Today we will talk about such a stunning monument of ancient art as “Metamorphoses”. Ovid was able in fifteen volumes not only to show the entire mythology of his time, but also to illustrate through this prism the life of the people around him.

Read on and you will become acquainted with such a facet as the attitude towards love. You will learn not only what types the Greeks and Romans divided this feeling into, but you will also understand the actions of deities and heroes in its embodiment.

Publius Ovid Naso

Ovid finished one of his most famous works, “Metamorphoses,” in exile. The poet does not clearly speak in his memoirs about the reason for falling into disgrace. Researchers believe that because of verses that did not agree with the opinion of the emperor.

So, who is this Roman who was able to light up the capital of the Roman Empire with love elegies, become famous and end his life in exile among the Sarmatians and Getae.

Publius Ovid Naso was born in the mountains of Central Italy. His family belonged to one of the Sabine tribes, the Pelegni. His father was rich, belonged to the “horsemen,” as the poet himself says. Thanks to the family's sufficient wealth, the boy receives an education in the best schools in the capital.

Afterwards, Ovid traveled through Greece, Asia Minor and Sicily, made friends with Horace and Propertius, and saw Virgil. Quite early he began writing poetry. The first work was “Heroids,” but he burned them in order to “cleanse” them of the coarse style.

Of the surviving works, we know “Love Elegies” as the earliest. Thanks to them, Ovid became famous in Rome. The next work was called “The Science of Love.” In fact, this is the first book in history on the now popular “pickup truck”. In it, the poet gave recommendations first to men on how to behave and woo women, and then to girls.

It is believed that it was for the “Science of Love” that Augustus sent him into exile. It was there, on the shores of the Black Sea, that Ovid finished his famous “Metamorphoses”.

The concept of love in antiquity

The ancient Greeks, like other ancient peoples, were closer to nature. They tried to understand themselves more deeply and through the prism of feelings they learned about the world around them.
Aristotle also identified six types of love with proper names. We'll talk about them now.

The first was “ludus” - a game of love. It is characterized as pure attraction, without feelings. Experiencing such sensations, one of the partners strives for selfish satisfaction of his own physiological desires. The thoughts and emotions of another person are not interesting to him. This type of love occurs quite often, but after the storm of passions subsides, the one who took the “ludus” seriously

Ovid shows all such manifestations of emotions. “Metamorphoses,” a brief summary of which will be given below, will allow you to plunge into the emotional sphere of the ancient world.

“Mania” is an obsession with an object of passion. Constant suffering, reproaches and scenes of jealousy on the part of one of the partners. This is a perverted concept of feelings, when at the psychological level there is a combination of the sensations of love and pain.

The next type is “pragma”. This is where the concept of pragmatism comes from. In such relationships, feelings and emotions fade into the background. First of all, the partner is interested in the practical side of their future life together. Does the wife cook well, does the husband earn a lot.

“Storge” is similar to “philia” - tender love-friendship. Mutual understanding, help, warm, even relationships. If you want an explosion of feelings and renewed emotions, you will never get them here.

The last type is “agape”. It is considered the highest stage of manifestation of love. The first Christians called her divine. This feeling is characterized by complete dedication. The partner lives only for the sake of the other person. He sees his happiness solely in the joy of his other half.

The essence of "Metamorphoses"

Let's now talk about why Ovid wrote Metamorphoses. Daedalus and Icarus, for example, about whom we know from legends, became famous solely thanks to this great poet.

He took the surrounding reality, political, social, economic relations between people and states, and expressed them in the allegorical form of ancient mythology.

The exact translation of the title of the poem is “transformation, transformation.” This is exactly what the essay talks about. Ovid had such a powerful talent that the thoughtful reader feels the effect of personal presence at the events taking place.

The poet cuts off all unnecessary details, and shows the changes in the form of a process, hiding the final result to the last. With proper visualization skills, the reader becomes a spectator.

But the problem of love is most fully expressed in Metamorphoses. This is the poet's favorite theme. He was able to express its intricacies in great detail.

You will notice how gradually by the end of the essay the characters’ actions become deeper, more conscious and spiritual. Let's look at these issues using examples from the work.

Daphne and Apollo

The poem "Metamorphoses" begins with a scene of all-consuming passion. Blinded by passion, he falls in love with a nymph. Daphne does not want to become the object of his desire and quickly runs away.

With his characteristic humor, Ovid depicts Apollo as a Gallic dog who, forgetting his dignity, gallops after a hare. And he compares his feelings to a sudden fire in a wheat field. It is these metaphors that show the depth of the poet’s life experience and his powers of observation.

The story ends with the nymph, despite Phoebus' pleas that he is the son of Jupiter and not a simple shepherd, asking for protection from her father. Peneus, the river god, turns his daughter into a tree on the bank of a stream. Apollo, seeing this turn of events, vows to make the laurel evergreen. In addition, he adorns his brow with a wreath.

Beloved of Jupiter

Researchers still have not fully understood all the subtleties that Metamorphoses offers the reader. Ovid is compared to the author of One Thousand and One Nights, because the poet in his poems interweaves the plots of different parts of the work. Those ignorant of ancient mythology will not understand many events and comparisons the first time. Therefore, it is better to read “Metamorphoses” several times.

For example, Jupiter, being the main deity of Olympus, has an inexhaustible desire for sensual love and passion. He is in constant conflict with his jealous and petty wife Juno. Many scholars believe that it was these images that outraged the Roman emperor and served as the reason for Ovid’s exile.

So, in the work we see several stories related to Jupiter. He falls in love with Io, and in order to save her from his wife’s wrath, he turns the poor girl into a cow. The god is also often depicted as intoxicated with nectar. In such scenes he behaves like the lowest plebeian.

In his stories with Zeus, Ovid often touches on issues of violence. For example, in order to woo Callisto, he has to turn to Diana, the goddess whom this priestess serves. Then he forces her to have a love affair.

Thus, in the image of a heavenly ruler, the poet shows the lowest manifestation of this type of love as “ludus”.

Levkotoya and Helios

Ovid wrote “Metamorphoses” not only to annoy the emperor. A brief summary of the following stories will make you understand that he is speaking with ridicule about the prevailing customs in the free classes of his time.

Thus, the Sun god has a jealous admirer, Clytia, daughter of Tethys and Oceanus. Helios himself falls madly in love with a mere mortal girl Leucothea, the daughter of the Persian ruler Orham.

But a stupid and jealous woman informs the king that his daughter has lost her chastity in the arms of a stranger. The angry Orkham orders the girl to be buried alive (this custom, by the way, actually existed in the east).

Heartbroken, Helios strives to help his beloved with at least something. He turns her into gillyflower (or white violet), a fragrant flower that turns to follow the sun during the day.

Narcissus and Echo

From this story, “Metamorphoses” itself begins to change. Ovid moves from the violent and selfish love of the immortal celestials to the more pure, innocent and down-to-earth feelings of ordinary people.

The plot of the failed happiness of Narcissus and the nymph Echo shows high emotions inaccessible to the gods. So, the young man has unearthly beauty. But the trouble is that he only loves his reflection. Wandering around Greece, Narcissus comes to a lake hidden in a forest surrounded by mountains.

The water in it is so pure that the young man cannot simply tear himself away from what he sees in it. The conflict lies in the fact that the nymph Echo notices him and falls madly in love with him. But the girl cannot express her thoughts. She was cursed by Juno for her talkativeness, which prevented Echo from keeping track of Jupiter.

Now the poor nymph can only repeat the end of the other person's sentence. But still, the girl, inspired by love, manages to confess her feelings to Narcissus. He does not reciprocate, since he does not see anyone except his reflection. The guy eventually turns into the eponymous flower on the shore of the lake.

It is noteworthy that, according to the myth, he does not stop admiring himself in Hades. There Narcissus looks into the waters of the Styx.

Pyramus and Thisbe

If you think that Shakespeare invented the story of Romeo and Juliet, you are mistaken. Publius Ovid Naso knew this story. "Metamorphoses" describes the tragic events in the lives of Thisbe and Pyramus.

These are a young girl and a guy who lived next door. Their parents forbade them not only to show feelings for each other, but even to meet. The guys communicated through a hole in the wall of the house.

One day they secretly agreed to meet outside the city, near a crypt. But Thisbe, on the way there, saw a lioness, got scared and lost her shawl. She herself hid in the agreed upon shelter. Pyramus was walking to his beloved and saw the girl’s torn shawl on the road. He recognized her and, thinking that she was dead, stabs himself with a dagger.

