Tyler D., C. Blog Post #7: Creation in Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Hesiod’s Theogony, 2015.
In the book Ovid Metamorphoses, the story of creation depicts some similarities and differences between his beliefs and the works of several Greek Poets. Hesiod’s Theogony and Ovid’s metamorphoses are similar in how their myth about the creation of stories. Both authors have extensively discussed the creation of man, the sky, the universe, the gods, and the world. However, Theogony presents the creation of the gods more extensively compared to metamorphoses. Both stories have appreciated the use of water and the earth in creation of man. Metamorphoses include a woman in the description, whereas Theogony emphasizes how the two were created separately. I agree with this description as it consequently brings out apparent differences and similarities in the two stories.
The two texts have brought out how both Jupiter and Zeus punish humankind. Nevertheless, the two gods have punished humankind for different reasons and using different ways. For instance, the man was given fire by Prometheus, who later assists man to trick Zeus into taking a small portion of animal sacrifice in Theogony. Subsequently, Zeus punished man by using Athena, Hephaestus, and Hermes to create a Pandora. The Pandora then s released every form of word treachery from a jar. Equally, Lycaon tried to kill Jupiter while he was sleeping in Ovid Metamorphoses. Therefore, Jupiter punished humankind using a flood that was meant to wipe them out. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
Guanci, Sin R. Ovid’s Metamorphoses: Book One, a New Text Reader. Diss. University of Georgia, 2012.
The metamorphosis by Ovid is a series of several events that show how creation took and how man was punished for their evil actions. He commences the story with a four-line prologue to invoke the gods. He describes that the world originated from chaos. Several terms such as fert Mutatas, dicere are used in the texts to create relationships across the words. Fert Mutatas is translated to mean tends or inclined. Besides, Mutatas formas and nova corpora are terms used as literal devices to show how bodies change from one form to another as creation continues.
Ovid also borrows some of his ideas from the Greek and Latin poems. He shows how humankind changes from one age to another. He introduces four ages of the creation of man; golden, silver, bronze, and iron. The term Aurea is used in the text to show how the golden age, which is a time of harmony and no labour. The term Videx is also used in the legal contexts to show how the gods were the legal defenders of humankind. However, this relationship was damaged when humankind became evil. The wickedness and immorality of humankind cause Jupiter decides to destroy the entire human race. He uses a term like desposcunt, which is borrowed from the legal contexts of the Romans. The term is used when someone is demanding a criminal to be punished for their mistakes. I think the use of words from different languages shows that the ideas of Ovid are borrowed from different philosophic concepts.
Delahoyde & Hughes. ‘Ovid Metamorphoses Book 1.’’
The article begins by showing how Ovid has a different way of invoking the gods. Instead of praising them humbly, he does it weirdly and ambiguously. Besides the articles shows differences between the Metamorphoses and the Genesis stories. The article uses texts that show a more worldly view of the creation story compared to the current religious beliefs. There is a separation of elements where the gods are represented as something that is kindlier. The article presents a creation as a continuous strife that is based on western thoughts and culture. There is an elemental instability of the creation myths across different cultures. Creation is presented as something that is both cultural and scientific.
The first sign of degradation from the Golden Age to the Silver Age is depicted by the battle between the Titans and Olympians. In addition, the inclination of human beings towards war shows the Bronze Age. Finally, the Iron Age was presented by the ravaging of the earth’s bowels. It is during this age that humankind embraces bloodshed and cruelty. The change in humankind stimulates the gods to unleash their wrath on humankind for their evil deeds. The gods use floods and fire to punish human beings for their acts. However, I disagree that creation did not occur in stages that lead to dramatic changes in human behavior. Variation in human behavior resulted from a combination of several factors such as economic, cultural, and social aspects.
Robbins, Frank Egleston. “The Creation Story in Ovid Met. i.” Classical Philology 8.4 (1913): 401-414.
Ovid offers a formal description of the creation of the universe, which is similar to several cosmic theories of creation such as Anaxagoras, Empedocles, and Varro. Materials and ideas from previous authors were useful in helping Ovid come up with his arguments about creation. However, there are fundamental differences between Ovid’s views and those of the Anaxagoras theory. Besides, the Ovid metamorphoses and Empedocles have high similarity in their concepts about creation. The four elements of the universe and chaos are found in both theories. The Titan that is common in the metamorphoses is derived from the Empedocles theory. Primarily, Ovid connects creation to a particular god who has higher powers.
Moreover, Ovid has borrowed ideas from the Lucretius. For instance, both of them commence by describing the chaotic state of creation. Ovid argues that the chaos was due to conflicting elements, while Lucretius argues that atomic motions led to the chaotic state of the creation. The two also differ in that, according to Ovid, the intervention of a god brings the conflicts to an end. Lucretius brings the conflict to an end through the attraction of likes. Despite the differences between these two, I agree that the ideas of Ovid are borrowed from one or more philosophic sources.