List of figures in Ovid's Metamorphoses
This is a list of characters in Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid . It contains almost all of the mythical transformations of humans into animals or plants known at the time.
Overview
Note: The names are given in Latin form. References like (14,505) denote the book and the verse.
A.
- Abas is a follower of Diomedes in Italy, he is turned into a bird (14.505).
- Achelous turns first into a snake , then into a bull , in orderto asserthimself in the fight against Hercules (8,547).
- Achilles is an almost invulnerable hero of the Greeks before Troy (8,309).
- Acis , son of Faunus and the nymph Symaethis , istransformed into a river god with hornsby the seanymph Galatea , saving Akis from the Cyclops Polyphemus, who is jealous of him because of Galatea (13,879).
- Acmon is a follower of Diomedes in Italy , he is transformed into a bird (14,484).
- Acoetes is the son of a poor fisherman (3,582).
- Actaeon , the grandson of Cadmus , sees Diana naked, whereupon he istransformedinto a deer by the goddess(3,138).
- Adonis is a beautiful young man, son of Cinyras and Myrrha (10.728).
- Aeacus (Aiakos) is king of Aegina (7,616).
- Aeetes is king of Colchis and father of Medea (7,170).
- Aegeus is king of Attica and father of Theseus (7,402).
- Aeneas , after his heroic life, his mother Venus asks Jupiter to make him god (indigenous) (14.581).
- Aeolus is the Lord of the Winds (11.748).
- Aesacos istransformed into a diving birdby Thetys when he feels guilty about throwing himself off a cliff into the sea (11,762).
- Aesculapius is the god of healing.
- Aeson is the father of Jason . He is the reason for Jason's trip to Colchis to get the Golden Fleece . He isrejuvenatedby Medea (7,84).
- Aglauros is the daughter of Cecrops , she istransformed into a stone imageby Mercurius as punishment for her envy of the relationship between Herse and Mercurius (2.708-832).
- Agamemnon is a king of Mycenae and the leader of the Greeks in the Trojan War (13.184).
- Aiax (Aias) is one of the main Greek heroes in the Trojan War (13,394).
- Alcmene is the mother of Heracles (6,112).
- Alcyone is the daughter of Enarete and Aiolos (11:23).
- Alpheus loves Arethusa , he turns into a river and thus follows the beloved (5.573).
- Althaea is the mother of Meleager (8,441).
- Anaxarete haughty and cruelrejects the love of the shepherd Iphis (14,698).
- Andromeda is the wife of Perseus (4,738).
- Anius is a Priest-Kingon the island of Delos (12,632).
- Apollo is the god of light, healing, and the arts (3,421).
- Arachne challenges the goddess Pallas Athene to a competition in the art of weaving, is turned into a spider out of envy of the goddess (11.1).
- Arcas is with his mother Kallisto transformed in the constellation Small bear and Big Bear (2,466).
- Arcesius is the father of Laertes and grandfather of Odysseus (13.144).
- Arethusa flees from a lustful river god and is transformed into a spring (5,409).
- Argus is a huge monster with a hundred eyes all over his body (1,624).
- Ascalaphus is an underworld demon who turns into an eagle owl (5,534).
- Atalanta is a swift, virgin hunter (10,565).
- Athamas is king of Boeotia , son of Aiolus and Enarete (3.564).
- Athis is a companion of Phineus (5.47)
- Atlas ispetrified into a mountainby the sight of the Gorgon's head , see also Perseus (4,617).
- Aurora (Eos) is the goddess of the dawn (3,184).
- Autolycus is a cunning thief who wasoutwittedby Sisyphus (8,738).
B.
- Bacchus is the god of wine and ecstasy (3,516).
- Battus isturnedinto a stone by Mercurius as punishment for his perjury (2.676).
- Baucis takes Jupiter and Mercurius hospitable to (8.631).
- Boreas is the north wind (1.65).
- Byblis is turned into a spring , she weeps so much with grief because shelovesher brother Caunus (9.453).
C.
- Cadmus (Kadmos) and Harmonia turned into snakes (3,3).
- Caeneus (Kaineus) is an invulnerable great fighter, he was born a girl andrapedby Neptunus (Poseidon) while she was walking on the beach. Neptunus later transformed her into a man at her request (12,171).