When Thisbe found him, he killed himself with the same weapon. This plot is the first in the work in which the gods do not take part at all.

Hermaphroditus and Salmacis

Publius Ovid Naso did not conceive Metamorphoses as a linear work. It has unexpected twists and returns to past events. The story of Salmacis and Hermaphroditus is one of these.

The first was a nymph of a mountain lake. But she combined enchanting beauty with unsurpassed laziness. All the girl did was self-admiration and preening.

One day Hermaphroditus came to the lake. The young man, being the son of Aphrodite and Hermes, had a stunning appearance and athletic build. The nymph fell madly in love with him.

She asked the gods to unite them into one. When the young man was swimming, Salmacis wrapped herself around him, and the celestials carried out her will. From this time on, Hermaphroditus became a bisexual creature. Here there is a retrospective on the theme of violence, previously mentioned in connection with the gods.

Cephalus and Procris

Ovid told his readers many different manifestations of love. “Metamorphoses,” which we briefly analyze in our article, also show tragedy without transformation.

This happened in the history of Cephalus and Procris. These are two ordinary people, a married couple. But they had disagreements due to the husband’s doubts about the fidelity of his chosen one, which Aurora instilled in him.

With his scenes of jealousy, Cephalus drives the girl into a frenzy, and she runs away from him. But after repentance he returns.

Now it is not God who comes into play, but human helpfulness and narrow-mindedness. The servant tells Procris that he heard her husband calling Aura, the goddess of the cool breeze.

The girl decides to follow her husband, hiding in the bushes nearby. Cephalus thought that the beast was creeping up and killed his wife with a dart.

In this case, we see nothing more than a tragedy due to blindness by jealousy.

Baucis and Philemon

And Ovid Naso speaks about “agape” in his work. "Metamorphoses" mentions this most perfect one in the form of Philemon and Baucis.

This is a poor but pious married couple. They went through their entire lives together, grew old and lived out their century in a small hut.

One day Hermes and Jupiter came to visit them. Obeying tradition, the owners set the table with everything they had. They emptied their own granaries, but satisfied all the requests of strangers. In gratitude for such a warm and hospitable welcome, the gods rewarded the old people with the fulfillment of their wishes.

Baucis and Philemon asked until death to be the guardians of the temple that the celestials erected on the site of their hut, and to depart to another world on the same day. Eventually, after several years, they turned into two trees near the sanctuary. The husband is in oak, and the wife is in linden.

Keik and Alcyone

In this story, Ovid's poem "Metamorphoses" makes a turn from the divine decline of morals to the rise of mortals.

This couple is the pious king and queen. He is the son of Aurora, she is the daughter of Eol. One day Keik goes on a voyage and dies in a storm.

The story includes a story about the communication of disappointing news to Alcyone through a dream.

As a result, the couple turns into seagulls, and the consoled wife and resurrected husband fly away happily together.

Vertumnus and Pomona

The love story of the garden nymph Pomona and the god of the seasons Vertumnus. The latter is depicted as a classic hero of elegies. He is completely devoted to the object of his adoration. In the end, the young man still achieves reciprocity from his beloved.

The poem “Metamorphoses” ends on a similar happy note. Ovid, whom we tried to cite in our article, expresses in this plot the apotheosis of the triumph of the feelings of ordinary people and demigods over the selfish desires of the celestials.

Thus, today we not only talked about passions in ancient society, but also examined this area of ​​life using examples from the work of Ovid.

In the second period of his work, the great Roman poet moved from works on love themes to the creation of large works on mythological subjects: two poems - “Metamorphoses” and “Fasti”.

Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” is an epic poem that tells legends about the transformation of people into animals, as well as into objects of inanimate nature: plants and stones, springs, luminaries, etc. These myths are widespread in the folklore of various peoples. Hellenistic poets, who had a great interest in folklore and mythology, used these legends in their artistic works. Eratosthenes owns the prose essay “Catasterisms,” which expounds the myths about transformation into stars, Boyu owns the essay “On the Origin of Birds,” and Nicander and Parthenius own “Metamorphoses.” There were also catalogs of myths on this topic. Ovid used numerous sources for “Metamorphoses”: scientific and artistic works, catalogs and monuments of fine art.

Ovid. Artist Luca Signorelli, c. 1499-1502

The poem “Metamorphoses” (translated as “transformations”) consists of 15 books. This is a work with fascinating and lively content, a lot of characters, and a constant change of scene. Ovid collected about 250 different myths about transformations. To give unity to the work, the poet uses various techniques: he unites myths according to cycles (Theban, Argive, etc.), according to the similarity of characters, and according to the place of action. Ovid often comes up with connecting links between disparate legends. As a skilled storyteller, he uses frame composition techniques in Metamorphoses, putting the narrative into the mouths of various mythical heroes. This poem by Ovid begins with a story about the creation of the world from disordered chaos, and ends with the philosophical conclusion of Pythagoras. Pythagoras speaks of eternal variability and miraculous transformations occurring in the surrounding nature, and calls not to eat the meat of living creatures. Like his predecessors (Virgil, Lucretius), Ovid strives to provide a philosophical justification for his chosen theme in Metamorphoses, believing that the genre of epic, unlike elegy, requires a known concept and artistic generalizations. Ovid is interested in the psychology of various characters and the environment in which they act.

Here, in one of the scenes of “Metamorphoses,” the young Phaeton, offended by the distrust of his divine origin, wants to make sure that his father really is the Sun God. For this he goes far to the East and comes to the palace of the radiant god. The Palace of the Sun is fabulous, but in its description Ovid includes details reminiscent of the luxurious decoration of the luxurious residences of Eastern Hellenistic kings and Roman nobles. The columns of the palace are decorated with gold and precious stones; on the leaves of the silver doors there are depictions of the earth and the sea, teeming with tritons and nereids. The fairytale Sun God, seated on a throne decorated with emeralds, turns out to be a caring father in Metamorphoses. Phaeton wants to ride across the sky on a solar chariot. His father tries to dissuade him, but the stubborn young man insists on his own. Ovid describes heavenly stables and fantastic horses stamping their hooves impatiently. The chariot on which Phaeton stood seems too light to them, accustomed to carrying the powerful god of light. Having risen to the top of the sky, from which a steep descent begins, the horses stop obeying the reins and rush off the road. On the sides, terrible celestial monsters open their mouths: Cancer (the constellation Cancer), Scorpio (the constellation Scorpio), and below the distant Earth darkens. Ovid depicts how Phaethon's heart shrinks with fear, and he lets go of the reins. Here the chariot, sliding lower and lower, approaches the Earth, forests on mountain peaks light up, water boils in rivers and seas, cracks appear in the ground from unbearable heat. The Earth Goddess prays to Jupiter for salvation, and the ruler of the gods throws his lightning at Phaeton to cause the chariot to fall. Phaeton dies, falling to the ground. His sisters cry inconsolably over him and turn into poplars. Ovid gives a brief description of the transformation in Metamorphoses; it only closes the big story.

The combination of fantasy and reality is characteristic of Ovid's entire poem. The heroes of "Metamorphoses", on the one hand, are fabulous mythological figures, on the other - ordinary people. The narrative of "Metamorphoses" is not complicated by any thoughtful reasoning. Thus, in the story about Phaeton, Ovid emphasized simple, understandable to everyone, features of the inner appearance: the self-confidence of youth, the wisdom and gentle caring of maturity. This accessibility, lightness and poetry of the story ensured Ovid's Metamorphoses wide popularity in ancient and modern times. The reader of modern times usually became acquainted with ancient mythology in Ovid’s fascinating presentation through this widely known and beloved poem already in the Middle Ages. Many stories provided material for literary works, operas, ballets and paintings: a description of four centuries and a story about Apollo’s love for the nymph Daphne, who turned into a laurel tree (Metamorphoses, Book I), the myth about the handsome Narcissus, who fell in love with his own image, and the nymph Echo (III book), about the mountain Niobe, who insulted Diana (VI book), about the flight of Daedalus and Icarus (VIII book), about the sculptor Pygmalion, who created a statue of a beautiful woman and fell in love with his creation (X book) , about the tender spouses Keix and Halcyon (XI book), etc.

