The Essential Metamorphoses, Stanley Lombardo’s abridgment of his translation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, preserves the epic frame of the poem as a whole while offering the best-known tales in a rendering remarkable for its clarity, wit, and vigor. While making no pretense of offering an experience comparable to that of reading the whole of Ovid’s self-styled history “from the world’s first origins down to my own time,” this practical and judicious selection of myths at the heart of Roman mythology and literature yet manages to relate many of the most fascinating episodes in that world-historical march toward the Age of Augustus—and is accompanied by an Introduction that deftly sets them in their cosmological, theological, and Augustan contexts.
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The Essential Metamorphoses, Stanley Lombardo’s abridgment of his translation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, preserves the epic frame of the poem as a whole while offering the best-known tales in a rendering remarkable for its clarity, wit, and vigor. While making no pretense of offering an experience comparable to that of reading the whole of Ovid’s self-styled history “from the world’s first origins down to my own time,” this practical and judicious selection of myths at the heart of Roman mythology and literature yet manages to relate many of the most fascinating episodes in that world-historical march toward the Age of Augustus—and is accompanied by an Introduction that deftly sets them in their cosmological, theological, and Augustan contexts.
Praise for Stanley Lombardo’s unabridged translation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses:
"Stanley Lombardo successfully matches Ovid’s human drama, imaginative brio, and irresistible momentum; and Ralph Johnson’s superb Introduction to Ovid's 'narratological paradise' is a bonus to this new and vigorous translation that should not be missed."
—Elaine Fantham, Giger Professor of Latin, Emerita, Princeton University
"Lombardo’s translation is the most readable I’ve seen. . . . Its language is modern, accessible, and unpretentious.”
—Margaret Musgrove, University of Central Oklahoma
"A superb teaching text. The translation is readable, witty, and very accessible to today’s students."
—John Makowski, Loyola University, Chicago
Contents:
Introduction; Note on the Text, Abridgment, and Introduction; Suggestions for Further Reading
The Essential Metamorphoses:
Glossary of Main Characters
About the Authors:
Stanley Lombardo is Professor of Classics, University of Kansas.
W. R. Johnson is Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature, Emeritus, University of Chicago.