- Calchas is a seer of the Greeks during the Trojan War.
- Calliope is the muse of epic poetry and science (5,339).
- Callisto istransformedinto a she- bear by Juno as punishment for her association with Jupiter (2,425).
- Canens is beautiful and sings even more beautifully (14.333).
- Cassandra has the gift of prophecy without anyone believing.
- Caunus isloved and persecutedby the twin sister Byblis (9,453).
- Cecrops is the second mythical king of Attica (2.555).
- Cephalus is a prince of Athens and the husband of Procris , whom he later accidentally kills (6,681).
- Ceres is the goddess of agriculture and fertility (5.109).
- Ceyx is the son of Lucifer and King of Thessaly . With Alcyone married he died at sea. The separated couple are transformed into kingfishers by the gods and are allowed to live together (11,272).
- Chariclo is the wife of the centaur Cheiron (2,636).
- Charybdis is a dangerous vortex near the Scylla (7,63).
- Chione is the beautiful daughter of Daidalion (11,301).
- Chiron is a hybrid of horse and human, educator of many heroes (2,636).
- Cinyras is the father of Adonis (10,294).
- Cipus is a mythical Roman general (15,569).
- Circe (Kirke) is a sorceress, daughter of the sun god (4,205).
- Clymene is married to Merops, with whom she raised her children Phaeton and the Heliaden (2,184).
- Cornix is the daughter of Coronis , she isattackedby Neptunus andfreedby him by Minerva , who transforms her into a crow (2,550).
- Cupid (Amor) is God and personification of love (1,453).
- Cyane is a playmate of Persephone (5,409).
- Cybele is the Great Mother of Gods from Mount Ida.
- Cygnus is a son of Poseidon (12.90).
- Cyllarus is a Centaur who waskilledat the wedding of Peirithoos (12.393).
- Cyparissus makes a close friendship with a wild deer (10,106).
D.
- Daedalion is the father of the beautiful Chione (11,302).
- Daedalus father of Icarus , he constructed wings made of feathers and wax for himself and his son in orderto fleefrom Crete (8.180-262).
- Danaë is the lover of Jupiter and with him the mother of the hero Perseus (4,611).
- Daphne is a dryad who istransformedinto a laurel tree by Peneus to protect her virginity from the loving Apollo (1.452-567).
- Deianira is a beautiful daughter of the Calydonian king Oineus (9.9).
- Deucalion is the son of Prometheus and Pronoia (“provision”), whosurvived the flood of the same namewith his wife Pyrrha (1,260).
- Diana is the goddess of the hunt, the moon and childbirth, protector of women and girls (1,487).
- Diomedes is king of Argos (13,100).
- Dryope is transformed into a tree because she plucks flowers from a lotus tree without knowing that it is the transformed nymph Lotis (9,324).
E.
- Echo is a mountain nymph, she isturned into a rockby Hera because of her hopeless love for Narcissus (3,339-510).
- Egeria is the mistress of the legendary second king of Rome (15.478).
- Erysic (h) thon is King of Thessaly (8,738).
- Europa is the daughter of the Phoenician king Agenor and lover of Jupiter (2,833).
- Eurydice is the wife of Orpheus . She is killed by a snakebite, which causes Orpheus to want to bring her back to life from Hades (10:31).
- Eurytus is king of Oichalia and the father of Iole and Dryope (9,356).
F.
- Fama is the goddess of fame and rumor (12:43).
- Faunus is a forest god (13,790).
- Fortuna is the goddess of destiny (2,140).
G
- Galanthis is turned into a weasel because shehelped Iole to give birthby a trick, which Lucina wanted to prevent (9,281).
- Galatea is the lover of Cyclops Polyphemus (13,750-68).
- Ganymedes is the "most beautiful of all mortals", who waslovedby Jupiter (10.152-161).
- Companions of Ulixes are turned into pigs by Circe , then back into people, because Circe's lover Ulixes demands this.
- Glaucus istransformed into a sea godby the sea gods Oceanus and Tethys (7,219).
H
- Hecuba (Hekabe) is the wife of Priam and Queen of Troy (13,439).
- Hercules is a hero famous for his strengthwho received divine honors (7,364).
- Hermaphroditus is the son of Venus (Aphrodite) and Mercurius (Hermes), his body and that of the spring nymph Salmacis ,who loves him, are merged into a single bisexual being (4,274).
