Reading Notes: Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Part A

Cute Fluffy Cow: Janko Ferlic

Jupiter calls on his brother the sea-god to help him by flooding the earth and destroying homes and orchards and temples.
The devastation is great, animals float in the water trying to stay afloat, houses and orchards are drowned by the massive waves
When Jupiter saw one surviving man and woman he called the chaos back into order
The man and woman that survived went and prayed to the gods to soften their will.

Jupiter stalks, attacks, and rapes Io.
Jupiter saw his wife Juno coming down to earth to look for him, so he transformed Io into a cow, a heifer.
Juno was pleased by the heifer’s beauty and took it as a gift.
While Io grazed as a cow, Jupiter had Argus watch her with his hundred eyes.
Io ended up looking at herself in a stream of water and fled terrified of her appearance
Io ended up finding her father and drew out what happened to her with her hooves on the ground.
Argus finds Io and captures her again
Jupiter sends out Mercury to kill Argus, and he chops off his head.
Io gets returned to her human form.

Io ends up being worshipped and had a son that was thought to be Jupiter’s.
Phaethon sets out to the land of the sun to ask him if he is his father
When he gets there, he begs the sun to give him some proof so his mind can be at ease.
The sun confirms that Phaethon is his son, and Phaeton asks if he can borrow his father’s chariot and horses for the day.
His father tells him no because the chariot is only meant to be driven by immortals, and Phaethon was mortal.

The sun eventually gave in and showed him to the chariot.
The sun gives Phaethon some advice and tools to protect him and tells him where to go, still warning him not to go
Once Phaethon begins to fly, he panics and lets go of the reigns, causing more problems because the horses fly out of control causing the mountains to catch on fire.

The chariot gets destroyed by the horses fleeing, and Phaethon plunges to his death.
His mother grieves him

Jupiter sees the beautiful Nymph Callisto, disguised himself and tricked her, raping her in the woods.
Callisto was ashamed and felt guilt, 9 months later the other nymphs found out she was pregnant and banished her.
Juno was angry with Callisto and turned her into a bear
Arcas, Callisto’s son, found her in the woods, then Jupiter sent them both into the sky as constellations.

Story Source: Ovid's Metamorphoses, translated by Tony Kline (2000).

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