Ovid's 'Metamorphoses' Trivia Quiz

Answer: four

In the Golden Age, the world is perfect, ruled by the Titans, free from conflict, where man lives a life of abundance. In the Silver Age, Jupiter overthrows the Titans and becomes king of the gods. Humans now have to work for a living.

Then comes the Bronze age where man becomes prone to warfare. Finally, in the Iron age, man becomes impious and corrupt as all order is lost.

Answer: Flood

Jupiter's anger is sparked after Lycaon, the tyrant of Arcadia, disrespects him and even tries to kill him! This inspires the great god to punish the entire human race. Ths other gods try talk him out of it. They tell him that, with no humans left, there will be no-one able to make offerings and sacrafices to the gods; but Jupiter goes ahead with it anyway.

A great flood wipes out all of humanity except this pious couple who are to re-populate the Earth, as ordered by the gods themselves. Does this sound familiar? It is likely that much of this story is derived from similar origins to the Biblical story of Noah.

Answer: Laurel tree

Daphne is transformed into a laurel tree. However, this does not stop Apollo's advances, and he begins to embrace the bark of the tree. As a result, the laurel tree was adopted as one of the sacred symbols of Apollo.

Answer: He accidently sees Diana bathing in the nude.

This is an example of divine anger and injustice. Ovid remarks, in Actaeon's defense, that "if you look carefully, you will find that it was the fault of chance and not wickedness: what wickedness is there in error?"

Ovid was exiled from Rome by the emperor Augustus for committing an "error." It is known that Augustus found much of Ovid's work highly inappropriate. Perhaps here Ovid is defending his own "error" as something he did by accident, for which he should not be punished.

Answer: The force of Jupiter's sexual power kills Semele.

Although Semele is incinerated by the sexual energy of Jupiter, a baby is extracted from her womb, who turns out to be the god Dionysus.

As you may have noticed, none of the stories mentioned so far have portrayed the gods in a very positive light. Throughout the 'Metamorphoses', Jupiter conducts countless extra-marital affairs which usually end with the wrath of Juno being inflicted upon Jupiter's lovers.

Answer: His own reflection

Narcissus sees his own image in the lake and is captivated by the beauty of the reflection. He ends his days staring into the lake, eventually withering a way and becoming a narcissus flower.

This is one of the best known stories from the 'Metamorphoses', having inspired countless artistic renderings, from Caravaggio to Dali, to name two of the best known examples. Also from this story comes the word narcissist.

Answer: Thisbe flees, leaving behind her veil.

Thisbe runs away from the lion but her veil falls off as she is fleeing. The lion, with bloodstained lips, mutilates the veil. When Pyramus arrives and sees it in shreds, he assumes Thisbe to be dead, so he falls upon his sword to commit suicide. And then Thisbe comes back and, at the sight of Pyramus' dead body, she commits suicide also.

Does Romeo and Juliet come to mind?

Answer: Because Minerva was jealous of Arachne's skill in weaving.

Arachne had boasted that she was the finest weaver in the world. The goddess Minerva (goddess of crafts, amongst other things) challenges her to a weaving contest, in which Arachne produces the far superior work. To make matters worse, Arachne's tapestry showed images of the gods seducing mortals and having affairs. And so a jealous Minerva turned Arachne into a spider, where she would weave for all eternity...

From here we get the word arachnid.

Answer: She cuts off Nisus' hair.

Scylla cuts off Nisus' hair, which allows Minos to win the war. But this isn't just any old hair; Nisus has one magical purple lock in the middle of his white hair which ensures the power and safety of Megara. With this gone, Minos can conquer the city.

However Minos is disgusted by Scylla's impiety and her passion for the Cretan king is not reciprocated. She is turned into a bird and flies away. Nisus also turns into a bird...

Answer: Wings

Daedelus built the labyrinth which houses the Minotaur. Minos had Daedelus imprisoned because he feared that the craftsman would tell people the route to escape the labyrinth.

Daedelus creates wings out of feathers which land at the top of the tower. However, despite being instructed not to do so, his son Icarus uses the wings to fly too close to the sun and the heat melts the wax which holds the feathers together. And so Icarus drowns.