Ovid "Metamorphoses", 1632 edition

Transformations in Ovid's Metamorphoses are usually the result of the intervention of the gods in the fate of the heroes. Sometimes they are caused by the unjust anger of a deity or are a well-deserved punishment for an offense. Sometimes, fleeing from impending disaster, the characters in the poem themselves pray to the gods to change their appearance. Thus, the nymph Daphne, pursued by the lover Apollo, turns to her father, the river god Peneus, asking for help:

He prays: “Father, help, because the streams have power,
Change my face quickly, destroy my disastrous image!”
She finished speaking, and immediately her flexible limbs grew heavy,
The tender breasts are covered with bark, rising higher and higher.
Her hair turns into leaves, her hands into branches,
Legs - lazy roots go into the black earth.
So the face has disappeared at the top, but the beauty remains.
Phoebus still loves and, touching the trunk with his hand,
She feels how her breasts are alive and trembling under the bark.
He hugs her, he kisses the tree tenderly.
(Translated by N.V. Vulikh)

Ovid's descriptions are extremely expressive; he sees the picture he paints in every detail. This clarity of descriptions made it possible for Renaissance artists to provide editions of Metamorphoses with a series of pictorial illustrations.

Introduction.

The mythology of the ancient world is a kind of complex and multifaceted symbiosis of the mythologies of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, the first of which has the honor of creating most of the myths and legends in a modern adaptation that are more like adventure novels, the second has the glory of preserving this wealth.

The Greeks quite early switched to anthropomorphism, creating their gods in the image and likeness of people, endowing them with indispensable and enduring beauty and immortality. Many of them lived next to mere mortals and helped their pets, taking a living and direct part in their lives.

The mythology of the Greeks amazes with its colorfulness and diversity, which cannot be said about the religion of the Romans - not rich in legends and surprising in its dryness and facelessness of deities. The Italic gods never showed their will in direct contact with mere mortals.

One of the distinctive features of the mythology of Ancient Greece is its rich illustrative material: vivid mythological subjects are reflected in architecture, sculpture, wall painting, and objects of applied art.

The undoubted merit of Ancient Rome, which had its own rather meager mythology, was in the perception, popularization and preservation of Greek mythology, in turning it into Greco-Roman: most of the brilliant works of Greek sculptors can only be seen by humanity thanks to their Roman copies; the poetic creations of the Greek people were preserved for us by Roman poets; many mythological subjects became known thanks to Ovid’s poem “Metamorphoses”.

The work of Ovid in the first years of our era. e. before his exile (the second period of his work) is marked by significantly new features, since he tries here to praise the growing empire, without neglecting any flattery regarding Caesar and Augustus and the exaltation of Roman antiquity. It can be said frankly that he does it quite poorly. However, the old love theme, while continuing to play a huge role, is no longer the only one and is now subject to both a new theme and a new artistic methodology.

1. "Metamorphosis".

1.1. General information.

"Metamorphoses" (or "Transformations") is the main work of this period. Here the poet used the genre of “transformation”, popular in Hellenistic literature (available in the form of the transformation of a person into animals, plants, inanimate objects, and even into stars).

But instead of small collections of myths about such transformations and instead of sketches of these latter, which we find in previous literature, Ovid creates a huge work containing about 250 more or less developed transformations, arranging them mainly in chronological order and developing each such myth in the form graceful epillium.

“Metamorphoses” did not reach us in its final processed form, since Ovid, before his departure into exile, in a fit of despair, burned the manuscript he was working on at that time. This work was preserved only because some copies of it were in the possession of the poet’s friends, who were subsequently able to restore it as a whole. Traces of incomplete revision of the work are easy to notice even now, although basically it still remains the greatest work of ancient literature, which, along with
Homer in all centuries has been the main source of acquaintance with ancient mythology for the general public and has always admired its artistic merits.

The plot of “Metamorphoses” is nothing more than the entire ancient mythology, presented systematically and, if possible, chronologically, as far as the chronology of myth was generally imagined in those days. In terms of the chronological sequence of presentation, the first and last books of Metamorphoses are the clearest.

It is in Book I that the initial and most ancient transformation is depicted, that is, the transition from a chaotic state, a disorderly accumulation of elements to the design of the world as a harmoniously arranged cosmos. This is followed by four traditional ages - golden, silver, copper and iron, gigantomania, degeneration of people and the global flood, when only Deucalion and Pyrrha remain on the top of Parnassus, from which a new humanity begins.

Ovid also attributes the murder of Python to ancient mythological history.
Apollo, the pursuit of Daphne by Apollo, the mythology of Io, Phaethon. Together with other myths of Book II, Ovid thinks of this entire ancient period of mythology as the time of King Inachus, from where the most ancient Argive mythology came.

Books III and IV of “Metamorphoses” immerse us in the atmosphere of another, also very ancient period of ancient mythology, namely they interpret Theban mythology. Here we see ancient images of Cadmus and Harmony, Actaeon,
Semele, Tiresias (III, 1-338). However, in these two books there are also such inserted episodes as the myths of Narcissus and Echo (III, 339-510), Pyramus and Thisbe
(IV, 55-167) about the exploits of Perseus (IV, 605-803).

Books V-VII date back to the time of the Argonauts. Book V contains many small episodes, and the largest is dedicated to Phineus (1-235). From Book VI, the most famous are the myths about Niobe (146-312), as well as about Philomel and
Procne (412-676). In book VII, the mythology of the Argonauts is directly devoted to the stories about Jason and Medea (1-158), Aeson (159-293), the flight of Medea
(350-397). There are also stories about Theseus and Minos (398-522).

Books VIII-IX are myths from the time of Hercules. Book VIII is famous for the myths about Daedalus and Icarus (183-235), about the Calydonian hunt (260-546), about Philomena and
Baucis (612-725). More than half of Book IX is devoted to Hercules himself and the characters associated with him - Achelous, Nessus, Alcmene, Iolaus, Iola (1-417).
Book X shines with famous myths about Orpheus and Eurydice (1-105), Cypress
(106-142), Ganymede (143-161), Hyacinth (162-219), Pygmalion (243-297),
Adonis (593-559), Atalanta (560-739). Book XI opens with a death myth
Orpheus and the punishment of the Bacchantes (1-84). Here are the myths about the gold of Midas (85-145) and the ears of Midas (146-193), as well as the story of Peleus and Thetis (221-265), elevating the Trojan mythology.

Books XII and XIII - Trojan mythology. In book XII we see images of the Greeks in Aulis, Iphigenia (1-38), Cycnus (64-145) and the death of Achilles
(580-628). Here Ovid also placed the famous myth about the battle of the Lapiths and centaurs (210-535). From Book XIII, the Trojan cycle specifically includes myths about a dispute over weapons between Ajax and Ulysses (1-398), about Hecuba (399-
575), Memnone (576-622). Ovid did not pass by the story about Polyphemus and
Galatea (705-968), known to us from Theocritus.

Books XIII-XV are devoted to the mythological history of Rome, into which, as always, individual extraneous episodes are interspersed. Ovid tries to take the official view here, deriving the Roman state from the Trojan settlers in Italy led by Aeneas. This latter, after leaving Troy, ends up on the island of Delos to King Anius (XIII, .623-704); then follow the most important episodes - about Glaucus and Scylla (XIV, 1-74), about the war with the Rutuli (445-581), about the deification of Aeneas (582-608). Book XV contains the story of one of the first Roman kings, Numa, who learns from Pythagoras and blissfully rules his state. After a series of transformations, Ovid ends his work with praise for Julius Caesar and Augustus. Both of them are the patron gods of Rome. The poet praises Augustus and speaks of his merit as the singer of Rome. Julius Caesar is ascended to heaven and transformed into a star, a comet, or even an entire constellation. Will follow him to heaven
August.

1.3. Historical background

The historical basis of Metamorphoses is clear. Ovid wanted to give a systematic presentation of all ancient mythology, arranging it according to those periods that then seemed quite real. From the vast variety of ancient myths, Ovid chooses myths with transformations. Transformation is the deepest basis of all primitive mythology. But Ovid is far from being such a naive teller of ancient myths that the motive of transformation would have any accidental or immediate significance for him. All these endless transformations to which “Metamorphoses” are devoted, arising at every step and forming a difficult-to-see heap, were not dictated by the same endless vicissitudes of fate with which the Roman history of Ovid’s time was full and from which he had an indelible impression.