- Herse is the daughter of King Cecrops (2,708).
- Hersilië is Romulus' wife; as a goddess she is called Hora (14.829).
- Hesperië is the daughter of the river god Kebren (11.769).
- Hippodame is the wife of Pirithous (12,210).
- Hippolytus fled from the vengeance of his father whoincited Poseidon against him (15.506).
- Hippomenes istransformed into lionswith Atalanta because they profaned a sacred temple (10,575).
- Hyacinthus (Hyakinthos): Apollo letsa hyacinth sprout outof his bloodout of shame at having caused his death (10.162-219).
- Hylonome is a beautiful Centaur woman (12,393).
I.
- Ianthe is the bride of Iphis , whom she regards as a boy (9,789-937).
- Jason is the son of Aeson and leader of the Argonauts ; he sails to Colchis , where hemeets Medea (8,302).
- Icarus is the son of Daedalus ; he flew too close to the sun, melting the wax holding his wings together and plunging him to his death (8.180-262).
- Idmon is the father of Arachnes (6.8).
- Ilia , also called Rhea Silvia , is the mother of Romulus and Remus .
- Ino is the daughter of Cadmus; she threw herself madly into the sea (4,480).
- Io is the daughter of Inachus and lover of Jupiter (Zeus), she istransformedinto a cow by him inorderto hide the affairfrom Juno (Hera) (1,588).
- Iphigenia is the eldest daughter of Agamemnon (12:31).
- Iphis is the name of various characters: a girl Iphis (daughter of Ligdus) from Crete (9.789-937) raised as a boy , and a Cypriot shepherd who falls in love with the Princess Anaxarete and kills himself after his love remains unheard of (14,698 ).
- Iris is the goddess of the rainbow , she helps Iuno (4,480).
- Itys is the son of Tereus and Procne; he was cut up, cooked and put in front of his father for dinner (6,437)
- Iulus (Ascanius) is the son of the Trojan prince Aeneas (14,583).
- Iuno (Hera) is goddess of childbirth, marriage and care (1,270).
- Iuppiter is the supreme god of the Roman religion (1,116).
J
- see under I.
L.
- Laomedon is the father of King Priam of Troy (6.96).
- Latona is the lover of Jupiter and mother of the twins Artemis and Apollon (6,146).
- Latreus is a Centaur (12,463).
- Lethaea is the wife of Olenus (10.70).
- Leucothea is Ino (4,542)accepted among the gods.
- Lichas is a servant of Hercules; he brought the poisoned shirt to Hercules and was turned into a rock (9,155).
- Duell is one of Priapos followed nymph , which turns into lotus (9,342).
- Lycaon is a king in Arcadia; he isturnedinto a wolf by Jupiter as punishment for his cruelty(1.198).
M.
- Macareus was transformed into a pig by Circe (14,159).
- Mars is the god of war (3.132).
- Medea is the daughter of Aeetes . She protects Jason from the tasks his father has set him and marries him. After he divorces her, she has afit ofmadness, kills her old family and marries Aegeus (7: 1-424).
- Medusa is a Gorgon who isbeheadedby Perseus (4,655).
- Meleager is the son of Althaia and Oineus (8,269-525).
- Memnon fighting before Troy against Achilles (13.579).
- Mercurius (Hermes) is the “messenger of the gods” and god of merchants and thieves (2,741).
- Midas is King of Phrygia . When hedespised Apollo's song, the latter made him grow donkey ears (11.85).
- Minerva is the goddess of wisdom and the artisan (2,563).
- Minos is a king of Crete (7.456).
- Morpheus is a god of dreams, he can transform himself into any shape and appear in dreams (11,635).
- Myrrha is the mother of Adonis , she istransformedinto a myrrh tree by the gods. She loved her father and wants to die for it (10.481).
- Myscelos is ordered by Hercules in a dream to found a new city (15.12).
N
- Narcissus istransformedinto a daffodil by Venus (Aphrodite) because of his hopeless love for his own reflection (3,340; 415).
- Neptunus ( Poseidon ) is the god of the sea (2,270).
- Nessus is a Centaur whokidnaps Hercules' wife(9.101).
- Nestor is a participant in the Calydonian Hunt (8,313).
