Metamorphoses

Reading Metamorphoses Book 1 is an interesting departure from the previous two creation myths and flood stories. It is definitely different in the sense that the narrative as a whole does not follow the actions of one hero or group of people. In Book 1, there is a conglomeration of many smaller stories, including the creation of the earth, the flooding of the earth by Jove, the transformation of Daphne into a laurel, the transformation of Io into a heifer, and so on. The common theme of all the stories is, of course, metamorphosis. In the creation story, chaos transforms into an ordered world and in the flood story, the world full of cruel, unrighteous people transforms into a fresh, clean world inhabited by the two most righteous people. I found the creation story fascinating in the respect that it didn't discuss any god, but stressed Nature being the orderer. This seems like a pretty advanced concept for that period in time, and definitely looks like the precursor to the modern theory of evolution.

William Chiu

Book 1 of Metamorphoses seemed like a confusing, dull and long text upon reading the first few stanzas, however the poem progresses into an interesting plot which even includes comical events. Ovid's terminology and sentence usage with the object of the sentence used first made reading a hassle early on. However the appearance of many gods with different characteristics made the poem a more enjoyable read. It was fascinating how the gods possessed human-like characteristics which diminished my outlook of them as almighty beings who are always stern. The king of the gods, Jupiter or Jove demonstrates that even figures of authority can lack the ability to pass fair judgment as he causes the earth to flood because of the disrespectful actions of one person of the human race. In addition to the vices of the gods, Apollo brings the story into a funny perspective when he gropes a laurel tree which is actually a transformation of Daphne brought upon by denied lust. Metamorphoses greatly differed from the previous two creation/flood myths. The main focus of this story shifts away from the flood and leans towards the relation of gods and the inhabitants of the earth. Perhaps there is an internal message to look at the gods and laugh at their actions so a understanding can be reached that people should behave in a manner which is opposite that of the unrighteous gods, in their societies.

Metamorphoses

Metamorphoses, although similar to the other creation stories, presented some differences. The story describes the forming of the earth, to the times of corruption and follows through the ‘remake” of mankind and what follows after. It presented the gods in a more vengeful and unforgiving light. I found it interesting that after flooding the earth and wiping out mankind, for the most part, Jupiter was not remorseful at all; he was quite content with the fate that was the flood and the annihilation of the inhabitants of the earth. This is also different in the sense that it is more for storytelling, as oppose to Genesis which is more didactic and used for moralistic teaching. The subtle comparisons to real life issues were interesting to break down and relate to the story, one example being the comparison of Julius Caesar to mankind.

Metamorphoses

Unlike the Bible and the epic of Gilgamesh, I have had hard time reading Metamorphoses. It was very different in a way that it was written as a poem making hard for me to understand the flow of its story. Interestingly, in Metamorphoses, Gods like Jupiter, have human-like characteristics who feel anger, envy, greed, lust, etc. Since it was written under polytheistic culture, the gods have families and god society. The god in the bible had ultimate power to himself. However, Jupiter and other gods in Metamorphoses shares power with given title such as “god of seas, god of sky and etc” This balance of Power led to have caste system within gods, one with stronger or more effective power plays bigger roles in the society. Many intriguing differences can be found in Metamorphoses compare to the Bible and the epic of Gilgamesh.

Three Flood Stories

Even though the flood story in "Gilgamesh" was thought as a pioneer related to many other flood myths, the reason why the Gods inflicted the flood and how the heroes were selected to survive were quite different in these three epics. In "Genesis", the God decided to destroy human mainly due to his dissatisfaction of the sinners, and Noah was selected because of his faith. "Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God." (Genesis 6:9) Compare with this, the reason for the occurrence of the flood in "Gilgamesh" was explained as the overpopulation. Unlike Noah, Utnapishtim survived just depended on a random selection. When it came to "Metamorphoses", Ovid explained that the flood was the consequence of human and giants' irreverences. "They, like the seed from which they sprung, accurst, Against the Gods immortal hatred nurst, An impious, arrogant and cruel brood." In my opinion, Deucalion and his wife finally survived should just be another random selection. "But, two, the best of either sex, surviv'd" somehow implied that their survival was not that random enough as I thought. By noticed that Deucalion was a son of Prometheus, he probably had been warned and aided by his father.

