Today we will talk about such an amazinga monument of ancient art, as "Metamorphosis". In fifteen volumes, Ovid could not only show the entire mythology of his time, but also illustrate the life of the people around him through this prism.
Read on and you’ll get to know this facet.ancient society as a relation to love. You will learn not only what kinds of Greeks and Romans divided this feeling, but also understand the example of the actions of deities and heroes in his incarnation.
Publius Ovidi Nazon
Одно из знаменитейших своих произведений - "Metamorphosis" - Ovid ended up in exile. The poet clearly in the memories does not speak about the reason for falling into disgrace. Researchers believe that because of the poems that are not consistent with the opinion of the emperor.
So, who is this Roman, who was able to ignite the capital of the Roman Empire with love elegy, to become famous and end his life in exile with the Sarmatians and the Geth.
Публий Овидий Назон родился в горах Средней Italy His race belonged to one of the Sabine tribes, the Pelegna. His father was rich, belonged to the "riders", as the poet himself says. Due to the sufficient prosperity of the family, the boy receives education in the best schools of the capital.
После Овидий путешествовал по Греции, Малой Азии and Sicily, made friends with Horace and Propertia, saw Virgil. Early enough, he began to write poetry. The first piece was "Heroes", but he burned them in order to "clear" the coarse syllable.
Из сохранившихся сочинений нам известны «Любовные elegy, 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 in the history of the book on the now popular "pickup." In it, the poet gave recommendations to men first, how to behave and seek 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 Black Sea coast, that Ovid finishes his famous "Metamorphoses".
The concept of love in antiquity
The ancient Greeks, like the rest of the ancient peoples, were closer to nature. They tried to understand themselves more deeply and, through the prism of their senses, learned about the world around them.
Even Aristotle singled out six kinds of love with their own names. We will talk about them now.
The first was "lyudus" - a game of love.It is characterized as pure attraction, without feelings. Experiencing such sensations, one of the partners seeks to selfish satisfaction of their own physiological desires. Thoughts and emotions of another person are not interesting to him. This kind of love occurs quite often, but after the storm of passions subsides, the one who took “people” seriously will remain at the bottom of the trough.
All such expressions of emotion and shows Ovid. "Metamorphosis", a brief summary of which will be given below, will allow you to plunge into the emotional sphere of the ancient world.
Next comes “eros” - sensual relationships. In the modern world, such relationships are called romantic. Imagine that in communication with a partner you have a permanent candy-bouquet period.
"Mania" - an obsession with the subject of passion.Constant suffering, reproaches and scenes of jealousy on the part of one of the partners. This is a perverse notion of feelings, when on a psychological level, a combination of feelings of love and pain occurs.
The next view is pragma.This is where the concept of pragmatism comes from. In such a relationship, feelings and emotions fade into the background. First of all, the partner is interested in the practical side of the future life together. Does your wife cook well? Does your husband earn much?
“Storge”, similar is “Filia” - tender love-friendship. Mutual understanding, help, warm, even relations. If you want an explosion of feelings and renewal of emotions, here you will never get them.
The last species is agape.It is considered the highest stage of love. The first Christians called her divine. This feeling is characterized by complete dedication. The partner lives only for the sake of another person. He sees his happiness solely in the joy of the second half.
The essence of "metamorphosis"
Let's now talk about why Ovid wrote “Metamorphosis”. Daedalus and Icarus, for example, of whom we know from legends, became famous only 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 “transfiguration,transformation. " That is what the essay says. Ovid had such a powerful talent that a thoughtful reader feels the effect of a personal presence at current events.
The poet cuts off all unnecessary details, and shows the changes in the form of the 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 a favorite theme of the poet. He managed to express in the smallest details of her intricacies.
You will notice how gradually towards the end of the composition the actions of the characters become deeper, more conscious and spiritualized. Let's look at these issues with examples from the work.
