is a Latin reader designed to partner existing elementary Latin textbooks.

The book features thirty compelling stories, graduated in difficulty and adapted from Ovid’s epic Metamorphoses into prose. The original poem contains many different stories united thematically by the transformation which occurs in all of them; the epic features romance, seduction, humour, violence, monsters, and misbehaving gods.

Each chapter contains:

  • a Latin passage adapted from the epic
  • an accompanying vocabulary list
  • a short commentary to help with translation
  • a concise review of the specific grammar covered
  • a brief comment on a literary aspect of the poem, or featured myth.

Suitable for college students studying Latin at the elementary level, Ovid’s Metamorphoses is designed to be used alongside elementary Latin textbooks. Preserving Ovid’s language and highly vivid descriptions, this reader introduces students to the epic masterpiece, allows them to consolidate their understanding of Latin prose, and offers opportunities for literary discussion.

Christine Albright is the 2020 recipient of the CAMWS Bolchazy Pedagogy Book Award.

chapter

Introduction

chapter 1|3 pages

Creation begins

(Met. 1.5–150)

chapter 2|3 pages

Creation continues

(Met. 1.5–150)

chapter 3|5 pages

Lycaon

(Met. 1.163–252)

chapter 4|6 pages

Deucalion and Pyrrha

(Met. 1.313–415)

chapter 5|3 pages

Apollo and Python

(Met. 1.416–451)

chapter 6|6 pages

Apollo and Daphne

(Met. 1.452–567)

chapter 7|6 pages

Phaethon

(Met. 2.1–400)

chapter 8|5 pages

Cadmus and the founding of Thebes

(Met. 3.1–137)

chapter 9|5 pages

Actaeon

(Met. 3.138–252)

chapter 10|5 pages

Semele

(Met. 3.253–315)

chapter 11|4 pages

Tiresias

(Met. 3.316–38)

chapter 12|6 pages

Bacchus and Pentheus

(Met. 3.511–733)

chapter 13|6 pages

Mars and Venus

(Met. 4.167–89)

chapter 14|5 pages

Salmacis and Hermaphroditus

(Met. 4.274–388)

chapter 15|5 pages

The transformation of Cadmus

(Met. 4.563–603)

chapter 16|6 pages

Perseus and Atlas

(Met. 4.604–62)

chapter 17|5 pages

Perseus and Andromeda

(Met. 4.663–803)

chapter 18|6 pages

The rape of Proserpina

(Met. 5.346–571)

chapter 19|5 pages

Arachne and Minerva

(Met. 6.1–145)

chapter 20|6 pages

Niobe

(Met. 6.146–312)

chapter 21|6 pages

Tereus, Procne, and Philomela

(Met. 6.401–674)

chapter 22|5 pages

Boreas and Orithyia

(Met. 6.675–721)

chapter 23|5 pages

Medea’s rejuvenation of Aeson

(Met. 7.159–293)

chapter 24|6 pages

Medea’s punishment of Pelias

(Met. 7.294–349)

chapter 25|5 pages

Scylla and Nisus

(Met. 8.1–151)

chapter 26|6 pages

Pomona and Vertumnus

(Met. 14.623–771)

chapter 27|5 pages

Quirinus

(Met. 14.805–51)

chapter 28|5 pages

Cipus

(Met. 15.547–621)

chapter 29|5 pages

Aesculapius

(Met. 15.622–744)

chapter 30|6 pages

The apotheosis of Caesar

(Met. 15.745–870)