Marvellous. Ovid’s Metamorphoses is a collection of 250+ myths from Greek and Roman mythology, written under the reign of Augustus. It’s probably the most famous anthology of myths, despite being somewhat of a retelling for the Roman world, and as such I feared it would be a bit dull. Boy was I wrong. 

Ovid’s writing, the composition of the books themselves, the choice of stories, never fail to entertain first and foremost. Some myths are introduced through a framing device, like Nestor telling tales to his comrades in Troy, and then being called out for being inaccurate. I love how Ovid wastes no time to discuss things we know from Homer, he’d rather fill the gaps. Brilliant stuff, makes for great pacing too. 

One thing that really shocking was how progressive his pov felt. Maybe it’s because so many retellings these days aim to reclaim a narrative by making their stories “feminist;” or maybe because I’ve always seen Ovid as a bit of a dirty uncle and one catering to the Romans, less sophisticated and more gory than the Greeks. But really, in my reading, I found a pretty great degree of empathy in his version of famous tragic stories, which is ultimately fair enough. 

Plus, turns out Ovid is an unexpected ally🏳️‍🌈 The amount of queerness just passed as normal, and to say nothing of the various trans characters! I don’t know where our society went wrong for these “traditionalists” to be using the same demeaning arguments that the villains of myth would use against heroes back in ancient Rome (JK Rowling, look around, you’re the deviant). 

Overall, this is an essential read that I’m sure would get anybody hooked on Greek mythology. It’s whimsical, it’s outrageous, it’s just a lot of fun. Loved it.