It can be assumed with great certainty that it was precisely this restless and anxious mood of the poet, who did not see a solid point of support anywhere, that forced him in the field of mythology to primarily depict various kinds of vicissitudes of life, which took the form of primitive transformation.

In this penchant for mythological metamorphoses, Ovid was by no means alone. Metamorphoses are generally one of the favorite genres of Hellenistic literature. If in Hesiod, lyricists and tragedians the motive of transformation still remains within the framework of traditional mythology, then in their
"Reasons" Alexandrian poet of the 3rd century. BC e. Callimachus already widely uses this motif to explain various historical phenomena. Eratosthenes specifically wrote about the transformation of heroes into stars, and his short work on this topic has reached us. A certain Boyos composed poems about the transformation of people into birds. In the II century. BC e. Nikandr wrote in this genre
Colophonian, and in the 1st century - Parthenius of Nicaea. There was no shortage of works of this kind in Roman literature (for example, Aemilius Macrus, 1st century BC).

Of all the representatives of the genre of transformations, Ovid turned out to be the most talented and deep, also possessing an excellent verse technique.
This made his Metamorphoses a world-class work of literature. Being far from a direct belief in transformations, and even in mythology in general, Ovid, however, did not stop at simple collecting, reproducing myths only for the sake of the myths themselves. The Hellenistic-Roman literature of transformations also became a definite ideology for him, without which it would no longer be possible to judge the true historical basis of his remarkable work.

1.4. Ideology

The ideological meaning of “Metamorphoses” is sufficient. complex. Undoubtedly, in the time of Ovid, the civilized part of Roman society could no longer believe in mythology. But this generally correct assessment of Ovid’s attitude to mythology requires, however, significant detail.

Despite his skepticism, Ovid sincerely loves his mythology, it gives him the deepest joy. In addition to love for his gods and heroes, Ovid also experiences some kind of feeling of good-natured condescension towards them. He seems to consider them his brothers and willingly forgives them all their shortcomings. Even the very theoretical attitude towards myths
Ovid can by no means be characterized as simply negative. That approach to mythology, which was formulated by the poet himself in great detail and, moreover, with great seriousness, lies in what is usually - and very inaccurately - called Pythagoreanism.

The teaching that Ovid preaches was put into his own mouth
Pythagoras. There are four important ideas in this philosophical theory of Ovid:

V eternity and indestructibility of matter;

V their eternal changeability;

V based on the constant transformation of some things into others (while preserving, however, their basic Substance);

V eternal reincarnation of souls from one body to another.

It is no longer possible to call all this naive mythology, since Ovid operates here with abstract philosophical concepts. For example, mythology is most obviously used here for ideas that have enormous philosophical value and of which the first two, bordering on real materialism, are of particular importance.

Thus, if aesthetic mythology is a subject of deep joy and pleasure for Ovid, then philosophically it turned out to be for him an artistic reflection of the deepest and most basic aspects of reality.

In ideological terms, further, the cultural and historical ideas of “Metamorphoses” are of great importance. First of all, as a poet of his time, Ovid could not help but be a principled individualist. This extreme individualism is for the Hellenistic-Roman era only the reverse side of universalism. This was especially evident in Ovid’s depiction of primeval chaos and the emergence of space from it.

Here a certain “god” and “better nature” suddenly appears (I, 21), so that the construction of the cosmos is attributed to precisely this, almost personal principle; we even read about the “builder of the world” (57), in complete contradiction with Book XV, where the distribution of the elements is interpreted in a completely natural way.

At the time of Ovid, undoubtedly, some monotheistic ideas were already emerging, which forced him to introduce some kind of personal principle into his cosmogony. In “Metamorphoses” it is necessary to note the attention to a strong personality. A strong personality who dreams of mastering the vastness
Universe, depicted in Phaeton, the son of the Sun. He wanted to drive the solar chariot instead of his father, but he could not restrain the titanically rushing horses, falling from the chariot, flying through the Universe and crashing. The same
Icarus rushed upward on his wings and also died from his madness
(II, 237-300).

Ovid, who deeply knew the sweetness of individual self-affirmation, is fully aware of the limitations of this latter and even of its tragedy. These are all the myths in Ovid about the competition between people and gods, with an invariable picture of the death of these people who do not know their true place in life. This is the meaning of the myths about the competition between Pentheus and Bacchus (III, 511-733),
Arachnes with Minerva (VI, 1-145), Niobe with Latona (VI, 146-312), Marcia with
Apollo (IV, 382-400), about Actaeon’s disrespect for Diana (III, 131-252). In the myth of Narcissus, his hero, proud and cold, rejecting all love, falls in love with himself, with his reflection in the water, dies from melancholy and from the inability to meet his beloved being. Here, undoubtedly, there is no longer individualism, but rather a criticism of individualism.

This criticism in Ovid, however, is not always presented in beautiful forms.
What he talks about the contemporary Iron Age and the four centuries in general, although it goes back to Hesiod, is characterized by him as tragic and inevitable. According to Ovid, such enormous moral and social evil grew among people that they turned out to be incorrigible, and Jupiter caused a global flood (I, 163-245). The myth of Midas, who asked Bacchus to turn everything he touched into gold, sharply criticized the greed for gold and the free acquisition of wealth. For all his frivolity, Ovid deeply understands social evil and does not miss an opportunity to vividly depict it, extracting material from one or another ancient myth.

Between these two poles - admiration for individualism and its criticism - we find many subtle shades in Ovid.

The political ideology of Metamorphoses also requires very careful characterization. If we accept the entire second half of the XIV and XV books, then here we will find nothing more than the ideology of the principate, which was completely official for Ovid’s time, with all its historical, political and philosophical argumentation. But in “Metamorphoses” their conventionally mythological and aesthetic-erotic character has nothing to do with the ideology of the Principate and is intended for free-thinking people devoted exclusively to beauty and their inner experiences.

However, it is impossible to say that the ideology of the Metamorphoses has absolutely nothing to do with the Principate of Augustus. Ovid's ideology here is in opposition to Augustus, but this opposition is by no means political.
Politically, on the contrary, he fully justifies the emergence of the principate no worse than Virgil. In Ovid, the opposition is not political, but moral and aesthetic.

For the political opposition, he was too frivolous and too immersed in his inner experiences. However, he compares the angry Jupiter, who wants to drown people for their crimes, with Augustus; and from the blood shed by Julius Caesar, in his opinion, all of humanity shuddered
(I, 200-206).

Ovid formally fully adheres to the ideology of the principate; but essentially he understands the principate as a defense for his poetry, for his aesthetics, full of all freethinking and eroticism. This, of course, was not acceptable to the Principate, especially in the initial period of its existence. And naturally, no one believed this defense of the principate by Ovid. Nevertheless, the poet himself, at least during the period of “Metamorphoses,” thought only this way, for which he paid such a high price.

1.5. Variety of genres.

The genres used in the Metamorphoses are as varied as in any great work of Hellenistic-Roman literature. They create the impression of a certain diversity, but this diversity is Roman, that is, it is permeated by a single pathos. Written in hexameters and using numerous epic devices (epithets, similes, speeches), Metamorphoses is undoubtedly, first and foremost, an epic work. The battle of the Lapiths and the centaurs, the battle of Perseus and Phineus can be cited as an example of the epic genre (V, 1-235). Lyrics could not help but be presented in "Metamorphoses" in the widest possible dimensions, if only because most of the stories here are given on a love theme and do not shy away from any intimacy. The dramatism is presented no less weakly. Medea, of course, was difficult to portray without dramatic techniques (VII, 1-158, 350-397). We can also talk about the dramatic nature of such images as Phaethon, Niobe, Hercules, Hecuba and Polymestor,
Orpheus and Eurydice (X, 298-502) and many others;

The didactic parts of the Metamorphoses are their beginning (chaos and the creation of the world) and their end (Pythagorean teaching). Rhetoric is also abundantly represented in the form of constant speeches (without lengthy and often pleading speeches, Ovid does not have almost a single myth). These speeches follow traditional rhetorical techniques.

The dispute between Ulysses and Ajax over the weapon of Achilles is usually cited as an example of a skillful argument, while the Athenian people make a laudable speech
Theseus (VII, 433-450); a magnificent speech, bordering on a hymn, is pronounced by the worshipers of Bacchus to their deity (IV, 11-32). The final praise of Julius Caesar and Augustus is also imbued with a strong rhetorical element, although combined with other genres.

