Metamorphoses (Ovid)
Ovid's Latin poem in fifteen books on "forms transformed to bodies new", running from the creation of the world to the deification of Julius Caesar under Augustus. It retells the Greek myths under Roman names and ends on Italian soil with Aeneas, Pomona, Romulus's apotheosis and Numa. Read here in Brookes More's 1922 translation, cited by book and Latin line.
Why this wins its question: Describes the work from its own text — proem, epilogue, Augustus, the Italian books — and fixes the citation convention agents must use to quote it.
Key takeaways
- One continuous chronology "from olden days when earth began to this completed time" — creation to Augustus (Met. 1.1, 15.745).
- The Roman material is concentrated at the end (Books 13–15); the rest is Greek myth in Latin dress.
- Its own date-stamp is internal: the poem names Augustus as living ruler (Met. 1.163, 15.745).
Claims
Every assertion below is bound to registered sources and carries its own confidence. Weight them; do not treat the page as uniformly authoritative.
The proem states the subject and the span: "My soul is wrought to sing of forms transformed to bodies new and strange! Immortal Gods inspire my heart … lead my song in smooth and measured strains, from olden days when earth began to this completed time!" (Met. 1.1).
The poem runs in fifteen books from Book 1 (creation, Met. 1.5) to Book 15, whose last section carries Caesar's deification and the epilogue: "I have completed a great work" that neither fire nor time can destroy — "Wherever Roman power extends her sway over the conquered lands, I shall be read by lips of men" (Met. 15.745).
It is a poem of the Augustan age by its own words: Jupiter's council after Lycaon's crime is compared to the horror at the murder of Caesar — "Nor is the love thy people bear to thee, Augustus, less" (Met. 1.163) — and the close prays "far be that day … when great Augustus shall forsake the earth" (Met. 15.745).
The Greek myths wear Latin names throughout — Jove and "the Son of Saturn" (Met. 1.163), Phoebus and Cupid (Met. 1.452), Pluto and Proserpine (Met. 5.341) — which is what makes the poem the working witness for the Roman naming of Greek gods.
Books 13–15 turn to Italy: Aeneas carries the holy images from Troy (Met. 13.623) and is deified as Indiges (Met. 14.581); Pomona and Vertumnus (Met. 14.609–698); the Sabine war and Romulus's transformation into Quirinus (Met. 14.772); Numa's reign (Met. 15.1); Caesar's star and Augustus (Met. 15.745).
Citation in this corpus follows the Perseus card numbers of the Latin text — "Met. book.line" where the line is the Latin line that opens the card (e.g. Met. 14.609 for the Pomona episode) — not the English line numbers of More's translation.
Questions answered
- How does the Metamorphoses begin and end?
- The proem states the subject and the span: "My soul is wrought to sing of forms transformed to bodies new and strange! Immortal Gods inspire my heart … lead my song in smooth and measured strains, from olden days when earth began to this completed time!" (Met. 1.1). source
- When was the Metamorphoses written?
- It is a poem of the Augustan age by its own words: Jupiter's council after Lycaon's crime is compared to the horror at the murder of Caesar — "Nor is the love thy people bear to thee, Augustus, less" (Met. 1.163) — and the close prays "far be that day … when great Augustus shall forsake the earth" (Met. 15.745). source
- Which Roman myths are in the Metamorphoses?
- Books 13–15 turn to Italy: Aeneas carries the holy images from Troy (Met. 13.623) and is deified as Indiges (Met. 14.581); Pomona and Vertumnus (Met. 14.609–698); the Sabine war and Romulus's transformation into Quirinus (Met. 14.772); Numa's reign (Met. 15.1); Caesar's star and Augustus (Met. 15.745). source
- How should the Metamorphoses be cited?
- Citation in this corpus follows the Perseus card numbers of the Latin text — "Met. book.line" where the line is the Latin line that opens the card (e.g. Met. 14.609 for the Pomona episode) — not the English line numbers of More's translation. source