Ovidian myths in classical literature

Ovidian Myths

Antiquity has had numerous writers and poets, each of them having either similar or diverse styles of writing, depending on various intervening factors such as their location and the time that they had lived in. Consequent to Homer's Iliad, several poets began to express their interest in writing legends. The Roman Empire gave birth to Virgil, and, later, to Ovid, the latter being one of the most appreciated historic writers to have made their way into the western world. Ovid's metamorphosis is a good example of the writer having inspired his work from Homer's and Virgil's poems. However, unlike the other writers, Ovid has created confusing stories, without the presence of heroes and well-described courses of events.

Initially, the writer insists on insuring his readers that his poem will have continuity and that it will relate to the history of the world. Conversely, as the story advances, it is revealed that it is composed out of a succession of tales without any clear connection between them existing.

Ovid involves much philosophy in Metamorphoses and change is the main topic that the text is based on. The poem is sometimes difficult to understand, since it does not keep a steady rhythm and Ovid has his characters behaving uncontrollably. The individuals present in Ovid's poem largely resemble the human society of the time, and, moreover, it even slightly resembles our present society. Regardless of their stature, both Gods and simple people all fall victims to normal phenomenon in the Metamorphoses.

Ovid attempts to shed light on the philosophy of mankind with the help of various accounts relating to people and their behavior in certain situations. The Roman poet's writings follow people from the start of the world and until the year 8 AD, at the time when Emperor Augustus had been leading the Roman Empire. The human nature is being presented through a series of stories depicting people in a range of hypostasis, in the form of gods and interacting with gods. Apparently, all beings, both heavenly and earthly, are at the hand of a relatively unimportant god by the name of Amor. The theme of love is widely used in the writings of Ovid, and, as a result, he made full use of the topic in the Metamorphoses.

In its first years on earth, humanity knew no evil and everything had been peaceful, with people being contempt by their condition, unwilling to ask for more from the gods. Even though the human society thrived in the Golden Age and people frequently interacted, there had been no need for written laws, "where none opprest." Apparently, the reason for which there had been no necessity for written laws had been that everyone had had a good sense of decency. Their peaceful nature even prevented them from wanting to explore other territories, since the surrounding environment provided them with everything that they needed without them having to go through any efforts in exchange for it.

Matters began to change with the coming of the Silver Age, when nature stopped from simply supplying people with their basic needs. Accordingly, humanity had to work in order to produce food and people started to grow crops to earn a living. People had also built homes in which to stay in, since the cold had changed the world as they knew it. The Silver Age had produced a great change in the way that people behaved, as they learnt what it meant to become dependent on their work. The four seasons to come limited the prosperity that humanity had enjoyed until the time.

It had been the Bronze Age that presented people with weapons and with the natural drive to perform warfare. Humanity had now lost its innocence and people fought between themselves as if it had been their sole purpose. The fourth age, the one of Iron, apparently having continued through our days, is the one having brought a great deal of evil into the world, with a mass-search for wealth and fortune beginning.

People stopped associating peace with welfare and acted in favor of gathering riches from the others, regardless of the effect that their actions had. Nations fought in order to impose their power over others, abandoning values such as "Truth, modesty, and shame" in favor of "Fraud, avarice, and force." Ovid makes it obvious how several elements had acted so as the world would turn from peaceful and full of nature's riches to people being cruel and living in misery.

One could claim that it had been the circumstances that have led to the change of man, and, that people are victims to nature. However, people have had a choice, and, while they could have continued to grow their crops peacefully, they preferred to fight endlessly instead, having despair constantly present in the world. It is not certain whether or not people could have actually stopped evil from entering their lives, but it is certain that it would need a miracle for it to disappear.

The poet presents the tyrant Lycaon as being a symbol of the ages in which people had been devoted to engaging in battle without taking into account the fact that it had been extremely ineffective and malicious. Lycaon proved his disinterest for people by offering his own son as a sacrifice for the gods. This act had acted as an offense towards the Gods, which, in their turn, transformed Lycaon into a werewolf-like creature, which had been both man and wolf in the same time. Ovid made a reference to the fact that people that perform evil activities have little humanity remaining in them, as they act similar to how animals due, with little emotional response being present within their minds.

Ovid also chose to relate to the Biblical flood when describing the beginning of the world. However, he changed the story greatly, to the point where the only beings to have survived the flood had been Deucalion, the son of Prometheus, and his wife Pyrrha. Mankind had been punished because of the depravity that they have shown at the time that they made a human sacrifice to Zeus. Even the gods had deemed the act of human sacrifice to be an abomination.

Most probably, Ovid had attempted to provide evidence relating to people being able to change their nature when presented with a critical condition. The two people left had become aware of how little and fragile they were and that it would only require for the gods to command another flood in order for them to perish. Moreover, even with the fact that the couple had been certain of their situation, it became obvious that it had been a divine intervention deciding that "two remain; a species in a pair." Along with the death of the rest of mankind, Deucalion and Pyrrha had changed their nature, wanting themselves and their successors to be certain that such a disaster would never take place again.

Craving to improve their relationship with the gods, humans appealed to a desperate solution. However, they did not realize that the action that they resorted to had been perverted and that it was directed against everything that mankind stood for. In response, the gods decided to end humanity, with the intention of preventing such acts from ever taking place. The interference made by Prometheus demonstrated that people had actually been capable of changing their nature.