An example of the epistolary genre is the letter of Biblida to her beloved Kavnus (IX, 530-563).

Ovid also presents such typically Hellenistic genres as, for example, the idyll in the depiction of primitive times, as well as in the famous story about Philemon and Baucis, or the love elegy in the story about the Cyclops and
Galatea et al.

Ovid often uses the genre of etiological myth (that is, mythologically uniting one or another real historical phenomenon).
These are the stories about the appearance of people from stones who threw themselves behind their backs
Deucalion and Pyrrha, or the story of the origin of the Myrmidons from ants.

The favorite genre of description of a work of art in ancient literature, the so-called ek f r a s i s, also takes place in
"Metamorphoses". This is the image of the Palace of the Sun (II, 1-18) with golden pillars, with ivory over the pediment, with silver doors and the images of the gods in the weaving art of Minerva and Arachne, etc.

Ovid is also no stranger to the genre of serenade (XIV, 718-732) and epitaph (II, 327 et seq.).

Finally, each story from the Metamorphoses is a small and rounded whole with all the hallmarks of a Hellenistic epillium.

Despite this abundance of genres and the multitude of stories in one genre or another, “Metamorphoses” is conceived as a single and integral work, which again corresponds to the Hellenistic-Roman tendency to combine the universal and the detailed individual.

“Metamorphoses” is not at all some kind of anthology containing individual stories. All the stories here are necessarily united in one way or another, sometimes, however, in a completely external way. So, sometimes different myths are put into the mouth of a hero, or an association is made by similarity, contrast, or even not simple contiguity in relation to time, place of action and connections, or an analogy is drawn of a given hero with others. Formally, “Metamorphoses” is a single work, not to mention their artistic unity.

1.6. Art style.

Ovid's artistic style is intended to give fantastic mythology as an independent subject of depiction, that is, to turn it into a kind of aesthetic end in itself. It is also necessary to add that Ovid does not have any mythological creativity of his own. The mythological outline of the myths he transmitted does not belong to him, but is only an ancient heritage of Greco-Roman culture. Ovid himself only selects various kinds of details, deepening them psychologically, aesthetically or philosophically.

The artistic style of “Metamorphoses” is at the same time a realistic style, because their entire mythology is thoroughly permeated with features of realism, often reaching the point of everydayism, and, moreover, even in the Roman spirit of Ovid’s time.

Ovid conveys the psychology of gods and heroes, depicts all their weaknesses and intimacies, all their commitment to everyday experiences, including even physiology.

Jupiter himself sometimes leaves his terrible attributes and cares for girls. Having fallen in love with Europe, he turns into a bull to kidnap her; but the grace of this bull, his amorous antics and his seduction of Europe are depicted by Ovid completely in the tones of psychological realism (II, 847-875).

Apollo is in love with the daughter of the river Peneus Daphne (I). With all sorts of touching speeches, he begs for her reciprocity, but in vain. Like a gallant gentleman, he recommends that she comb her disheveled hair, but Daphne does not listen to him.
She runs away from him, and he tries to catch up with her. Apollo is about to overtake her, and she can already feel his close breath. But then she asks Peneus to change her appearance in order to divert Apollo's attention. Her body goes numb, her chest is surrounded by bark, her hair turns into leaves. But even when she turned into a laurel, Apollo still tries to hug her, and under the bark of the tree he hears the rapid beating of her heart. It is curious that he wants to attract her with his divine virtues, which he immediately lists in detail.

The same Apollo cries for Cypress (X) and experiences death violently
Hyacinth. Ovid especially often brings to the fore the feeling of love in its most diverse shades. We either read about the idyllic, completely serene love of the old men Philemon and Baucis, or Ovid admires the stormy, passionate love of Pyramus and Thisbe, which knows no barriers, with its tragic ending. Love, imbued with a strong, heightened aestheticism, distinguishes Pygmalion, who created such a beautiful statue that he immediately fell in love with it and began to ask the gods to revive it.

The love between Orpheus and Eurydice is also imbued with subtle aesthetics.
Epic and heroic love - between Deucalion and Pyrrha. Sincere, heartfelt and selfless affection is between Keik and Halciona, but with stormy tragic episodes and the same ending (XI).

One of the most significant aspects of the artistic style
“Metamorphoses” is a reflection of Ovid’s contemporary visual and pictorial art.

Since the end of the last century and up to the present time, Ovid has been studied in connection with contemporary art. A number of very important results were obtained here.

A very strong similarity between Ovid’s images and Pompeian painting, in particular with landscapes, has been established. If you read, for example, the description of the cave of Artemis (III) or about the shells on the ceiling in the cave of Achelous (VIII), then the mention here of pumice, tuff, and the edging of the spring with grass involuntarily evokes the impression of some kind of picture. Picturesque landscapes of the Penea River (I) and the place of the abduction of Proserpina (V). Myths such as Daedalus and Icarus, about
Artemis and Actaeon or the Cyclops Polyphemus were also depicted in Pompeian painting.

In connection with the picturesque elements of Ovid's artistic style, it is necessary to note his great penchant for the subtlest perception of colors and colors.

In addition to the varied sparkle, the palace of the Sun contains many other colors: it depicts azure gods in the sea (II, 8), the daughters of Doris with green hair, the sun in purple clothes, the throne of the Sun with luminous emeralds. The Chariot of the Sun has a golden drawbar, golden rims and wheel axles, silver spokes, and chrysolites and other colored stones on the yoke. After killing Argus, Juno places his numerous eyes on the peacock’s tail, also in the form of precious stones (1, 722). When Phaeton falls, he has red burning hair and flies like a shooting star. When Actaeon saw Diana naked, her face became covered with the kind of color that happens on a cloud from the rays of the sun falling on it, or on the purple Aurora. The narcissist is engulfed in the “blind fire” of passion; and when he dies, a flower with a yellow center and snow-white petals appears instead.

Minerva's fabric contains such countless shades of color that it can only be compared to a rainbow, which is also bordered with gold.
(VI, 6). During Keik's voyage, the sea turns yellow, lifting the same sand from its bottom, then black like the underground Styx, and then turns white with noisy foam (XI). In the midst of the twilight night, which is becoming more and more black, lightning flashes and the waves blaze in the lights of the flashing lightning. Iris wears a dress of a thousand colors (XI, 589).

Red and purple colors are especially common in Ovid. The roots of trees turn purple from the blood of Pyramus (IV, 125). Medea blushes at the thought of Jason, like a spark fanned by fire ready to go out.
(VII, 77). The cypress guides the deer with a purple bridle, and when torn to pieces
Orpheus rocks are covered in blood. The Sigean coast turns red with the blood of fallen heroes (XII). When the Cyclops threw a stone at Acis, purple blood flowed from the stone, which then became lighter from the water, and green reeds began to grow from the cracked stone (XIII, 887-892).

Widely represented plastic elements of artistic style
Ovid. The poet's eye sees some kind of movement everywhere, and again mainly of a living body. Thisbe trembles like the sea in a light wind (IV,
135); Europe, riding on a bull across the sea, raises its feet to avoid getting them wet.
(VI, 106). The gods enter the hut of Philemon and Baucis, bent over, through doors that are too low (VIII, 640). This plasticity is often embodied in a whole picture, with sharply defined contours, sometimes beautiful, sometimes repulsive.
To treat their visitors, Philemon and Baucis put on the tables fresh and colorful Minerva berries (olives), autumn cherries in juice, radishes, lettuce, cottage cheese, and baked eggs. All this was in earthenware. There were also a painted clay krater, and simple bowls made of carved beech, with yellow wax on the inside, a nut, a wrinkled fig, a date, a plum, fragrant apples, grapes from purple vines, and golden-colored honeycomb (VIII, 666-679).

The defeated Marsyas, whose skin is torn off, turns into a continuous wound; his blood flows in a stream, his muscles are visible to the eye, his veins tremble without any covering (VI, 387-391). The connection between Ovid's images and the theater of his days, in particular with pantomime, is also noted. It has been pointed out more than once that in the Cave of Sleep, which the brilliant Iris awakens in the quiet twilight, the mythological figures surrounding him and especially the werewolf Morpheus, who knows how to imitate people both in voice and in physique, are presented in Ovid as a whole theatrical production (XI, 612- 673).
Apollo performs here in the costume of an actor (465-471), and Ovid himself says that he looks like an artist, that the muse Calliope also behaves as if before a pop performance (V, 338-340). After his victory over the monster, Perseus is greeted by people and gods with applause (IV, 735).

