Ovid's Metamorphoses III - Reading Diary A

After reading Ovid's Metamorphoses I last week, I decided to continue with Ovid's Metamorphoses III for this week's reading diary. The first story of this unit is that of Daedalus and Icarus. This story was interesting to me because it tells of how the island of Icaria and the Icarian Sea got their names. Daedalus (Icarus's father) built wings for him and his son to use to escape the island of Crete, but when Icarus flew too close to the heavens, the beeswax holding his wings together was melted and he fell from the sky. The sea that he fell into is now known as the Icarian Sea and the island that his father buried him on is called Icaria. 

I also enjoyed the story of Philemon and Baucis and the message that it sends. Philemon and Baucis were an old couple living in poverty in a small village. Jupiter and Mercury went to the village and asked for hospitality, but only Philemon and Baucis allowed them to enter their home. They shared all of their best food with the gods and provided them with hospitality, despite their impoverished state. After this, the gods decided to give them a temple to live in because of their kindness. The story ends with the quote "Let those who love the gods become gods: let those who have honoured them, be honoured". 

The story of Famine was also interesting. In this story, a man is punished for an act he committed. His punishment is famine; he is constantly hungry no matter how much he eats. He ends up selling everything he owns for more food until he runs out of belongings. At this point, he begins to eat himself because of his hunger. 

The stories of Hercules were very entertaining as well. This unit tells stories of Hercules' defeat of the god Achelous and the centaur Nessus. It also tells of his death, which occurred when a woman lied to his wife and told her that Hercules had an affair with another woman. Hercules' wife responded to this by giving him a poisoned shirt. 

(Painting of Hercules wrestling the shape-shifting god Achelous. Painting by Cornelis Cornelisz found on Wikimedia.)