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A Zeus by Any Other Name: Metamorphoses Day 1

Well, it's a good thing that this translation of Metamorphoses has extensive notes, because I was flipping back there every other page. The spine of this book is going to be trashed by the time I'm through! Yesterday, I sat down and read Metamorphoses book one, lines 1-744. That's 30 pages in the physical copy of the book. I don't know that this is a sustainable pace for reading, but we will see.

There are some absolutely beautiful lines from the very beginning of the poem. For example, this description of Earth before the gods:

            Chaos they called this rough and knotted mass,
            nothing but sluggish weight and battling seeds
            of things just loosely joined in one big heap. [Lines 3-5]

Or how about this quote from Deucalion to his wife, Pyrrha:

            My wife, believe me, if the sea held you,
            I'd follow you so it could hold me too. [Lines 387-388]

The thing that strikes me the most is that in the adaption of the mythology from Greek to Roman, Ovid does nothing to make Zeus less of a maniacal jerk. His impetuous temperament is just as present when he is Jove. He's as bossy, as scheming, as narcissistic as he is in Greek mythology. The story of Jove and Io is identical, save for the change of name. What a god. Willing to change a woman into a heifer just so he won't get in trouble with his sister/wife.

I don't know how many people watched Kaos on Netflix, but I recommend it. They cancelled it after the first season, but it remains one of my favorite portrayals of Zeus in popular culture. Jeff Goldblum is by turns hilarious and terrifying as Zeus.

At any rate, it's time to bust out the highlighter and get to today's reading. I have Bach's Unaccompanied Cello Suites playing on my headphones, and I'm looking forward to a quiet morning.




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