Reading notes: Ovid's Metamorphoses, Books 8-10

Baucis and Philemon

Colored pencil drawing, Rachel Hamilton. Everett Community College

Baucis and Philemon are life goals for me now. Humble, kind, and generous, they are everything that is good and worthy in humans, and their reward in boon and temple form is appropriate and well-deserved. Hospitality and neighborliness are fading with the rise of urbanization and technology, and this could make for a really fun modern tale. Maybe the gods come back after a few thousand years to a very different type of world. Would they still find a welcoming home?

When gods offer boons, the fulfillment is not always served up just as expected. The Monkey's Paw comes to mind. But the boon given to Baucis and Philemon was granted, a simple request for a death together, rather than either spending days or years apart from each other. This was very sweet, and reminds me of widows/widowers who wither away into nothing after their partner passes.

The story of Hercules was always a favorite of mine. Ascension from mortal status to God, bestowed only as he died. The poisoned tunic lurked for years in his household l, and it was offered by his own wife, ignorant of the danger it presented. I love the idea of a loaded present (like the poisoned apple in snow white), and there are tons of possibilities here for a well-intentioned, lethal offering in a domestic situation. Also, the idea that his very skin came off as he tore away the tunic is horrifying, and reminds me of several diseases we've studied in pathogenic micro. A bacterial poison in today's world could be genetically targeted to attack only one person, and assassinations have happened in contexts stranger than these.

The other story I really enjoyed was that of Erysichthon (that wretch) and his innocent daughter Mestra, given the power to change shape. Virtually every culture has legends of shapechangers in some manner or form, and the gift of shifting could make a nice origin for a variety of supernatural descendants.

Bibleography

Kline, Tony. Ovid's Metamorphoses. Books 8-10