- Nine daughters of Pieros challenged the gods as muses and were turned into birds as punishment (5,294).
- Niobe has 14 children and is turned into a rock formocking Leto (6,146).
- Numa is the legendary second king of Rome (15.4).
- Numicius is a Latin coastal river (14,599).
- Nyctimene is the daughter of King Epopeus of Lesbos; after having intercourse with her father, Minerva turnsher into an owl (2,589).
O
- Okyroe is the daughter of the centaur Chiron and becomes a mare because she prophesied without permission (2,635).
- Olenus was turned to stone (10.69).
- Orithyia is the daughter of the Athenian king Erechtheus (6,683).
- Orpheus is a Thracian musician whois famousas an excellent lyre player. He loses his beloved wife Eurydice shortly after their marriage and goes to the underworld to get her back from there. He fails because he looks around for her on the way back, which he was forbidden to do beforehand (10.1-85; 11.1-65).
P
- Paean is another name of Apollo (1,566).
- Pan is the shepherd god, a hybrid of a human upper body and a ram or billy goat (1,689).
- Paris is the son of the Trojan king Priam and Hecabe (12.4).
- Peleus is the father of Achilles and King of Aegina (8,311).
- Pelias is a half-brother and opponent of Aeson (7,298).
- Pentheus tries to prevent a Bacchante festival (3.513).
- Perdix issaved from the deceitfuldeath by Daedalus and turned into a partridge by Pallas (8,236).
- Periklymenus was able to transform into animals and plants (12,556).
- Perimele istransformed into an islandby Neptunus (Poseidon) (8,591).
- Perseus is the son of Jupiter and Danae , the conqueror of the Gorgon Medusa (4,611).
- Phaedra isenchantedby Aphrodite , she is the second wife of King Theseus of Athens (15.497).
- Phaethon is the son of the sun god. He persuades his fatherto ridein his sun chariot and issuddenly taken from heavenby Jupiter (1,747).
- Philemon and Baucis are an old couple, they are transformed by Jupiter into a linden and an oak for their hospitality towards the gods (8,611-724).
- Philomela is the sister of the Progne ; she israpedby Tereus , who also cuts outher tongue . In revenge, Progne tricked Tereus into eating his own son (4,424-674).
- Phineus isturned to stoneby Perseus with the help of the Gorgon head (5,8).
- Phocus , son of Aecus, is murdered by his jealous brothers (11,346).
- Phoebus is another name for Apollo (1.451) or Sol (1.338).
- Picus is transformed into a woodpecker by Circe (14.320).
- Pirithous marries Hippodameia when the famous battle between the Centaurs and Lapiths broke out (8,303).
- Pluto is the god of the dead in the depths of the earth (5,341).
- Polydectes is the king of Seriphos who is petrified by Perseus (5,242).
- Polydorus is the youngest son of Priam, King of Troy and Hecabe (13.430).
- Polymestor is the husband of Ilione, the eldest daughter of King Priam of Troy (13.430).
- As Cyclops, Polyphemus is a one-eyed giant (13,750).
- Polyxena is a Trojan princess with whom Achilles falls in love (13,439).
- Pomona is the Roman goddess of the tree fruits (14,623).
- Priam is the king of Troy fighting the Greeks (11,757).
- Progne (Procne) is a daughter of Pandion , wife of Tereus, sister of Philomela, and mother of Itys , whom she gives Tereus to eat after Tereus raped Philomela (6,424-674).
- Procris is the wife of Cephalus ; she is killed by Cephalus' hunting spear after he mistakenlymistookher for a she- bear (6,682).
- Proserpina (Persephone), daughter of Ceres (Demeter), isstolenby Pluto and eats the pomegranate seeds while she is in the underworld. She iscondemnedby Jupiter and spends half a year with Ceres and half a yearwith Pluto (5,341).
- Proteus is a sea god (7,730).
- Pygmalion is an artist whocreates a beautiful womanout of ivory , falls in love with his statue, andasks Venus to have a woman similar to the statue. This grants him the wish and brings his statue to life. They have a son, Paphos (10.243-97).
- In Babylon, Pyramus is the lover and lover of Thisbe (4.55–166).
- Pyreneus lures the muses into his palace to do violence to them (5,269).
- Pyrrha is the wife of Deucalion (1,348).