Daphne and Apollo
The poem "Metamorphosis" begins with the scene of all-consuming passion. The sun god, blinded by passion, falls in love with a nymph. Daphne does not want to become the object of his lust and quickly runs away.
With his characteristic humor, Ovid portraysApollo, like the Gallic dog, who, having forgotten his dignity, rushes to gallop after the hare. And his feelings are compared with a sudden fire on a wheat field. It is these metaphors that show the depth of the poet’s life experience and his observation.
История заканчивается тем, что нимфа, невзирая на Phoebe’s plea that he is the son of Jupiter, and not a mere shepherd, is asking for protection from his father. Penny, the god of the river, turns his daughter into a tree on the bank of the stream. Apollo, seeing a similar turn of events, vows to make the laurel evergreen. In addition, with his wreath he adorns his brow.
Beloved of Jupiter
Researchers still not fully understoodin all the subtleties that offer the reader "Metamorphosis". Ovid is compared with the author of "A Thousand and One Nights", because the poet in his poems weaves the plots of different parts of the work. Unaware of ancient mythology from the first time will not understand many of the events and comparisons. Therefore, "Metamorphosis" is better to read several times.
Например, Юпитер, будучи главным божеством Olympus has an inexhaustible desire for sensual love and passion. He is in constant confrontation with the jealous and petty wife Juno. Many scholars believe that it was these images that angered the Roman emperor and caused Ovid’s exile.
So in the piece we see several storiesassociated with Jupiter. He falls in love with Io, and in order to save her from the wrath of his wife, he turns the poor girl into a cow. Also, God is often depicted as drunk on nectar. In such scenes, he behaves like the lowest plebeian.
В сюжетах с Зевсом Овидий часто затрагивает issues of violence. For example, in order to achieve Callisto, he has to turn to Diana, the goddess that this priestess serves. Further, he forces the chaste girl to a love affair.
Thus, in the form of a heavenly ruler, the poet shows the lowest manifestation of this kind of love, as "lyudus".
Levkotoya and Helios
Not only to annoy the emperor,Ovid wrote Metamorphosis. A summary of the subsequent stories will make you understand that he mockingly tells about the current customs in the free estates of his time.
So, the sun god has a jealous admirer, Cletia, daughter of Tefida and Ocean. Helios himself falls in love with a simple mortal girl Lefkofey, the daughter of the Persian ruler Orham.
But the stupid and jealous envoy informs the king aboutthat his daughter lost her chastity in the arms of a stranger. Angry Orham orders to bury the girl alive (such a custom, by the way, really existed in the east).
Heartbroken Helios seeks to help at least something of his beloved. He turns it into a left-wing (or white violet), fragrant flower that turns in the afternoon after the sun.
Narcissus and Echo
“Metamorphoses” themselves begin to change from this story. Ovid moves from the violent and egoistic love of immortal celestials to the more pure, innocent and mundane feelings of ordinary people.
Сюжет неудавшегося счастья Нарцисса и нимфы Эхо shows high emotions inaccessible to the gods. So, the young man has an unearthly beauty. But the trouble is that he loves only his reflection. Traveling through Greece, Narcissus comes to a lake, often hidden by the forest, surrounded by mountains.
The water in it is so clean that a young man cannotjust break away from what he saw in it. The conflict is that the nymph Echo notices him and falls in love with him without memory. But the girl can not express their thoughts. She was cursed by Juno for her talkativeness, which Echo prevented from tracking Jupiter.
Now the poor nymph can only repeat the endphrases of another person. But still the girl inspired by love manages to admit to Narcissa her feelings. He does not reciprocate, because he does not see anyone except his reflection. In the end, the guy turns into a flower of the same name by the lake.
It is noteworthy that, according to the myth, he does not cease to admire himself in Aida. There Narcissus looks into the waters of Styx.
Piram and Thisbe
If you think that the plot of Romeo and Juliet came up with Shakespeare, you are mistaken. This story is still known Publius Ovid Nazon. “Metamorphosis” describes the tragic events in the life of Thisbe and Piram.
