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Table of Metamorphoses in Ovid's Metamorphoses

by Spencer Scorcelletti

Commentary #9 ()

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  • Subject is who changed
  • From is what type they were
  • Into is what type the became
  • Kind, is what type of thing they were transferred into
  • Agent is who brought about this change,
  • Cause is reason for the change,

See Commentary #8 Causes of Metamorphosis for more information about causes.

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Order Subject From Into Kind Agent Cause Note Book Loc.
1 Chaos shapeless mass ordered world Cosmos the creator Creation The poem's own first metamorphosis: the proem promises to run from the first creation. 1 21–75
2 humankind earth, or divine seed men Human the son of Iapetus Creation Ovid gives two origins and commits to neither: the creator's seed, or fresh earth shaped by Prometheus. 1 78–88
3 Lycaön king wolf Animal Jupiter Punishment Some signs of old remain — the grey hair, the fierce eyes. The rule of Ovidian change: something is kept. 1 232–39
4 the stones stones men and women Human Deucalion and Pyrrha Creation On Themis' oracle. Men from the stones he threw, women from hers; the veins of rock kept their name. 1 400–13
5 the earth's seeds mud animals, and Python Animal the earth Creation The second creation, after the flood. Python is born of it against the earth's will. 1 434–41
6 Daphne nymph laurel Plant Peneus Escape At her own plea. Apollo takes the tree as his emblem, so the escape becomes the god's trophy. 1 548–52
7 Io girl cow Animal Jupiter Concealment Neither punishment nor rescue: Jupiter hides his own crime from Juno by changing its victim. 1 610–12
8 Syrinx nymph marsh reeds Plant the Naiads Escape Told by Mercury to put Argus to sleep, and cut off before he reaches the ending. 1 702–06
9 the reeds marsh reeds pan-pipe Object Pan Grief A second change in the same story: bound with wax and given the maiden's name. 1 707–12
10 Argus a hundred eyes the peacock's tail Bird Juno Grief Only the eyes change; the body stays dead on the rock. 1 722–23
11 Io cow girl Human Jupiter Reversal Restored by degrees — horns, hooves, jaw — until whiteness was her only bovine trait. 1 738–43
12 Io girl goddess God — Reward Worshipped by a linened throng: Isis, though Ovid never writes the name. 1 747–49
13 the Heliads girls poplars Plant — Grief Grief works the change itself; no god is named. Their mother tears the bark and draws blood. 2 346–63
14 the Heliads tears amber Object the sun Grief Hardened by sunlight and carried down the Eridanus, someday to tempt the wives of Rome. 2 364–66
15 Cygnus king of Liguria swan Bird — Grief For love of Phaëthon; the swan keeps to still water, mindful of Jove's bolt. 2 373–81
16 Jupiter god Diana's form God self Disguise He borrows the goddess's shape to rape her attendant; she will destroy Actaeon for seeing hers. 2 425
17 Callisto nymph bear Animal Juno Punishment Punished by Juno for what Jupiter did. Her former mind remained. 2 477–85
18 Callisto and Arcas bear and hunter constellations Star Jupiter Reward The Bears. Juno then has Ocean forbid them ever to set. 2 505–07
19 the Crow girl crow Bird Minerva Escape Told in flashback by the crow herself, fleeing Neptune along the shore. 2 579–88
20 Nyctimene girl owl Bird — Punishment Reported by the crow: made fowl for her foul sins, she shuns the light. 2 589–95
21 the Raven white bird black bird Bird Apollo Punishment A change of colour only, for telling a truth the god did not want told. 2 631–32
22 Ocyrhoë girl mare Animal — Punishment For prophesying too much. She names her own change as it takes her voice. 2 665–75
23 Battus old man stone Stone Mercury Punishment The touchstone, index: it still bears the informer's name. 2 706–08
24 Aglauros girl stone Stone Mercury Punishment Not white marble — her mind had stained the stone. 2 820–32
25 Jupiter god bull Animal self Disguise Cast off in the first line of Book 3. 2 847–52
26 Jupiter bull god God self Reversal The disguise of 2.850, shed before the book gives him a name. 3 1–2
27 the dragon's teeth teeth armed men Human Cadmus, at Minerva's bidding Creation Sown like seed. Five survive their own civil war to found Thebes. 3 105–14
28 Actaeon hunter stag Animal Diana Punishment Just his mind remained unchanged — he keeps it while his own hounds tear him apart. 3 193–97
29 Juno goddess Beroë, Semele's nurse Human self Disguise The one disguise in three books taken by a goddess, and taken to kill rather than to seduce. 3 274–79
30 Tiresias man woman Sex — Retaliation Seven years as a woman for striking two mating serpents with his staff. 3 324–27
31 Tiresias woman man Sex — Reversal He strikes the same snakes to undo it, and so becomes the one judge who has known both sides. 3 328–31
32 Echo nymph voice Sound — Grief Her body wastes to bone, her bones to stone, and only the voice is left. 3 396–401
33 Narcissus boy flower Plant — Pity No agent is named; the body is simply gone, the narcissus in its place. 3 509–10
34 Bacchus god drunk boy Human self Disguise Fair as a girl and seemingly heavy with wine — the sailors take him for plunder. 3 607–10
35 Bacchus boy god God self Reversal Grapes at his brow, a vine-wound spear, phantom tigers; the ship stops dead in the water. 3 666–69
36 Acoetes' crew sailors dolphins Sea-creature Bacchus Punishment Nineteen of twenty; Acoetes alone is spared, and tells it. 3 671–86

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