Ovid's Writings
Classical Mythology Essay Test 2-B (Q-2)
Levi Scott
SIUC
Classical Mythology
CLASS 230
Mr. Brown, Paul
November 19, 2010
Classical Mythology Essay Test 2-B (Q-2) Ovid’s uses his “poetic license” to alter Hesiod’s Ages of Men in his creation myth. Ovid does this by means of altering the content of the Ages and the number of ages which he chooses to include. I have three basic arguments for this, first Ovid’s description of the Silver age is quite different then Hesiod’s. Bk I: 113-124 (Ovid- The Metamorphoses) Secondly it appears that Ovid decided to omit Hesiod’s Age of Hero’s. My last argument supporting my thesis is that Ovid has created a new age that is recognized as the Blood Age. Bk I: 136-143 (Ovid- The Metamorphoses) First, it appears that Ovid wanted to make noticeable difference between his creation myth and Hesiod’s. One way he accomplished this was to illiterate on the four seasons in explaining to his audience the hard life that the Silver Age had compared to their seniors the Golden Age. Bk I: 113-124 (Ovid- The Metamorphoses) Ovid’s audience may have been confused hearing this if they were accustomed with hearing Hesiod’s account how seasons came about. My second argument explaining how Ovid strayed from the path that Hesiod set out for him is that Ovid completely omits the Heroic Age. There is no way be certain of why Ovid would have done this, but I will make the assumption that he either didn’t think it was important. More likely Ovid decided that his Roman audience would not want to hear about Greek demigods and he can’t just create history so he had no choice but to omit it. My last piece of evidence for my case for why explaining how Ovid changes Hesiod’s original Creation Myth is that Ovid adds an Age of Man that was after Hesiod’s time. This age was called the Blood Age. It took place directly following the Iron Age. Bk I: 136-143 (Ovid- The Metamorphoses) I suppose that this is the one thing
Levi Scott
SIUC
Classical Mythology
CLASS 230
Mr. Brown, Paul
November 19, 2010
Classical Mythology Essay Test 2-B (Q-2) Ovid’s uses his “poetic license” to alter Hesiod’s Ages of Men in his creation myth. Ovid does this by means of altering the content of the Ages and the number of ages which he chooses to include. I have three basic arguments for this, first Ovid’s description of the Silver age is quite different then Hesiod’s. Bk I: 113-124 (Ovid- The Metamorphoses) Secondly it appears that Ovid decided to omit Hesiod’s Age of Hero’s. My last argument supporting my thesis is that Ovid has created a new age that is recognized as the Blood Age. Bk I: 136-143 (Ovid- The Metamorphoses) First, it appears that Ovid wanted to make noticeable difference between his creation myth and Hesiod’s. One way he accomplished this was to illiterate on the four seasons in explaining to his audience the hard life that the Silver Age had compared to their seniors the Golden Age. Bk I: 113-124 (Ovid- The Metamorphoses) Ovid’s audience may have been confused hearing this if they were accustomed with hearing Hesiod’s account how seasons came about. My second argument explaining how Ovid strayed from the path that Hesiod set out for him is that Ovid completely omits the Heroic Age. There is no way be certain of why Ovid would have done this, but I will make the assumption that he either didn’t think it was important. More likely Ovid decided that his Roman audience would not want to hear about Greek demigods and he can’t just create history so he had no choice but to omit it. My last piece of evidence for my case for why explaining how Ovid changes Hesiod’s original Creation Myth is that Ovid adds an Age of Man that was after Hesiod’s time. This age was called the Blood Age. It took place directly following the Iron Age. Bk I: 136-143 (Ovid- The Metamorphoses) I suppose that this is the one thing
References: Ovid- The Metamorphoses