Metamorphoses

Metamorphoses, by Ovid, is unique compared to both Genesis and Gilgamesh for a number of reasons, despite it being a creationist story and featuring a flood. Primarily, the location differs greatly from Sumeria or anywhere in the middle east, but instead comes from Rome. The change in location switches the pantheon to the Greco-Roman Gods, such as Jove. One of the more interesting facets of this story was how humanity repopulated the Earth, which involved the two survivors of the flood threw stones over their shoulders, and from which people would spring fully formed. Ovid points the reason for this occuring was due to the Earth Mother having unlimited potential for giving life.

Another interesting aspect of this story was the amount of unnatural acts perpitrated by the Gods against the mortals. While all stories featured the Gods punishing humanity as a whole, Metamorphoses was the only story that seemed to blame the Gods with attacking individual mortals. It seemed to make these Gods more relatable, since they too can fall prey to petty squabbles and fallacies that plague mankind as a whole.

Courtney Lum

In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the text was much different than the other texts we have read in class pertaining to the flood and creation myths largely due to the satirical tone found in much of the story. For instance the story was written in dactylic hexameter, similar to epics, however Ovid strayed from such form at times making it not quite epic form. Also we see in the beginning of the story a very real, natural creation theory explaining how the world came to be in a very factual tone, unlike Genesis and the Epic of Gilgamesh myths which claimed gods and mystical heavens were the reason the world came about. However, the main reason for the claim that Ovid was poking fun at the epics and other stories of creation and the flood was because of the way he described the second creation of humans. Instead of retelling the factual, elemental version of creation, Ovid describes an extremely different version of creation, stating humans were created through the throwing of rocks behind gods’ backs. The sudden change from realistic to fantasy can be perceived to be Ovid poking fun at texts such as Genesis and the Epic of Gilgamesh, and their telling of mystical, fantastical creations of the human world.

Metamorphoses

I enjoyed reading Metamorphoses by Ovid. I found it to be more entertaining then the Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis. I think that the may be because, at least in the case of Genesis, there was no religious background or meaning to it really. Since Metamorphoses was meant more as fiction and not religious instruction it was more appealing and intriguing. Also, Greek and Roman mythology is very interesting to me and I enjoyed the intertwining of the actual facts of Caesar into the story. I found it difficult to compare this story to the flood myths of Genesis and Giglamesh mostly because I felt that the background for it was entirely different. I also think that it was difficult because the flood story that is included in Metamorphoses is short and is almost like a passing thought in a much larger story.

Willie Ho

I did not enjoy reading the Metamorphoses by Ovid. Not only was its length intimidating, but its text was awfully unusual. Out of the three stories we have covered so far, I am sure to say that this was probably the worst. Our theme between the three stories focuses on flood-myths. However, in the large scale of words in the Metamorphoses, only a small portion of it has anything to do with the flood. It is only a brief mention of why the flood was started (Jupiter) and who (Deucalion) was responsible fore saving life from the flood. Deucalion, like Noah and Utanapishtim from The Genesis and The Epic of Gilgamesh, built an ark to preserve life from being wiped out by the flood. The difference was that only Noah and Deucalion built floods, since Utanapishtim built a boat. Although there existed a few detail differences, the main plot of the story were alike throughout all the myths. Though reading the three texts did spark a few questions left unanswered in my mind. Did all three texts make reference to the same flood? Hypothetically, if these myths were true, were Noah, Utanapishtim, and Deucalion actually the same person? Lastly, what goal did the writer of these myths have in mind? The writers of the Genesis probably had some ambition of promoting a certain morale through the text. But the reason for writing the Epic of Gilgamesh or the Metamorphoses is something I cannot understand or predict.

Ovid, Metamorphoses

Metamorphoses by Ovid was a little confusing to read because of its length and the way the story is worded. It is the creation story of how earth, man, and the world we live in today was made from nature. It is very descriptive and scientific that anyone in this modern day can relate to it and believe it. It doesn't talk about any God but only about nature. It also talks about a flood story where Jove gets angry and causes a flood because of what lycaon did. Unlike Noah's story and the Epic of Gilgamesh, the flood is not the main theme of this story. Apart from the creation and the flood, it was hard to follow the rest of the story. From "The Transformation of Daphne into a Lawrel" it was as if the story lost its main focuse.

