Reading Notes: Ovid's Metamorphoses I, Part A

Deucalion and Pyrrha

From the story of Deucalion and Pyrrha, the aspect that intrigued me most was the idea of stones eventually being refined enough to come to life as people, like marble statues. It reminds me a little of the myth about Galatea, and I feel like something interesting could be done with those marble-veined people who represent “the toughness of our race.”


Io

In this story, it was Argus “with his star-like eyes” who caught my attention. I like the idea of interpreting the character and his hundred eyes and omnipotence a little less literally, but keeping some other elements—his constant vigilance, the way he doggedly dragged a crying Io away from her father in order to get her to isolation and carry out his job properly—in place.

Phaethon and the Sun

With this story, I found myself less interested in the looming threat of the chariot than in the dynamic between the absent but idolized father and the son desperate to be claimed by him. That's something I'd like to explore in a more modern context, though I wouldn't want to lose the larger-than-life quality of the dad in that transition.

Phaethon's Ride

Like I mentioned above, I'm not as interested in the chariot aspect of Phaethon's tale, so this story didn't grab me as much. If I were to use this as inspiration, I would probably do a loose interpretation involving pyrokinesis and a character who can't control it.

The Death of Phaethon

I liked the human aspect of Phaethon's sisters grieving for him, so I might be interested in reinterpreting the tree angle but still looking at a group of sisters transformed by grief for their dead brother.

Callisto

In this story, the bit where Zeus "took on the face and dress of Diana" caught my eye. It seems like a great opportunity to do a story with a shape-shifter, so I would probably use that aspect but remove it from the larger context of the tale it comes from.

Semele

If I were to take something from this unit to work with, it would probably be the idea of a destructive relationship; I like the idea of exploring a non-romantic variation of that.

Bibliography: Ovid's Metamorphoses, translated by Tony Kline. Source: Mythology and Folklore UN-Textbook.
Image Credit: Relief showing the sun god Helios, from the temple of Athena in Troy. Source: Wikimedia Commons.