94 pages • 3 hours read
OvidMetamorphoses
Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Adult | Published in 8A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Book 2Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Book 2 Summary: “Phaethon (cont.)”
The Sun grants Phaethon one wish, and he asks to drive his father’s sun chariot. The Sun warns Phaethon not to, saying “mortal your lot—not mortal your desire” (26). Still Phaethon insists. In the sky, Phaethon loses control of the chariot, creating the Sahara desert by burning North Africa. Jupiter strikes Phaethon out of the sky, and he dies. This saddens the Sun, who hands the reigns to his chariot over to Jupiter.
Book 2 Summary: “Callisto”
Jupiter is attracted to the nymph Callisto, and he takes the form of Diana and rapes her. After Callisto gives birth to her son Arcas, Juno takes her anger out on Callisto by turning her into a bear. Later while hunting, Arcas comes across his mother in bear form. Ovid writes, “he chanced to meet her; seeing him she stopped / stock still, seeming to recognize his face” (39). Not recognizing her, Arcas is about to kill her. Before he can do so, Jupiter turns them both into constellations in the sky.
Book 2 Summary: “The Raven and the Crow”
Book 2 Summary: “Ocyrhoe”
Ocyrhoe is the daughter of Chiron, a centaur with the torso of a man and the body of a horse. Ocyrhoe predicts that her immortal father would one day desire to die after being poisoned. However, the Fates forbid her from speaking further and she is turned into a full horse.
Book 2 Summary: “Mercury and Battus”
The god Mercury steals Apollo’s herd of cows. When he realizes an old man Battus saw this, Mercury offers Battus a cow in exchange for his silence. However, Mercury disguises himself and bribes Battus for information on the cows. When Battus reveals their location, Mercury turns him into stone as punishment for his betrayal.
Book 2 Summary: “The Envy of Aglauros”
Mercury desires the Athenian princess Herse, but her sister Aglauros is jealous. Minerva, who is angry at Aglauros, has the goddess Envy infect Aglauros with disease. Aglauros becomes sick with jealousy and “the happiness / of lucky Herse smouldered in her heart,” so she blocks Herse’s door (48). This angers Mercury, who turns Aglauros to stone.
Book 2 Summary: “Jupiter and Europa”
Jupiter falls for the princess Europa and turns himself into a bull. Europa is amazed at the bull’s friendliness and beauty, and she even climbs on and rides him. Jupiter walks with Europa out to sea, kidnapping her.
Book 2 Analysis
The Metamorphoses is filled with stories of transformation, some of which serve as aetiologies, or origin stories. For example, Callisto’s transformation leads to the origin of two constellations we see today. Because Callisto was turned into a bear, her son Arcas nearly kills her while hunting. But Jupiter stopped Arcas “and swept away / both son and mother—with the threatened crime— / whirled in a wind together through the void, / and set them in the sky as neighbouring stars” (39). These stars form the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor (also known as the big and little dippers). Similarly, the story of the raven and the crow explains the origin of the raven’s black color. After the raven informs Apollo that his beloved Coronis is not faithful to him, Apollo lashes out at the bird. Ovid writes, “as for the raven, whose report was right / and hopes ran high, he turned him black as night, / banned from the breed of birds whose colour’s white” (43). Now the raven, which had until this point in the story been silvery-white, takes on the color with which we are familiar.
Some of the transformation stories in this book also provide moral lessons, showing how the gods punish mortals for bad behavior. Phaethon’s story, which began in Book 1 and concludes in Book 2, ends when Phaethon loses control of his father’s chariot and Jupiter blasts him from the sky. On Phaethon’s tomb appears the epitaph “great was his fall, yet did he greatly dare” (34). The moral lesson here is that mortals who exceed their own abilities, even to reach great heights, will fall and suffer.
Another moral lesson appears in the story of Battus. There, Mercury tests the mortal Battus, whom he had paid to keep a secret. Mercury disguises himself and bribes Battus for the secret. When Battus gives up the secret, Ovid writes, “Mercury laughed; ‘You rogue, so you betray / me to myself, me to myself, I say!’ / and changed that treacherous heart into a stone” (45). Mercury set up a test of Battus’ integrity, and the punishment for his failure is death by transformation. The lesson here, then, is that one should have integrity (since one never knows if they are being tested, even by the gods).
Related Titles
By Ovid