This is a young girl and boy who lived next door. Parents forbade them to not only show feelings for each other, but even to meet. The guys talked through a hole in the wall of the house.
Once they secretly agreed to meet forcity, near one crypt. But on the way there, Thebe saw a lioness, was frightened and lost her shawl. The very same hid in the agreed shelter. Pirs went to his beloved and saw a torn girl's shawl on the road. He recognized her and with the thought that she was dead, stabs himself with a dagger.
When Thisbe found him, he killed himself with the same weapon. This story in the work is the first in which the gods do not participate at all.
Hermaphrodite and Salmakid
Publius Ovidiy Nazon Metamorphosis was not intended as a linear composition. It has unexpected turns, returns to past events. This is precisely the story of Salmakid and Hermaphrodite.
The first was a nymph of a mountain lake. But in her charming beauty combined with unsurpassed laziness. All that the girl was doing was narcissism and preening.
Once Hermaphrodite came to the lake. The young man, being the son of Aphrodite and Hermes, had a stunning appearance and athletic build. Nymph in love with him to unconsciousness.
She asked the gods to unite them into one.When the young man was swimming, Salmakida wrapped her arms around him, and the inhabitants of the sky performed her will. Since that time, Hermaphrodite became a bisexual creature. Here is a retrospection of the topic of violence, previously mentioned in connection with the gods.
Mullet and Procrida
Many different manifestations of love told Ovid readers. “Metamorphoses”, the analysis of which we give in brief in our article, show the tragedy without transformation.
This happened in the history of Kefal and Procris. These are two ordinary people, a married couple. But they got disagreements because of the doubts of her husband in the loyalty of the chosen one, who inspired Aurora.
With his jealousy scenes, Kefal drives the girl into a frenzy, and she runs away from him. But after repentance comes back.
Now it’s not god that comes into play, but human servitude and nearness. A servant tells Procride that he has heard her husband calling Aura, the goddess of the cool breeze.
The girl decides to follow her husband, hiding in the bushes nearby. Kefal thought that this beast was sneaking up, and killed his wife with a dart.
In this case, we see nothing more than tragedy due to the blinding of jealousy.
Baucis and Philemon
And about “agape” says in his work Ovidi Nazon. "Metamorphoses" mention this most perfect kind of love in the image of Philemon and Baukis.
This is a poor but pious married couple. They spent their whole lives together, grew old and lived out their lives in a small hut.
One day, Hermes and Jupiter came to visit them.In obedience to tradition, the hosts laid down everything that they had. They devastated their own bins, but satisfied all the requests of foreigners. In gratitude for such a warm and cordial welcome, the gods rewarded the old men with the fulfillment of desires.
Baucis and Philemon asked to be deadthe guardians of the temple, which the gods of heaven built on the site of their huts, and depart into another world in one day. In the end, after several years, they turned into two trees near the sanctuary. The husband is in oak, and the wife is in lime.
Keik and Alcyone
In this story, Ovid's poem “Metamorphoses” makes a U-turn from the divine decline of morals to the rise of mortals.
This pair is the pious king and queen. He is the son of Aurora, she is the daughter of Eola. One day Keik sails and dies in a storm.
The story is inserted into the story of the message disappointing news Altsione through a dream.
As a result, the couple turns into gulls, and the comforted wife and the resurrected husband fly away happily together.
Vertumn and Pomona
История любви нимфы сада Помоны и бога времен year Vertumn. The latter is depicted in the image of the classic hero of elegies. He is completely devoted to the object of his adoration. In the end, the young man still seeks reciprocity from the beloved.
On a similar happy note, the poem ends."Metamorphosis". Ovid, whose analysis of the work we attempted to present in our article, expresses in this story the apotheosis of the triumph of the feelings of ordinary people and demigods over the selfish desires of the gods.
Thus, today we not only talked about passions in ancient society, but also dismantled this area of life using examples from the work of the Roman poet Ovid.
