Here are my favorite stories from the first half of Ovid's Meamorphoses (Books 8-10):
Philemon and Baucis: What I liked about this story was that it's one of the few where the usually wrathful gods are actually nice to some humans. Philemon and Baucis remind me of a sweet, hospitable old couple and their kindness to the gods Jupiter and Mercury causes them to spare the couple's lives. I guess they haven't completely given up their wrathful ways because they still flood and drown an entire neighborhood because the people didn't let them into their homes, but at least they didn't punish Philemon and Baucis for the mistakes of others. I also liked their transformation into trees so that they did not really die and can continue to be next to each other.
Ceres and Erysichthon: This is one of the stories where I feel like the human victim of the god(dess) really did deserve their fate and instead of pitying him, I feel like justice was served. What made this story a favorite, though, was the story idea I got from it. If I were to rewrite this story, I would update it, giving it a modern twist. In our society's desire for commercial expansion, a lot of the environment (including important habitats for certain animals) has been demolished to make way for strip malls and hotels and casinos and other commercial buildings. Along with this destruction of nature, we also seem to have this unquenchable need for material goods, which is a lot like the hunger (famine) Ceres plagued Erysichthon with (I'm pretty sure, I don't know how to correctly pronounce either of those names, but at least I can just spell them in a blog post).
Achelous: I found this story to be a little bit humorous. Achleous insults Hercules, his parentage, and even mocks the feats he has accomplished seemingly because he's not a god, just a demigod. I understand that a certain amount of pride comes with being a god, but in this case, Achelous had to put his money where his mouth was and it didn't work out very well for the "almighty" god in this story. While Hercules may not be a god, he sure has superhuman strength, not to mention a fine set of combat skills from all the trials he overcame successfully. To put it plainly, Achelous talked crap about Hercules and got his tail whipped for it (he even lost a horn which Hercules snapped right off his forehead). There are several different lessons one can take away from this story, like the downfall of pride, being able to back up your words, and how words can have consequences.
The Death of Hercules: I have mixed feelings about this story because it is quite sad and gruesome. A dying Hercules, in immense pain from a poisoned shirt, decides to burn himself on a pyre to relive his suffering. Hercules is a great hero so this is a sad way for his epic story to end. However, the feeling is reduced by the gesture of Zues/Jupiter who takes the immortal part of him and puts it in the sky as a constellation. Jealous Hera/Juno does not speak out against the action, even though she has hated Hercules and put him through many trials throughout his life. In fact, it is overcoming her many trials that made him famous throughout Greece and beloved by the gods. Although, you can hardly blame Hera for hating him since he is one of the many illegitimate children her husband has had. Still, he didn't deserve her wrath or his painful death, but at least he was immortalized in the sky.
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| Hercules on Mount Oeta (Stories from the Greek Tragedians) |
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