BCE – Before Christian Era

The theme today is Divine Retribution.

This session will explore how divine retribution functions in Metamorphoses, focusing on how gods punish mortals for transgressions, hubris, or defying divine will. Ovid portrays divine punishment as a transformative force, reshaping individuals physically and metaphorically. Sometimes, retribution is cruel and excessive, while at other times, it reinforces moral and cosmic order. We can examine the nature of divine justice, how punishment reflects the character of the gods, and whether mortals deserve their fates.

***

1. Core Tale: The Transformation of Niobe

• Key Passage: Book 6.156–330 — Niobe’s Hubris and Punishment

Niobe, proud of her numerous children, mocks Leto for having only two (Apollo and Diana). In response, Leto sends her divine offspring to kill all of Niobe’s children. Overcome with grief, Niobe flees to Mount Sipylus (Spil), where she is turned into a weeping rock.

Discussion Points:

• Is Niobe’s punishment justified, or is it excessive?
• How does her transformation into a weeping rock symbolize eternal grief?
• What does this episode reveal about divine expectations for humility?

***

2. Additional Passages from Metamorphoses
To deepen our analysis of divine retribution, we will study additional cases where the gods punish mortals for arrogance, cruelty, or defiance:

• 1.270-334 — The Flood

Jupiter decides to flood the world

• 3.138–273 — Actaeon’s Transformation into a Stag

Actaeon accidentally sees Diana bathing. The goddess, furious at being observed, transforms him into a stag, and his own hunting dogs kill him.

• 5.313–425, 710-730 — The Pierides and the Muses

The Pierides, mortal women, challenge the Muses to a singing contest and lose. The Muses punish them by turning them into magpies.

• 6.436–716 — Procne, Philomela, and Tereus

Tereus rapes Philomela and cuts out her tongue to silence her. With the help of her sister Procne, she takes revenge by serving him his own son for dinner. The gods transform all three into birds.

• 8.797–967 — Erysichthon and Hunger

Erysichthon desecrates a sacred grove of Ceres, cutting down a tree inhabited by a nymph. In response, the goddess punishes him by sending Hunger to consume him from within. He is doomed to eat endlessly until he devours himself.

3. Artistic Reflections on Divine Punishment

• Renaissance Art: Niobe and Her Children by Pieter Paul Rubens (1591)
• This dramatic painting captures the moment Niobe’s children are slaughtered, emphasizing divine wrath and human helplessness.
• Post-1800 Art: Apollo and Marsyas by Hans Thoma (German, 1839–1924) (1888).
• Portrays the moment of divine judgment, with Apollo asserting his dominance over the defeated satyr Marsyas, foreshadowing his gruesome punishment.

4. Musical Work

The theme today is Irony.

Ovid is one of antiquity’s most ironic poets, using humor, contrast, reversal, and understatement to create tension between appearance and reality, expectation and outcome. Unlike Homer’s straightforward heroism or Vergil’s solemn grandeur, Ovid often undermines traditional myths, exposing human folly, divine capriciousness, and the instability of identity and fate.

***

### 1. The Irony of Midas

• 11.89–204 Midas
  Midas, wishing for limitless wealth, is granted the power to turn everything he touches into gold—including his food and daughter. Later, he judges Pan a better musician than Apollo and is punished with donkey ears.
  Discussion Points:
• How does the golden touch turn a wish for power into a curse?
• What does Midas’s failure to recognize good music suggest about divine justice?
• How does the humor of his donkey ears reinforce Ovid’s ironic tone?

***

### 2. Additional Passages from Metamorphoses

Where is the following poems do you see irony?

• 1.5-75 The Creation of the World
• 1.811- 2.356 Phaethon
• 3.217–240 Diana and Actaeon (fragment with the Catalogue of Dogs)
• 3.633-806 Acoetes’ Crew Becomes Dolphins, Pentheus
• 8.797–967 Erysichthon and His Daughter Mestra
• 10.326–566 Myrrha and Cinyras
• 11.637-805 The House of Sleep
• 13.1–430 Ajax and Ulysses Contend for Achilles’ Armor
• 15.793–932 The Deification of Julius Caesar

### 3. Artistic Reflections on Irony

• Renaissance Art: The Flaying of Marsyas by Titian (1570s)
• The contrast between Apollo’s calmness and Marsyas’s suffering heightens the ironic cruelty of divine punishment.
• Post-1800 Art: The Golden Touch by Thomas Waterman Wood (1880s)
• Depicts Midas in despair, unable to eat his own golden food, highlighting the ironic cost of greed.

***

### 4. Musical Work

• Igor Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex (1927)
• Based on the greatest ironic tragedy—Oedipus seeks to avoid his fate, yet ensures it.

***

### 5. Poem

• The Ovide Moralisé (c. 1316–1328)
• About the work: A substantial French poem that translates and “Christianizes” Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Each myth is followed by a moral or allegorical commentary, reframing pagan transformations through a medieval Christian lens.
• Ovidian influence & irony: The entire text is explicitly based on the Metamorphoses. The ironic element comes from the juxtaposition of pagan stories—rich in erotic and often violent transformations—forced into pious Christian allegory. The poet’s attempts to extract moral lessons out of, say, the tale of Narcissus or Jupiter’s many seductions can strike modern readers as both fascinating and inadvertently humorous.

***

### 6. Pantone Color

• Pantone 14-0955 Golden Glow
• A color that represents wealth and power, yet also foolish excess and unintended consequences.

***

### 7. Fragrance

• Jo Malone’s Mimosa & Cardamom
• A scent that seems simple at first but evolves unexpectedly, like many of Ovid’s ironic reversals.

***

### 8. Tree

• Fig Tree
• The Fig Tree carries a dual symbolism,(Buddha vs Judas) deceptive nature (the wasp!), and historical irony in mythology and culture.

***

### 9. Country

• France
• Known for wit, satire, and irony in literature (Voltaire’s Candide, Molière’s comedies), much like Ovid’s tone in Metamorphoses.

***

### 10. The USA Fit

• American Satire and Irony in Politics
• Figures like Mark Twain, The Onion, and The Daily Show reflect Ovid’s tradition of irony and mockery of power.

***

### 11. Greek and Roman Influences on Irony

1. Homer’s Odyssey (Hermes helps Odysseus deceive others)
2. Aristophanes’ Lysistrata (using humor to critique war)
3. Plato’s Gorgias (Socrates exposing rhetorical irony)
4. Seneca’s Thyestes (revenge, irony, and fate)
5. Juvenal’s Satires (mocking Roman society, much like Ovid)

***

### 12. Nut

• Cashew
• Looks like a nut but is actually a seed, symbolizing things not being what they seem—just like many of Ovid’s ironic transformations.