Exploring Ovid’s big ideas

Course reviews

• 
  Kevin McCarthy 20 August 2026 6:18PM

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  This proved to be a highly stimulating course, particularly in demonstrating one poet’s attempts at tackling the ‘big questions’ that are still of great relevance today. The detailed focus on 𝘔𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘴 ensured that Ovid's aspirations for eternal recognition, as detailed in its Epilogue, can be fully appreciated.
  
  Gaining an understanding of 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 was of special personal interest: the study of how the literature, art, history, and ideas of ancient Greece and Rome have been interpreted, re-imagined, remained relevant, and adapted in later periods, from antiquity to the modern day. Thus, treating later interpretations not merely as imperfect reflections of the ancient original, but as important cultural works in their own right. Studying Ovid’s classical reception was effectively shown to include examining:
  • Renaissance artists’ depictions of 𝘔𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘴
  • Shakespeare’s use of Ovidian stories
  • The influence of Ovid on modern poetry
  • How Ovid has been interpreted in relation to gender, sexuality, exile, and political power
  • How translations have changed the tone or meaning of his poems
  
  Ovid's literary brilliance attained:
  • 𝗖𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗣𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗩𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗱 𝗜𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘆 in going beyond merely recounting myths to actually visualising them. This was achieved in a descriptive language that made psychological and physical changes feel immediate.
  • 𝗡𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗟𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 "𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆" Ovid pioneered an intricate "nesting" technique, seamlessly weaving over 250 myths into a single, continuous narrative thread.
  • 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘂𝗯𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗘𝗽𝗶𝗰 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝘂𝗿 Ovid approached storytelling with wit, irony, and human vulnerability. He stripped the Roman gods of their solemnity, portraying them as petty, lustful, and deeply flawed. By shifting the focus from grand national history to human emotion and suffering, he made his stories universally accessible across different cultures and eras.
  
  
  𝗠𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗲𝗼𝘂𝘀 (online + MS Word download version):
  
  𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
  “𝗛𝘂𝗴𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗹 in his own time, he was banished from Rome – if we are to take him at his own word – for his poetry”
  ...Ovid's work did indeed create a profound tension between the conservative state ideology and the actual hedonistic lifestyle of Rome's upper class. However, he was not controversial to his adoring readers or his aristocratic dinner hosts, who happily bought his literature and shared his lifestyle.
  
  𝟭 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗢𝘃𝗶𝗱’𝘀 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗽𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲𝘀?
  “Quintilian …described its author as ‘naughty even in his epic verse, and too in love with his own brilliance’!”
  …thus, Quintilian and other Roman critics essentially argued that Ovid was the literary version of Narcissus.
  
  Aside: Quintilian also noted the existence of a lost tragedy, confirming that Ovid did not just write the love poems and myths that survive today: "Ovid's 𝑴𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒂 seems to me to show how much that man could have achieved if he had chosen to control his genius rather than indulge it." Medea appears frequently across Ovid's extensive body of love and mythological poetry, rather than being restricted to his lost theatrical tragedy.
  
  𝟯 𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗢𝘃𝗶𝗱?
  “Our main source for what Ovid’s life was like is Ovid’s own writing.”
  In terms of his own writing:
  • 𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢 4.10, his autobiographical poem, which gives his birthplace, family background, education, career, marriage history, and literary development.
  • 𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢 and 𝘌𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘦 𝘦𝘹 𝘗𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘰, which provide extensive—but highly rhetorical—information about his exile, political situation, friends, and relations with Augustus.
  • The 𝘈𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴, 𝘈𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘢, 𝘍𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪, and other poems, which offer clues about his literary circle, social world, religious interests, and public career.
  However, the key caution is that Ovid’s autobiographical poetry is not straightforward autobiography. In 𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢 and 𝘌𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘦 𝘦𝘹 𝘗𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘰, he was 𝘁𝗿𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝗺𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳, 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁, 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗵𝗶𝗺. His poems are consequently indispensable, but they are also carefully shaped literary performances.
  
  𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝟲 𝗢𝘃𝗶𝗱: 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲
  Within the MS Word document the answers are already in the correct order.
  
  𝟰.𝟮 𝗗𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻
  𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝟵 𝗔𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
  𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻
  "1. For Aristotle, what distinguishes humans from other forms of life is their capacity for rational thought"
  ...“𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁” is a weak translation of “𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗼𝘀”. When Aristotle used the word "𝘓𝘰𝘨𝘰𝘴" (which we translate as "reason" or "rational thought"), he did not mean cold, mechanical data processing or logical calculations. In ancient Greece, 𝘓𝘰𝘨𝘰𝘴 was a massive, beautiful concept. The following generalises "other forms of life" to "other forms of life or AI", given that the comparison with AI was referenced earlier in this section.
  
  1. 𝘓𝘰𝘨𝘰𝘴 Means Speech and Moral Debate
  For Aristotle, reason and language are inseparable. In his book 𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴, he explains that while animals can make sounds to express pain or pleasure, only humans have 𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘰𝘴 to express what is useful, harmful, just, and unjust.
  • The Human Distinction: Rational thought is the tool we use to create a shared moral universe. To be rational means you can debate what is "good" or "fair." An AI can calculate what is efficient, but it cannot authentically grapple with the moral concept of justice.
  
  2. Rationality Requires "𝘛𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘴" (Purpose)
  Aristotle believed everything in the universe has a 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘴 — an ultimate purpose or blueprint for fulfilment. For humans, our purpose is to achieve 𝘌𝘶𝘥𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘢 (often translated as happiness, but better understood as human flourishing or living a deeply meaningful life).
  The Human Distinction: Rationality is our active engine for seeking meaning. We use our minds to figure out how to live a good life and build character. An AI does not have an internal drive to flourish; it only has tasks assigned to it by its programmer.
  
  3. The Union of Mind, Body, and Emotion
  Aristotle did not separate the mind from the body. He wrote extensively about how our rational mind must work together with our biological desires and emotions.
  • The Human Distinction: True rationality, for Aristotle, is the ability to feel the right emotion, at the right time, toward the right person, for the right reason. It is the education of the human heart, not just the brain.
  
  Why This Defends Against AI
  If Aristotle merely meant "the ability to calculate and solve problems," then an advanced AI robot would easily beat his definition. However, because Aristotle defined 𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘰𝘴 as the conscious ability to understand justice, communicate meaning, and intentionally shape your own moral character, his definition actually holds up incredibly well against machine intelligence. AI has calculation; it does not have 𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘰𝘴.
  
  𝟲 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗮𝗲𝗼𝗻’𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
  "Arthur Golding translated Ovid’s Metamorphoses in 1567. His translation is still famous today because it was read by William Shakespeare, who used it to inspire his plays."
  
  Is it not the case that Shakespeare likely used Arthur Golding’s English translation as a primary narrative guide, cross-referencing it with Ovid’s original Latin text to refine his poetry?
  https://www.electrummagazine.com/2010/12/shakespeare-and-the-classics-plutarch-ovid-and-other-sources/
  https://www.connotations.de/article/anthony-brian-taylor-melting-earth-and-leaping-bulls-shakespeares-ovid-and-arthur-golding/
  
  Aside: Shakespeare clearly gained inspiration from Ovid for Titus Andronicus, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest (using Arthur Golding's translation), and Cymbeline.

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• 
  Carlos Exantus 18 February 2026 3:21PM

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