Metamorphoses

I did not enjoy reading Ovid’s epic poem Metamorphoses. I found its text rather confusing and difficult to understand while reading along, more so than Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis. Near the beginning of the poem, Ovid begins his tale of transformations by describing how the earth, the heavens and the rest of life were created out of Chaos. This leads into the story of creation and the flood. He describes the progression of mankind to be degenerative as time advances from Gold to Silver to Brazen to the Iron Age. This notion of the progressive deterioration and corruption of mankind is interesting, as I feel it can be paralleled with modern-day man. The appalling behavior of man instigates an attempt by the giants to seize the heavens. Jove’s response to all this corruption is to unleash a great flood onto the earth, which eradicates all living things except one pious couple, Deucalion and Pyrrha. After the flood recedes, this couple repopulates the earth by obeying the commands of the goddess Themis and throw rocks over their shoulders. These rocks then transform into a new “brood” of men and women. The epic then reveals more story lines, such as Daphne and Io, creating even more confusion in my mind. It moved all over the place and seemed like it was never going to end. However, the epic did share striking similarities to the Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis.

Jordan Hernandez, Metamorphoses

Metamorphoses by Ovid begins with the creation story. It is said that the earth and the sky are created but there is some uncertainty concerning how man was created. The story progresses by introducing and explaining the different ages of mankind, including the golden, silver, bronze and iron ages. With each successive age, humanity becomes more and more corrupt, which angers the gods, particularly Jove, or Jupiter. The impression left upon him by Lycaon incites him to unleash the flood that destroys life on earth except for Deucalion and his wife. They are then left with the responsibility to repopulate the earth. The story goes on to describe the fate of Daphne and Io, who were each transformed into a laurel tree and cow respectively. This is why I did not enjoy this story. I felt as though it dragged on and the story line was all over the place. I was expecting it to concentrate on the flood and the reasons for the flood and Gods wrath, like genesis and the epic of Gilgamesh. I guess I just wasn't that interested in the rest of the story once the flood story was over. This week in class we discussed the the many similarities and differences amongst the three creation myths. It was definitely interesting to draw comparisons between each story.

Margaret Yoon

I greatly enjoyed reading Book I of Metamorphoses because I found the literary style of the text quite appealing. By utilizing dactylic hexameter, the narrative flows beautifully, making the text pleasurable in auditory terms. Also, the text does not have much repetition, unlike Genesis or Gilgamesh, which directly connects to the different purposes of the creation myths. Unlike the Bible’s intentions of spreading Christianity and acquiring followers or Gilgamesh’s objective to reinforce a sense of community and collective culture, Metamorphoses functions simply as a story and for recording. The flood stories vary in cause and reason, for God is punishing mankind for his sin in Genesis, Enlil is bringing the disaster for a greater necessity in controlling the population growth, and Jove is exercising his power, encouraged by Lycaon’s disrespect for him. Even though they have concrete differences, a notable similarity is that the survivors of each flood embody devotion or virtue, gaining a divine power’s favor. By receiving blessings from a higher power, they are able to survive and continue their lives after the calamity.

Felicia Ooi; Metamorphoses

I found Ovid’s Metamorphoses to be a poem that was really very interesting. Besides the creation story and the flood myth, Ovid gave us an insight into the lives of the gods of Lycaon’s time. A similarity to Gilgamesh would be how the many gods in both texts are portrayed as having very human-like tendencies, whereas a marked contrast with the Bible is that God is the one and only divine being who is omniscient. God in the Bible is a loving and kind God who is merciful. In constrast, the gods of Metamorphoses and Gilgamesh are a discontented and fractious bunch, and they are in constant opposition of each other. The gods in Ovid’s literary masterpiece are shown to be almost human, and Ovid writes stories about how the gods seduce humans/nymphs and turn them into non-human creatures based on their whims. Clear examples are Daphne being turned into a laurel bush and Io into a heifer.

I also found that the reference made to Caesar by Ovid piqued my curiosity. It gave me a reason to research Roman and Greek mythology and I was then able to picture the kind of comparison Ovid was trying to make between Caesar and Lycaon. Overall, I preferred reading Metamorphoses to reading Gilgamesh.