The artistic style of Metamorphoses is heavily imbued with dramatic elements. The deepest drama is contained in the myth of Actaeon being torn to pieces by his own dogs at the behest of Diana, of Pentheus being torn to pieces by the Bacchae and, in particular, by his own mother
(710-733), about the death of Orpheus (XI). The images of Medea are also intensely dramatic.
(VII), Niobe (VI), Pyramus and Thisbe (IV), Hecuba (XIII). The fury Tisiphone, full of drama, appears to Athamas and Itzo: in her bloody hands she holds a torch, her cloak is also bloody; she is girded with snakes, her arms are also entwined with them, there are also snakes in her hair and on her chest, and all these snakes whistle, click their tongues and spew venom; her companions are Sobbing, Fear and
Madness (IV, 481-511). A fierce battle, full not only of drama, but also of all sorts of horrors, is depicted between Achilles and Cycnus (XIII, 76-145), as well as between the Lapiths and centaurs (X, 210-392, 417-576). The examples of Ovid's drama listed above surpass any realism and turn into real naturalism.

The artistic style of Metamorphoses, so rich in the features of realism and naturalism, is at the same time distinguished by strong aestheticism, i.e. admiring beauty only for its own sake. Let us note the special aesthetic sensitivity of Ovid, which he shows, for example, in the depiction of the music of Orpheus, acting on all of nature, and in particular on various trees, about which he speaks here with very interesting epithets, and even on the entire inexorable underworld (X, 40- 47, 86-105).

Another great example of Ovid's aestheticism is the song of the Cyclops
Polyphemus directed to his beloved Galatea (XIII, 789-869). Here, first, a long series of comparisons of the beauty of Galatea with various natural phenomena is given. Then the same comparisons of her obstinate disposition, also with very colorful objects, then a description of Polyphemus’ wealth and a final lyrical appeal to her.

Perhaps the most important feature of Ovid's artistic style is its diversity, but not in the sense of some kind of incoherence and disorganization of the depicted objects, but a fundamental, specific diversity.

First of all, the bizarre brokenness of the storyline of the work is striking. Within the plot, its individual parts are developed in a completely whimsical manner: the beginning of the myth is stated and there is no end, or the end of the myth is developed, but its beginning is only vaguely mentioned. That is, the myth is presented in too much detail or, conversely, too briefly. This results in an almost complete absence of essential unity of the work, although formally the poet invariably tries, through separate artificial techniques, to somehow connect its individual parts into one whole. It is difficult to establish where mythology ends and history begins, to separate scholarship from artistic creativity, and to determine where the Greek style of mythology is and where the Roman style. True, the final three books of the work differ from the others both in their prosaism and their Roman character.

Stylistic simplicity is also reflected in the mixing of mythology with realism and even naturalism. “Metamorphoses” is replete with infinitely diverse psychological types, positions and experiences. There are frivolous and morally high people here; ardent and passionate natures alternate with cold and impassive ones, pious people with atheists, heroes with weak people. Here are kings and heroes, shepherds and artisans, selfless warriors and politicians, founders of cities, prophets, artists, philosophers, allegorical monsters; love, jealousy, envy, daring, feat and insignificance, brutality and innocence, greed, self-sacrifice, aesthetic delight, tragedy, farce and madness.

The action takes place here both on the wide earth with its fields, forests and mountains, and on the high, bright Olympus, on the sea and in the dark underground world. And all this is white, black, pink, red, green, blue, saffron.
The diversity of the Hellenistic-Roman artistic style reaches
"Metamorphoses" of its climax.

Conclusion.

In the history of world literature it is impossible to find a writer more underrated than the Roman poet of the Augustan century, Publius Ovidius Naso.
His worldwide, twenty-century-long fame today speaks of only one thing - the enormous cruelty of his descendants, who gave the poet his due for all sorts of minor things, but refused him recognition of his primary service to art, and therefore of the true glory that he secretly counted on
(and had the right to count) Ovid Nason.

He counted on this glory, looking, of course, into centuries much more distant from the “golden” Augustan Age - a paradisiacal age for Roman literature. Perhaps too heavenly to be susceptible to catastrophic novelty. In any case, the happy inhabitants of this temporary (and temporary) elysium, direct witnesses of the greatest creative discovery made by the “ill-fated Nazon”, ordinary and not ordinary witnesses, those whom the Aonian sisters elevated above the enlightened crowd, stealing their names at Lethe, - the historian Titus Livy, the geographer Strabo, the orator and reciter Quintus Haterius, the lawyer Ataeus Capito, the moralist-fabulist Phaedrus, the grammarian Antonius Rufus, the poet Cornelius Severus and the orator Cassius Severus, the divine Augustus himself and even the supreme guardian
Palatine Library Guy Julius Giginus, who has seen the world and read everything revered,
- were unable to understand what happened to Ovid in the fall of the year 761 from the founding of Rome or 8 AD.

Because what happened - as some eloquent facts convince us of
- was not recognized by Nazon’s contemporaries as a phenomenon of real, mythological or any other reality that would allow one to make intelligible judgments about the nature of one’s things.

For a whole decade, starting from that turning point autumn, when the poet was suddenly seized by an extraordinary creative idea, in the dazzling light of which everything he had written and was writing seemed pathetic to him, when an inspiration of a strange nature, promising to give birth to an unprecedented fruit, forced him to throw into the fire a manuscript that had not yet been written. completed "Metamorphoses": a lush night fire, flavored with Libyan papyrus, seemed to symbolize the poet's separation from all authenticity, be it myth or reality - from this autumn until the end of his days, Ovid the artist was completely outside the, so to speak, mental and the sensual ecumene, mastered by the age of Augustus.

But even in subsequent times - the facts tell us - in times inhabited by other Caesars and other servants of the Aonides, it was impossible to realize and feel what a great metamorphosis occurred at the dawn of the Principate with the author of the glorious "Metamorphoses" (which nevertheless survived - rewritten even before the burning mercilessly caring friends).

No matter how vividly the new citizens of ancient reality - Seneca, Suetonius, Tacitus, Plutarch, Pliny the Elder and
Junior, - no matter how thoughtfully they peered into the legendary destinies of gifted fathers, it remained incomprehensible to them what Ovid did
Naso from 8 to 18 on the northern outskirts of Rome, on the “Garden Hill” (modern.
Monte Pincio), not far from the Tiber, where the Clodian and Flaminian roads branched and where his country villa stood picturesquely surrounded by umbrella-shaped pine trees and fragrant myrtle bushes - a “garden”, as he innocently called
Ovid is a cherished and fatal place, chosen by his insidious Muse, whose despotic power he experienced to the fullest...

Bibliography.
1. Vladislav Otroshenko. Essay from the series “The Secret History of Creations.” Magazine

"Postscript" No. 5
2. A.F. Losev, A.A. Tahoe-Godi. Ancient literature. M., 1991
3. Publius Ovid Naso. Love elegies; Metamorphoses; Sorrowful elegies /Trans. from Latin S.V. Shervinsky. M.: Artist. Lit., 1983

The word "metamorphosis" means "transformation". There were a lot of ancient myths that ended with the transformation of heroes - into a river, into a mountain, into an animal, into a plant, into a constellation. The poet Ovid tried to collect all the myths about transformations that he knew; there were more than two hundred of them. He retold them one after another, picking them up, intertwining them, inserting them into each other; the result was a long poem entitled “Metamorphoses.” It begins with the creation of the world - after all, when Chaos was divided into Heaven and Earth, this was already the first transformation in the world. And it ends literally yesterday: a year before the birth of Ovid, Julius Caesar was killed in Rome, a large comet appeared in the sky, and everyone said that it was the soul of Caesar who ascended to heaven, who became a god - and this is also nothing more than transformation.

This is how the poem moves from ancient to modern times. The more ancient, the more majestic, the more cosmic the transformations described: the global flood, the global fire. The flood was a punishment for the first people for their sins - the land became the sea, the surf hit the tops of the mountains, fish swam between tree branches, people on fragile rafts died of hunger. Only two righteous people were saved on the two-peaked mountain Parnassus - the forefather Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha. The water subsided, a deserted and silent world opened up; With tears, they prayed to the gods and heard the answer: “Throw your mother’s bones behind your back!” With difficulty they understood: their common mother is the Earth, her bones are stones; they began to throw stones over their shoulders, and behind Deucalion, men grew from these stones, and behind Pyrrha, women. Thus a new human race appeared on earth.

