Last year it was suggested that we read the Metamorphoses in Latin as a summer project. I'm not sure what happened, but it didn't work out. We read Aeneid, instead. Now is a new summer and there have been no other suggestions, so Metamorphoses it is. Here is the thread for Metamorphoses Discussion/Questions.

The Metamorphoses is Ovid's epic masterpiece, written in hexameters, telling stories from Greek and Roman mythology that share the common element of transformation. A typical type of transformation comes when a maiden begs the gods to save her from being ravished by a god. Her prayers are answered, but she becomes a form of vegetation. The epic is loosely a history of the world from the creation through legendary times and on through Roman history until 17-18 B.C., when Ovid wrote Metamorphoses.

There are 15 books in Ovid's Metamorphoses or 'Transformations'. Since there are so many, there is really no time to waste. At the rate of one book a week from Memorial Day to Labor Day, I think we should be able to get through. The first book is 779 lines long, so we can finish if we progress at the rate of 111 lines a day. The first book covers the following topics:

• Creation
• The Ages of Mankind
• The Flood
• Deucalion and Pyrrha
• Apollo and Daphne
• Io
• Phaethon

An online public domain translation is available at the Internet Classics Archive. Note that the 13th book is substantially longer than any of the others, so if you are reading along and find time to relax, you might want to jump ahead.

For an outline of the rest of Metamorphoses, see Metamorphoses Outline. Here are some notes and vocabulary items for the beginning of Book I:

1. fert animus -- something like "the spirit moves me"
7. dixere: they called
8. eodem: to the same place
13. librata: balanced
15. Amphitryte - a sea goddess
18. alius ... aliud: some ... other
21. lis (f): quarrel
dirimere: divide, inerrupt
23. secerno: separate
spissus-a-um: thick
24. caeco acervo - Chaos
25 dissociata; estranged
26. convexus: vaulted
27. emico: shine
31. ultima (acc.) - the last place, lowest by weight
33. congeries: heap
34. ne non aequalis ab omni parte - even from all sides
39. declivus: sloping
obliquus: slanting
40. sorbeo: suck, swallow
partim ... partim: some ... others
49. nix: snow
51. temperies: mildness
52-3. By how much the weight of earth is lighter than water, by just so much it is heavier than fire.
54. nebula: mist
56. fulgor: lightning
fulmen: thunderbolt
57. non passim: not at random
58. obsisto: resist, stand in the way of
59. flamen: blast, gale
60. lanio: tear
61. Eurus - East Wind
62. iuga: mountain ridges
63. tepesco: cool off, warm to lukewarm
64. Zephyrus - West Wind
66. Auster - South Wind
68. faex: sediment
terrenus: terrestrial
69. dissaepio: fence off, separate
70. caligo: mist
72. nor would there be any region deprived of its own animals
83. satus Iapeto - Prometheus
moderor: guide
88. conversa - mutata
95. caesa pinus - trees are feminine
101 rastrum: hoe
104. arbuteus: strawberry tree
fraga: strawberry
105. rubeta: bramble bush
106. patulus: spreading
110. arista: ear of grain
112. stillo: trickle

Read more about: Ovid.