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1-Page Summary of Metamorphoses
The author begins by addressing the gods and asking them to bless his undertaking. He then starts telling a story about how everything was created out of chaos, and how mankind progressed from the golden age to the silver age to the iron age. The bad behavior of mankind lead to an attempt by giants trying to seize control of heaven but Jove sent waters that destroyed most living things except for one pious couple: Deucalion and Pyrrha. This couple repopulated earth by following instructions given by the gods after throwing rocks behind them; these rocks transformed into new humans with better qualities than their predecessors.
In this passage, Ovid describes the story of Daphne and Apollo. He also tells us about a girl named Io who is raped by Jupiter (Zeus). Juno discovers that she has been impregnated by Jupiter and punishes her. She turns Io into a cow to hide her from her husband’s wrath. Mercury then kills Argus, Io’s guard dog/monster so that Jupiter can rape her again without being caught. However, he does not kill Argus completely because he wants to make sure that his master will be able to sleep peacefully at night knowing there’s still someone watching over him while he sleeps with his wife… I mean rapes people in his dreams? Anyways, Juno sends Jove an angry letter saying how it was unfair for him to turn one of hers into a cow when she transformed all those other women into trees just because they were unfaithful or something like that. So Jove makes Phaethon immortal but gives him too much power which causes him to die after riding around the sun really fast on some chariot thingy. His friend Cycnus becomes a swan after witnessing this tragedy unfold before his eyes and feeling sad about it! Callisto gets pregnant after having sex with Zeus but since she isn’t married yet (and doesn’t want everyone thinking badly of her) she asks Diana if she could please live in the woods as long as possible until no one remembers what happened between them anymore…but unfortunately Diana finds out anyways and kicks Callisto out along with their son Arcas, who later almost accidentally murders his own mother by accident… But luckily Zeus transforms both of them into constellations so they don’t have to worry about dying any more!
Next, Ovid tells the story of how a Raven became black. Stories about the evil effects of gossip are followed by an account of how Ocyrhoe was turned into stone for being a prophetess and telling secrets. Then Mercury falls in love with Herse, which results in Aglauros becoming jealous and turning to stone. At the same time, Jove (Zeus) falls in love with Europa and disguises himself as a bull to have sex with her; when she is discovered missing, her brother founds a new city by sewing together stones from snakes’ teeth. He rules his people well until his grandson Actaeon stumbles upon Diana bathing; he turns him into a stag and hunts him down until he is torn apart by dogs. Juno then takes pleasure in this misfortune but is distracted because another woman named Semele will give birth to Jupiter’s son Bacchus (Dionysus). She tricks Semele into seeing Jupiter fully naked so that she can see all his glory; however, it kills Semele instead but saves Dionysus who becomes one of the gods later on.
One day, Jupiter and Juno were arguing about which gender enjoys love more. Tiresias settled the argument by saying that women enjoy it more than men do. In response, Juno blinded him but gave him the gift of prophecy. Tiresias then predicted Narcissus’s early death after he fell in love with his own reflection and wasted away into a flower. He also predicted Pentheus’s death when he refused to worship the gods properly and was torn apart by his sisters during a Bacchic ritual. Furthermore, Ovid tells us about people who refuse to worship gods such as Minyas’ daughters who reject Bacchus’ divinity during one of his festivals; they are punished for this disobedience by being turned into bats for hiding from divine eyes that night. Finally, Juno is furious that Bacchus is worshipped as a god so she punishes her forefathers’ house leading some mad while pursuing others until Cadmus and his wife are saved only through their transformation into snakes.
