Metamorphoses

De: Ovid

Narrado por: David Horovitch

The Metamorphoses by Publius Ovidius Naso (43 B.C. - A.D. 17) has, over the centuries, been the most popular and influential work from our classical tradition. This extraordinary collection of some 250 Greek and Roman myths and folk tales has always been a popular favorite, and has decisively shaped western art and literature from the moment it was completed in A.D. 8.

The stories are particularly vivid when read by David Horovitch, in this new lively verse translation by Ian Johnston.

Download the accompanying reference guide.Public Domain (P)2012 Naxos AudioBooks

Fantastic!

I put off reading Ovid for far too long; this outstanding audio version from Naxos finally pulled me in. Metamorphoses is a wide-ranging account of Greek mythology, focusing on changes. Sometimes the changes are simple changes in fortune, "from good fortune to bad," as Aristotle put it, but often they are changes in physical form: a rape victim is transformed into a bird, a self-obsessed youth is transformed into a flower. Jason and Medea are here; so are Achilles, Ulysses, Aeneas, and many of the Roman gods. The versions of myths given here underlie many of the references in Shakespeare and Dante. Listening to this audiobook is like finally getting past the footnotes to a rich primary source.

It doesn't hurt that David Horovitz's voice is wonderful - almost a physical pleasure to listen to. The translation is by Ian Johnston, who has provided, both online and through Naxos, wonderful versions of Homer.

Ovid's poem is famous for the subtle transitions from one story to the next. They are, at times, almost imperceptible; you start out listening to a story about Orpheus and Eurydice and suddenly realize Orpheus is now telling a story about Venus and Adonis. (And maybe within that story, Venus in turn tells a story about Atalanta.) It sounds more confusing than it is, but you do have to pay careful attention. I recommend keeping a table of contents handy. The PDF that comes with the audiobook provides a useful track listing, and there are other outlines of the structure available on the Internet.

For those whom love myths

If you could sum up Metamorphoses in three words, what would they be?

Important, because this is one of the only remaining primary sources of Greco-Roman mythology
Consistent, because it has a constant theme of change through out the work
Propaganda, because the last book is so obviously that. The Roman Empire was changing from a republic to a Pricipate and Augusts used propaganda to cement his newly created position.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Metamorphoses?

Ariadne making Athena look at the crimes the male gods of mount Olympus had committed against innocent mortal women

Have you listened to any of David Horovitch’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, but he did a wonderful job

Any additional comments?

This will be a confusing listen for anyone who is not familiar with the many names of the characters (i.e. Apollo, Phoebus), their backgrounds (i.e. The Delian God = born on the island of Delos = Apollo) and their family tree (i.e. Son of Latona, brother of Diana)

I suggest it to people who are willing to use some sort of reference or those who are already familiar with these stories

This is a very easy to understand translation otherwise and I would highly recommend to those who love mythology

Excellent, Engrossing Narration of Classic Mythology

Before listening, print a list mapping Greek gods to their Roman equivalents to avoid confusion.

The Metamorphoses is a compendium of Greek and Roman myth.

This was a tough book to get through. The story of Echo and Narcissus for example was very interesting but there were other parts that were not as exciting and I often found the narrative hard to follow. Specifically the way you would go from one story to another but have no clear ending between the two. Another thing I noticed was a great deal of the stories contained were dramatically shortened for Roman consumption with extra details that the original stories did not contain at all. I actually appreciated this because hearing extra parts of the story that happened with Hercules for example was very interesting. Many stories were like this and who today can say which story is the correct one? Due to the narrative being difficult to follow I gave one less star even though it's not the translators fault.

Greek and Roman mortals beset by the gods

In this classic there is no real plot, only a series of stories set in various places and at various times which all depict the transformation of people into other things. They get changed into birds, trees, bodies of water, monsters, stars, people of the opposite sex or hermaphrodites. The reason for the transformation may be a curse from a god or a sorceror, or a god rescuing someone from a desperate situation, a punishment for some misdeed, the result of a prophecy, honoring some noble deed, excessive grief or other emotion, or simply accidental bad luck. Many are nymphs or human girls lusted after by male gods, only rarely the result of a woman's desire. A few of the characters who aren't gods appear in more than one tale such as Hercules, not as the person being transformed, many of them only in a single story because the transformation they suffer is final. I think most of the stories come from Greece, but the last chapter concentrates on specifically Latin myths, which were less familiar to me and thus more interesting.

Besides the transformation motif, there are other recurring elements to help with the storytelling. People keep secrets from their spouses, families, and communities. Some transformations are instantaneous, such as the one caused by a glance at Medusa, while others are gradual enough that the person being transformed just starts to notice it happening, reacts with horror or amazement, and might even give their last words as a human. Mostly mortals are undergoing metamorphosis caused by a god they have no power to do anything about, but there is one goddess, Proserpina, who becomes an underworld goddess when she consumes pomegranate seeds there, and is only partially compensated for the trouble. There isn't any big discussion of the origin of the major gods or their family relations before they became gods, you just have to accept that they are realities in this world with their given traits and attitudes.

With any work of this age there is a lot of cultural adjustment the reader has to make to get into the different plots. When I told my friend that I was reading this, his reaction is that it was terribly "rapey," which isn't inaccurate. There is a fair amount of graphic violence Overall the attitude toward young women whether mortal or semi-divine is that of subjugation, which may elicit pity but almost never lead to action out of indignation. The only exception I can think of was the story of Atalanta, who is able to rise above her role through her devotion to Diana. There are other implicit attitudes toward enslaved people, the elderly, nobility, and barbarians which we might not match today. I was able to make allowances for all these differences, but other people might not want to and would find that they spoil their appreciation for the work.

I listened to an audiobook version of the work translated by Ian Johnston and narrated well by David Horovitch. I think they elevated the text for me and kept what might have been a repetitive set of myths (over two hundred) varied enough to want to keep going. I didn't really try to keep track of all of the different characters and settings but imagine that this would be hard even reading a printed version. It was not a verse setting of Ovid's work, and I like to think that someday I might take a look at the original and try to get a sense of the music of the lines to see what I missed. The narration comes in at over seventeen hours so it's hard to imagine experiencing the whole thing again, but maybe I will dip into one myth or another to refresh my memory.