The Metamorphoses

Homer
1. 3-4 - Theban Cycle
  1. Narcissus + Echo
2. 12-15 - Aeneid
3. Focus on marginal characters
Proem
1. 'deducite'
  1. Cf Catullus
  2. Continuity
    1. O is eternal poet
Narrators
1. Characters
  1. Biases
  2. Ideologies
  3. Change
2. Mixed audiences
3. Tapestry of Epyllia
Themes
1. Crime/Punishment
  1. Artists
2. The Battlefield
  1. Violence not on it
    1. Cf Odyssey
  2. Nestor
    1. Battle at wedding
  3. Martial prowess not everything
    1. Phineus + kleos
3. Heroes
  1. Theseus
    1. Must listen
  2. Achilles
    1. Victory over Cygnus
    2. Effeminacy
  3. Women
    1. Impinge on men
      1. Eg boar hunt
    2. Not all sexual victims
      1. But disaster
    3. Words (metis)
      1. Cf Jason/Odysseus
      2. Eg Medea
  4. Artists
    1. Challenging power
      1. Skill is no substitute
    2. Aristeia
      1. Work of art
    3. Ovid only one unscathed
4. Fate?
5. Rumour
  1. tradition is self-serving
    1. Not all stories should be believed
  2. Aeneid 4
  3. Homer = rumours from soldiers
    1. O's narrators are unreliable
      1. Nestor
Gods
1. Sexual violence
  1. Comic
    1. Eg Apollo/Jupiter
  2. Outdoors
    1. Beauty of landscape
2. Jupiter
  1. Excessive anger
    1. Evaluate justice
  2. Cf Iliad
  3. Link with Augustus
    1. 'Palatine'
    2. Death of Caesar simile
3. Isis
  1. Compassionate
Contests
1. Pierides vs Muses
  1. Gigantomachy
  2. Short vs long
  3. Dis hit by cupid
    1. Cf Dido/Medea
  4. Magpies
2. Arachne vs Minerva
  1. Closer
  2. Cf Jason's cloak/bed cover
  3. Symmetry vs asymmetry
  4. Classic vs neoteric
  5. Audience judge
Song of Orpheus
1. Argonaut
  1. Music drowned out Sirens
2. Tragedy of Virgil's Orpheus
Ring composition
1. Ends with council of gods

Next up

The Metamorphoses

Description

Resource summary

Similar

	Created by emily.mann almost 11 years ago