The present paper is devoted to two accounts of creation made by Ovid, Roman poet, in his poem Metamorphoses, and Hesiod, who described it in his poem Theogony. The purpose of this work is to reveal similarities and differences between the above-mentioned poems and analyze Ovid’s approach to myth.
Despite of the same subject – creation of the Universe, Metamorphoses by Ovid and Theogony by Hesiod are very different. Theogony describes the birth of numerous Olympic gods who were born after creation. The process of creation is described in the very beginning of the poem: the Earth, called Gaia, after mating with different elements, gives birth to numerous creatures, including her future husband – Ouranos. Together they produce a lot of monsters – “strong, hulking creatures that beggar description” (Trzaskoma, et al., 2004, p.136). However, the central god and the lead character in the Theogony is Zeus, who was born from Cronos and Rhea together with his other brothers and sisters who were all swallowed by their father. Zeus was the only one who survived from all siblings because her mother Rhea deceived Cronos and gave him a stone instead of her son: “Then she wrapped up a great stone in swaddling clothes and gave it to Cronos, () He took it in his hands and rammed it down into his belly, the poor fool!” (Trzaskoma, et al., 2004, p.145). Finally, Zeus grew up protected by the Earth, his grandmother, and then killed his cruel father who had to vomit up all his offspring. Therefore, Zeus wins and becomes the king of Olympus.
In Metamorphoses Ovid first describes the creation of the Earth by an unnamed god who makes it fit for people creating forests, rivers, mountains and so on. Ovid is more focused on the mankind than Hesiod and describes the four ages: Golden which was the best one and which “cultivated trust and righteousness all on its own, without any laws, without fear or punishment” (Ovid, p.7), Silver, Bronze and Iron which was the last one because “every iniquity burst out in this inferior age” (Ovid, p.8). Jupiter was angry about people’s behavior and came to the Earth pretending a human. Then he showed to the people his divine origin and they started praying. However, Lycaon did not believe that it was Jupiter and wanted to test his immortality by killing him. So the outraged god together with his brother Neptune “overwhelm humanity with an endless deluge” (Ovid, p.13) as a result of which only two human beings survive – Deucalion and Pyrrha who beg gods for restoring the human race. The gods take pity on them and restore the humankind.
Both poems are devoted to the subject of the Universe creation but they treat it quite differently. Hesiod is focused on Gods whereas Ovid describes Gods in relation to people and their living. The Theogony by Hesiod is very chaotic since multiple gods described by the Greek poet meet and mate occasionally giving birth to other divine creatures and gods. In contrast, Ovid’s Metamorphoses are well-structured, everything is logic and coherent therein: creation of the Earth which is fit for human beings, creation of people, the four ages, flood and restoration. Hesiod doesn’t mention people at all in his poem talking only about Gods whereas for Ovid the mankind is the central theme and sometimes he does not give specific names to Gods: “Some god, or superior nature, settled this conflict, splitting earth from heaven, sea from earth, and the pure sky from the dense atmosphere”(Ovid, p. 5). By Hesiod, the Earth seems to be divine and Gods rule over it so fully that people are even not mentioned. The only one similarity of two poems is that Prometheus also participates in the creation process and the myth about him is included in both works.
All these differences are caused by a special approach of Ovid to myth which we may also observe for example in his myth on Perseus and Andromeda. Perseus saves the fastened Andromeda, wins the monster which captivated her and decides to marry her. The story is just the same as we know it in the Greek mythology but Ovid tells it in his own way. His characters are not impersonal any more, they are human beings: they love and hate, laugh and cry. Ovid’s approach to myth is very dramatical, he tries to involve his spectators in the scene using epithets, metaphors and comparisons in his poetry and a suspenseful plot in his story. His description of bloody scene which takes place during Perseus’ marriage feast touches the feelings even of today’s readers: “Perseus, surrounded by a thousand men with Phineus at their head – spears flying thicker than winter hail past flanks, eyes, ears – stands with his back against a great stone column and protected in this way from the rear, faces the oncoming onslaught” (Ovid, 126). This special approach of Ovid to myth may be observed in the Metamorphoses too where all the gods are depicted as human beings with their own feelings. Despite of quite mythological nature of the Metamorphoses Ovid attributes to it some dramatical features which makes the poem more interesting and involving for its spectators.
In summary, it should be noted that the Theogony and the Metamorphoses are two different poems actually telling the same story. Ovid’s approach to myth differs much from the one of his Greek processor Hesiod. In Ovid’s poems we may feel the characters and share their feelings as well since Ovid always tries to touch his spectators attributing to his characters quite human features.
Reference
Trzaskoma M.,S., Smith, S. R., Brunet, S. (2004). Anthropology of classical Myth. Hackett Publishing Company.
