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In Metamophoses, Ovid brings together a dazzling array of mythological tales, ingeniously linked by the idea of transformation—often as a result of love or lust—where men and women find themselves magically changed into new and sometimes extraordinary beings. Beginning with the creation of the world and ending with the deification of Augustus, Ovid interweaves many of the best-known myths and legends of ancient Greece and Rome, including Daedalus and Icarus, Pyramus and Thisbe, Pygmalion, Perseus and Andromeda, and the fall of Troy. Erudite but light-hearted, dramatic and yet playful, Metamorphoses has influenced writers and artists throughout the centuries from Shakespeare and Titian to Picasso and Ted Hughes.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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Ovid’s Metamorphoses has been on my tbr for a couple of years and I finally settled down and lost myself to the vast beauty of the tale and writing that has beneath translated by David Raeburn and provides commentary at the beginning of each book before the verse continues.Bringing together Greek and Roman mythology and legends such as Perseus, Daedalus and Hercules with characters and creatures such as Cyclopes, Centaurs, Circe, Apollo and other names that have become legendary (excuse the pun) throughout time and across religious and spiritual beliefs. Whilst the poem (and the stories this has come from) does feature some dark topics such as familial incest, murder, cannibalism, and incidents of SA that can make the reader uncomfortable? They are not graphic, and I found myself repeating to myself that Ovid did write this around 8 CE. Alongside the darker subject matters, there are some wonderful humorous moments and tales of how the Gods would gain revenge or manipulate things to get their own way. All these amazing characters from mythology have moments of being toddlers, and whilst reading Ovid’s beautiful writing; I do giggle at times.If you are a lover of Grecian and Roman mythology (which do crossover in their storytelling), the Metamorphoses is one that must be read. Raeburn adds so much to the book, helping to guide you along the 15 ‘books’ of the poem, and also provides a fascinating insight into Ovid himself. I find myself once again in awe that there's a love for these tales for so many centuries and evolutions of humanity and its society.