And the fire was not due to the will of the gods, but due to the insolence of a foolish teenager. Young Phaeton, the son of the Sun, asked his father: “They don’t believe me that I am your son: let me ride across the sky in your golden chariot from east to sunset. “Be it your way,” the father answered, “but beware: don’t go either up or down, stay in the middle, otherwise there will be trouble!” And trouble came: at a height the young man’s head began to spin, his hand trembled, the horses lost their way, both Cancer and Scorpio shied away from them in the sky, mountain forests on earth from the Caucasus to the Atlas burned, rivers boiled from the Rhine to the Ganges, the sea dried up, the soil, light made its way into the black kingdom of Hades, - and then the old Earth itself, raising its head, prayed to Zeus: “If you want to burn, burn, but have mercy on the world, let there be no new Chaos!” Zeus struck with lightning, the chariot collapsed, and a verse was written over the remains of Phaeton: “Here Phaeton was slain: having dared to do great things, he fell.”

The age of heroes begins, the gods come to mortals, mortals fall into pride. The weaver Arachne challenges the goddess Athena, the inventor of weaving, to a competition. Athena has the Olympic gods on her fabric, Poseidon creates a horse for people, Athena herself creates an olive, and around the edges there are punishments for those who dared to equal the gods: those are turned into mountains, those into birds, those on the steps of the temple. And on the fabric of Arachne - how Zeus turned into a bull to kidnap one beauty, a golden shower for another, a swan for a third, a snake for a fourth; how Poseidon turned into a ram, a horse, and a dolphin; how Apollo took the form of a shepherd, and Dionysus - a winegrower, and again, and again. Arachne's fabric is no worse than Athena's, and Athena executes her not for her work, but for her blasphemy: she turns her into a spider that hangs in the corner and forever weaves a web. "Spider" in Greek is "arachne".

Zeus's son, Dionysus the winegrower, goes around the world as a miracle worker and gives people wine. He punishes his enemies: the shipmen transporting him across the sea decided to kidnap such a handsome man and sell him into slavery - but their ship stops, takes root at the bottom, ivy wraps around the mast, grapes hang from the sails, and the robbers bend their bodies, become covered with scales and jump like dolphins in the sea. And he gifts his friends with anything, but they do not always ask for what is reasonable. The greedy King Midas asked: “Let everything I touch become gold!” - and now the golden bread and meat break his teeth, and the golden water pours down his throat like molten metal. Extending his miraculous hands, he prays: “Ah, deliver me from this destructive gift!” - and Dionysus orders with a smile: “Wash your hands in the Pactole River.” The power goes into the water, the king eats and drinks again, and the Paktol River has been rolling golden sand ever since.

Not only the young Dionysus, but also the elder gods appear among people. Zeus himself and Hermes, in the guise of wanderers, go around human villages, but rude owners drive them away from the thresholds. Only in one poor hut were they received by an old man and an old woman, Philemon and Baucis. Guests enter with their heads bowed and sit down on the matting; in front of them is a table with a lame leg propped up on a shard; instead of a tablecloth, its board is rubbed with mint; in clay bowls there are eggs, cottage cheese, vegetables, and dried berries. Here comes the wine, mixed with water, and suddenly the owners see: a miracle - no matter how much you drink, it does not decrease in the cups. Then they realize who is in front of them, and in fear they pray: “Forgive us, gods, for the poor reception.” In response, the hut is transformed, the adobe floor becomes marble, the roof rises on columns, the walls shine with gold, and the mighty Zeus says: “Ask what you want!” “We want to remain in this temple of yours as a priest and priestess, and just as we lived together, we want to die together.” And so it became; and when the time came, Philemon and Baucis, in front of each other’s eyes, turned into oak and linden, only having time to say “Farewell!” to each other.

Meanwhile, the age of heroes runs its course. Perseus kills the Gorgon, who turns him to stone with his gaze, and when he places her severed head prostrate on the leaves, the leaves turn into coral. Jason brings Medea from Colchis, and she turns his decrepit father from an old man into a young one. Hercules fights for his wife with the river god Achelous, who turns into a snake or a bull - and is still defeated. Theseus enters the Cretan Labyrinth and kills the monstrous Minotaur there; Princess Ariadne gave him a thread, he pulled it along the tangled corridors from the entrance to the middle, and then found his way back along it. This Ariadne was taken from Theseus and made his wife by the god Dionysus, and he threw the crown from her head into the sky, and there it shone with the constellation of the Northern Crown.

The builder of the Cretan Labyrinth was the skilled Athenian Daedalus, a captive of the formidable king Minos, son of Zeus and father of the Minotaur. Daedalus languished on his island, but could not escape: all the seas were in the power of Minos. Then he decided to fly across the sky: “Minos owns everything, but he does not own the air!” Having collected bird feathers, he fastens them with wax, measures the length, checks the bend of the wing; and his boy Icarus next to him either sculpts lumps of wax or catches flying feathers. Now big wings are ready for the father, small ones for the son, and Daedalus teaches Icarus: “Fly after me, stay in the middle: if you take it lower, the spray of the sea will make your feathers heavy; If you take it higher, the heat of the sun will soften the wax.” They are flying; fishermen on the banks and plowmen in the fields look up into the sky and freeze, thinking that these are the gods on high. But again the fate of Phaeton is repeated: Icarus joyfully takes off into the air, the wax melts, feathers scatter, he grabs the air with his bare hands, and now the sea overwhelms his lips, calling out to his father. Since then, this sea has been called Icarian.

Just as Daedalus was a craftsman in Crete, so Pygmalion was a craftsman in Cyprus. Both of them were sculptors: they said about Daedalus that his statues could walk, about Pygmalion - that his statue came to life and became his wife. It was a stone girl named Galatea, so beautiful that Pygmalion himself fell in love with her: he caressed her stone body, dressed her, decorated her, languished and finally prayed to the gods:

“Give me a wife like my statue!” And the goddess of love Aphrodite responded: he touches the statue and feels softness and warmth, he kisses it, Galatea opens her eyes and at once sees white light and the face of her lover. Pygmalion was happy, but his descendants were unhappy. He had a son, Kinir, and Kinir had a daughter, Mirra, and this Mirra fell in incestuous love with her father. The gods, in horror, turned her into a tree, from the bark of which fragrant resin, still called myrrh, oozes like tears. And when the time came to give birth, the tree cracked, and from the crack emerged a baby named Adonis. He grew up so beautiful that Aphrodite herself took him as her lover. But not for good: the jealous god of war Ares sent a wild boar to hunt him, Adonis died, and a short-lived anemone flower grew from his blood.

And Pygmalion also had either a great-grandson or great-granddaughter, named either Kenida or Caeneas. She was born a girl, the sea Poseidon fell in love with her, took possession of her and said: “Ask me for anything. She answered: “So that no one can dishonor me like you, I want to be a man!” She started these words in a woman’s voice and ended with a man’s voice. And in addition, rejoicing at Kenida’s desire, God gave her male body invulnerability from wounds. At this time, the king of the Lapith tribe, a friend of Theseus, celebrated a crowded wedding. The guests at the wedding were centaurs, half-humans, half-horses from the neighboring mountains, wild and violent. Unaccustomed to wine, they became drunk and attacked the women, the Lapiths began to protect their wives, and the famous battle of the Lapiths with the centaurs began, which Greek sculptors loved to depict. First in the wedding palace, then in the open air, first they threw cast bowls and altar brands at each other, then torn out pine trees and blocks of rocks. It was then that Kenei showed himself - nothing could take him, stones bounced off him like hail from a roof, spears and swords broke like granite. Then the centaurs began to throw tree trunks at him: “Let the wounds be replaced by a load!” - a whole mountain of trunks grew over his body and at first swayed, as if in an earthquake, and then subsided. And when the battle was over and the trunks were dismantled, the dead girl Kenida lay under them,

The poem is nearing its end: old Nestor tells about the battle of the Lalifs with the centaurs in the Greek camp near Troy. Even the Trojan War is not complete without transformations. Achilles fell, and two people carried his body out of the battle: the powerful Ajax carried him on his shoulders, the agile Odysseus repelled the advancing Trojans. Achilles left behind the famous armor forged by Hephaestus: who will get it? Ajax says: “I was the first to go to war; I am the strongest after Achilles; I am the best in open battle, and Odysseus is only in secret tricks; the armor is mine! Odysseus says: “But I was the only one who gathered the Greeks for war; only I attracted Achilles himself; Only I kept the army from returning in the tenth year; intelligence is more important than strength; the armor is mine! The Greeks award the armor to Odysseus, the insulted Ajax throws himself on the sword, and from his blood grows a hyacinth flower, on which the spots form the letters “AI” - a mournful cry and the beginning of Ajax’s name.

