Metamorphoses

Metamorphoses is Ovid’s Latin narrative poem that joins stories of transformation into a continuous movement from creation towards the Roman world. Across fifteen books, one narrative leads into another through speakers, places, family connections, and recurring changes of form. Familiar episodes include Daphne’s transformation, the story of Phaethon, and the flood survived by Deucalion and Pyrrha. Ovid varies the scale and tone of these accounts, moving between wonder, pathos, humour, and violence. The poem’s narrative abundance and vivid images made it a major source for later European literature and visual art.