The Metamorphoses of Ovid, Books I-VII

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ovid, 44 BCE-18?

Contributor:

Riley, Henry T. (Henry Thomas), 1816-1878.

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource : multiple file formats

Place of Publication:

Salt Lake City, UT : Project Gutenberg,

Summary:

"The Metamorphoses of Ovid, Books I-VII" by Ovid is a classical epic poem written in the early 1st century AD. This work is a seminal collection of mythological tales from ancient Greece and Rome, exploring themes of transformation and the divine interplay between gods and humans. Through the lens of these myths, the narrative delves into the creation of the world, the origin of humankind, and the consequences of divine retribution against human behavior. At the start of the text, the focus is on the creation narrative where Chaos is ordered by the deity, giving rise to the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water, eventually leading to the creation of man. Ovid introduces the Golden Age, followed by the subsequent ages of Silver, Bronze, and Iron, illustrating humanity's gradual moral decline. The text then recounts the defiance of the Giants, who aspire to overthrow the gods, leading to their punishment and the decision to flood the earth. Among the survivors are Deucalion and Pyrrha, who are ultimately commanded to repopulate the earth after the flood by casting stones, which transform into humans, symbolizing renewal and resilience. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Credits:

Louise Hope, Steve Schulze and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Notes:

Wikipedia page about this book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamorphoses

Reading ease score: 73.4 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read.

Release date is 2007-06-08