Troy fell, Aeneas sails with the Trojan shrines to the west, at each of his stops he hears stories about transformations, memorable in these distant lands. He wages a war for Latium, his descendants rule in Alba, and it turns out that surrounding Italy is no less rich in tales of transformations than Greece. Romulus founds Rome and ascends to heaven - he himself turns into a god; seven centuries later, Julius Caesar will save Rome in civil wars and will also ascend like a comet - he himself will turn into a god. In the meantime, the successor of Romulus, Numa Pompilius, the wisest of the ancient Roman kings, listens to the speeches of Pythagoras, the wisest of the Greek philosophers, and Pythagoras explains to him and the readers what the transformations are, about which stories are woven in such a long poem.

Nothing lasts forever, says Pythagoras, except the soul alone. She lives, unchanged, changing bodily shells, rejoicing in the new, forgetting about the old. The soul of Pythagoras once lived in the Trojan hero Euphorbus; he, Pythagoras, remembers this, but people usually do not remember. From human bodies the soul can pass into the bodies of animals, birds, and again people; Therefore, a wise person will not eat meat. “Like malleable wax that is molded into new forms, / Does not remain one, does not have a single appearance, / But remains itself, - just like the soul, remaining / The same, - so I say! - passes into various flesh."

And all flesh, every body, every substance is changeable. Everything flows: moments, hours, days, seasons, and ages of a person change. The earth thins into water, water into air, air into fire, and again the fire condenses into thunderclouds, the clouds rain, and the rain makes the earth fat. The mountains were the sea, and sea shells are found in them, and the sea floods the once dry plains; Rivers dry up and new ones emerge, islands break off from the mainland and merge with the mainland. Troy was mighty, but is now in the dust, Rome is now small and weak, but will be omnipotent: “In the world nothing stands, but everything is renewed forever.”

It is about these eternal changes in everything that we see in the world that ancient stories about transformations - metamorphoses - remind us.

100 Great Books Demin Valery Nikitich

51. OVID “METAMORPHOSIS”

51. OVID

"METAMORPHOSIS"

Pushkin called Ovid a mentor “in the science of tender passion.” In fact, most of the creative heritage (which, fortunately, has been almost completely preserved) of this major Roman poet is devoted to the theme of love. Here is the famous lyrical diary “Love Elegies”, and the even more famous “Science of Love” (with the adjacent “Cure for Love”). “Science” enjoyed particular success among his contemporaries (and even today it is Ovid’s most widely read book): of course, this is a poetic set of cunning instructions (a real textbook!) - how to seduce and seduce the woman you love step by step.

The love theme runs like a red thread through Ovid’s grandiose work “Metamorphoses” in 15 books. The only difference from other works is that here it is not ordinary people who are embraced by love, but gods and other mythological characters. However, both of them appear before the reader completely, like living people. Essentially, Ovid managed to create a genuine encyclopedia of ancient mythology: many details of the plots can only be found here. Although, according to the original plan, the poet intended to pay attention only to various kinds of transformations - in Greek, metamorphoses (hence the title of the book).

Everything is subject to transformation; in Ovid, this word is simply a synonym for the concepts of “creation” and “development”: Chaos turns into Cosmos, clay in the hands of Prometheus - into man, gods - into various creatures (mainly for the purpose of satisfying their love lust), on the contrary, victims of their persecution - into inanimate objects (Daphne - into a laurel, Syringa - into a reed, etc.).

With skill accessible only to a great thinker, Ovid draws pictures of the emergence and formation of the Universe from the original Chaos:

There was no sea, no land, no open sky above everything, -

The face of nature was one throughout the entire breadth of the universe, -

Chaos was his name. Unarticulated and rough bulk,

He was an inert burden - and only - where they were collected

Seeds of loosely connected things are of different essences together. "..."

The air was devoid of light, and nothing preserved forms.

Everything was still in the fight, then in the mass of one

Cold fought with heat, dryness fought with humidity,

The battle with the weighty was fought by the weightless, the hard with the soft...

And so the Creator (“a certain god - which one is unknown”) transforms the primordial Chaos into the harmony of nature - with the starry sky, the earth and the seas covering it. Then Prometheus creates the first people, endowing them with reason and a thirst for knowledge:

“... He gave a high face to the man and straight

He commanded me to look into the sky, raising my eyes to the constellations.”

A golden age reigns on earth - an unattainable model for all subsequent imperfect social structures. Yes, it turns out there was a time on earth when people lived in complete happiness and abundance, without knowing strife and war:

The first golden age was born, which knew no retribution,

He himself always observed, without laws, both truth and fidelity.

There was no fear then, no punishment, and no words were read

Terrible on bronze; the crowd did not tremble then, waiting

In fear of the judge's decision, they lived in safety without judges. "..."

The sheer ditches of the fortifications were not yet surrounded; "..."

There were no helmets or swords; military exercises without knowing

People living safely tasted peace sweetly. "..."

... The land brought a harvest without plowing;

Without resting, the fields were golden in heavy ears,

Rivers of milk flowed, rivers of nectar flowed,

Golden honey was also dripping, oozing from the green oak...

Social harmony lasted a long time, but not forever. The serene golden age was replaced alternately by centuries - silver, copper and iron. Society has degenerated and entered a period of endless wars and incessant struggle for survival. In the end, the gods decided to punish humanity for their wickedness and brought down the waters of the flood on the earth. Everyone died except two righteous people - the son of Prometheus Deucalion and his cousin and wife Pyrrha. I had to start all over again. Subsequent generations of people arose from stones: those that Devkali-on threw over his shoulder became men; those that Pyrrha threw turned into women. But the golden age has not returned. Humanity has become what it remains to this day - evil and selfish.

In terms of cunning and sophisticated cruelty, the gods did not lag behind people. On this topic, Ovid recreates many paintings that have become textbooks. The most impressive is the story of Niobe and her ruined children. The Theban queen Niobe had numerous offspring (according to one version - 12, according to another - 14, according to the third - 20 sons and daughters) and somehow laughed at the Titanide Latona (Greek Leto), who gave Jupiter only two children - the twins Apollo and Artemis . Insulted, Latona demanded retribution, and Apollo and Artemis mercilessly shot all of Niobe’s children with arrows. The mother, distraught with grief, turned into a stone shedding tears. This classic plot in Ovid's brilliant adaptation reached the highest degree of tragedy.

Here are just a few lines from an extensive text where Niobe begs Artemis to take pity on her and save the life of at least one, the last, youngest daughter:

... Only one remained: and the mother, her with her whole body,

Covering it with all your clothes: “Just leave me the smaller one!”

I only ask for the least of all! - exclaims. - Only one!”

She prays: and the one for whom she prays is dead...

Siroy sits between the bodies of sons, daughters and husband,

Numb from troubles. The wind doesn't move her hair,

There is not a drop of blood on the cheeks; motionless on her sorrowful face

The eyes are standing; there was nothing left alive in Niobe.

“Metamorphoses” is oversaturated with mythological images, plots and collisions. Ovid brings his unparalleled poetic narrative to the greatness of Rome and the triumph of Julius Caesar. But the final chord is connected not with the gods and heroes, but with the author himself. Continuing the tradition begun by his great contemporary Horace, Ovid concludes his poem with a hymn in honor of himself. This is the theme of the “Monument”, which later inspired Derzhavin and Pushkin. In Ovid it sounds like this:

Now my work is completed, and it is not even Jupiter’s malice

Neither sword, nor fire, nor greedy old age will destroy. "..."

With its best part, eternal, to the high luminaries

I will ascend, and my name will remain indestructible.

Everywhere on earth, wherever the power of Rome extends,

If only the singers’ premonitions are believed, I will remain.

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