Metamorphoses
Ovid's epic of transformation, weaving some 250 myths from creation to the deification of Caesar into one continuous poem.
Core Characteristics
- Completed around AD 8, in fifteen books of dactylic hexameter.
- Every episode turns on a change of form: Daphne to laurel, Narcissus to a flower, the walls of Tyre to blood.
- Its witty, humane retellings became the principal channel of Greek myth to medieval and Renaissance Europe.
Related Concepts & Sources
Metamorphosis, Roman, Creation from Chaos