- Pythagoras is a philosopher of great wisdom and goodness (15.1).
Q
- Quirinus is the name of the deified Romulus (14,607).
R.
- Romulus is the first king of Rome and twin brother of Remus ; his mother is Ilia and his father is Mars . Quirinus is his deified form of the name (14,799).
S.
- Saturnus (Kronos) is the god of sowing (1,113).
- Scylla 1. Scylla (King's daughter) (8.1-151) is the daughter of King Nisos of Megara , she falls in love with King Minos . She is transformed into a sea bird (14.1-74). 2. Scylla (sea monster) The nymph beloved by Glaucus disdains him. Glaucus seeks Circe's help. But Circe falls in love with Glaucus, but he disdains her. So Circe takes revenge on Glaucus by turning Scylla into a woman with angry dogs instead of an abdomen (7,65).
- Semele is the mother of Bacchus (3,308-312).
- Sibylla is transformed by Apollo, who grants her a wish out of love, into a woman who lives a thousand years, but ages accordingly, because she does not reciprocate his love, so that in the end she is only available as a voice (14,104) .
- Somnus is the god of sleep (8,823).
- Syrinx is turned into reed. The nymph waspersecutedby the nature deity Pan and begged the gods to help her. When Pan almost caught her, she was turned into reeds. So Pan made a panpipe or syrinx (1.689-712)from the transformed syrinx.
T
- Telamon is king of Salamis and companion of the Argonauts (8,309).
- Tereus is king of Thrace , he is the man of Progne and father of Itys ; he rapes Philomela and cuts out her tongue; in revenge he is later tricked into eating his son. Metamorphoses: robin (Philomela and Progne), hoopoe (Tereus) (6,424-674).
- Themis is a titan, daughter of Uranus and Gaia (1,321).
- Theseus is the son of Aegeus and an Attic national hero (7,404).
- Thetis , daughter of Nereus , the best known of the Nereids , is described as a "silver-footed" nymph, she is the mother of Achilles . She tries to connect with Peleus through various transformations - fire, water, lion, snake, octopus and the like. a. - to withdraw (11,221).
- Thisbe is the lover and lover of Pyramus in Babylon (4.55–166).
- Tiresias is a blind seer, the son of your shepherd (3,316).
- Tisiphone is an Erinys who avenges the murder (4,508).
- Tmolos is a mountain god, arbiter between Phöbus-Apollo and Pan (11.150-193).
- Triton is a sea god (1,333).
U
- Ulixes (Odysseus) is a Greek hero in the Trojan War (12,626).
- Uranië is the muse of astronomy (5,260).
V
- Venus (Aphrodite) is the Roman goddess of love, erotic desire and beauty (1.463).
- Vertumnus transforms into different men with different professions, into an old woman, finally back into himself to be near the beautiful tree nymph Pomona and to win her over. She only hears him when he is himself again (14,641).
- Vesta is the chaste guardian of the sacred fire, as the goddess of home and hearth (15.731).
- Virbius (see also Hippolytus ) is the name of the deified Hippolytus , son of Theseus (15.479).
- Vulcanus (Hephaestus) is the Roman god of fire and the forge, as well as all metalworkers who rely on the power of fire, such as bronze casters or coin beater (7,437).
X
- Xanthos ( Skamandros ) is a river near Troy (2.245).
Z
- Zephyrus is the (mild) west wind (1.64).
Web links
- Alphabetical index of ancient metamorphoses ( Memento of February 2, 2002 in the Internet Archive ) - English
- Ovid's Metamorphoses illustrated with works from art history: Book I , II , III , IV , V , VI , VII , VIII , IX , X , XI , XII , XIII , XIV , XV - Latin
- Gottwein, Lexicon of Mythology, Metamorphoses
Remarks
- ↑ Borghese Hermaphroditus in the English language Wikipedia
- ^ Francesco Cabianca in the English language Wikipedia
- ^ Writings based on the edition by Hermann Breitenbach at Reclam ( UB 356). In the case of lemmas deviating from this, the principle "[[Achilles | Achilles]]" was used (see under Achilles ), i. H. the names were always given in Latin on the surface, as they appear in Ovid's text. Occasionally, the more familiar form of the name was indicated in brackets. Positions such as (14,505) mainly relate to positions that are important for the transformations.