One god separates the universe's chaos into ordered creation, forming the heavens, earth, sea, and the first humans.

Jupiter floods the entire earth to punish humanity, and only the devout couple Deucalion and Pyrrha survive to repopulate it.

Apollo relentlessly pursues the nymph Daphne until her father transforms her into a laurel tree to protect her.

Jupiter assaults the girl Io and transforms her into a cow to conceal his crime from his wife Juno.

Phaethon loses control of his father's sun chariot, scorching the earth, and Jupiter strikes him dead from the sky.

Juno tricks Jupiter's pregnant lover Semele into demanding his true divine form, killing her, though Jupiter saves their unborn son Bacchus.

The witch Medea helps the hero Jason steal the Golden Fleece from her father and flees with him as his wife.

Theseus kills the monstrous Minotaur in King Minos' labyrinth with Ariadne's help, then abandons Ariadne before reaching home.

The inventor Daedalus escapes Crete on wax-and-feather wings, but his son Icarus flies too close to the sun and falls to his death.

Hercules is poisoned by centaur blood and builds a funeral pyre, burning away his mortal form to become a god.

Orpheus descends to the underworld and charms its gods with music to retrieve his dead wife Eurydice, but loses her by looking back.

The Greek commander Agamemnon sacrifices his daughter Iphigenia to the goddess Diana so the Greek fleet can sail to Troy.

Apollo guides the Trojan prince Paris' arrow to kill Achilles, ending the greatest Greek warrior's life after years of war.

The Trojan prince Aeneas escapes burning Troy and sails to Italy, where he wins a kingdom and is eventually deified.

Venus has the great leader Julius Caesar transformed into a star, and Ovid declares his poem will make his fame eternal.

The Metamorphoses opens with a god transforming primordial chaos into an ordered world and creating the first humans. After humanity falls into wickedness, Jupiter floods the earth, leaving only the devout Deucalion and Pyrrha to repopulate it. The gods interact freely with mortals, often violently, as seen when Apollo pursues Daphne and Jupiter assaults Io. Great heroes like Theseus, Daedalus, Hercules, and Orpheus rise and fall through divine favor and tragic error alike. The Trojan War marks a turning point, claiming Achilles and driving the Trojan prince Aeneas westward to found a new civilization in Italy. The poem concludes by linking Rome's emperor Augustus to the divine through Caesar's deification, while Ovid declares his own poetry will make his name eternal.

The headline events of the Metamorphoses, from creation to Caesar's deification.

Phaethon travels to his father the Sun god to prove his divine parentage after his mother urges him to seek proof.

Jupiter disguises himself as Diana to rape the nymph Callisto; Juno later turns Callisto into a bear as punishment.

Jupiter disguises himself as a gentle bull to lure the princess Europa, then carries her into the sea, kidnapping her.

The hunter Actaeon stumbles upon the goddess Diana bathing naked and is transformed into a stag, killed by his own dogs.

The nymph Echo wastes to a voice after Narcissus rejects her, while Narcissus falls in love with his own reflection and pines away.

The star-crossed lovers Pyramus and Thisbe die in a double suicide at a mulberry tree, staining its berries purple forever.

The nymph Salmacis clings to the boy she loves in a pool until their bodies merge into one being called Hermaphroditus.

The god Pluto kidnaps the goddess Proserpine and takes her to the underworld, causing her mother Ceres to let famine consume the world.

King Tereus rapes his wife's sister Philomela and cuts out her tongue, but she weaves her story to communicate with Procne.

Medea tricks the daughters of King Pelias into fatally stabbing their own father while believing they are restoring his youth.

The hero Meleager kills the fearsome Calydonian boar, then his mother Althaea burns the log tied to his life, killing him.

A band of frenzied Thracian women kills the musician Orpheus, and Bacchus transforms the murderesses into trees as punishment.

Achilles battles the impenetrable Trojan warrior Cycnus at Troy and begins to choke him until Neptune transforms Cycnus into a swan.

Achilles' ghost demands the sacrifice of the Trojan princess Polyxena, devastating her mother Hecuba, who soon loses her last surviving son.

The philosopher Pythagoras teaches in Crotona that all things are in constant flux and that souls migrate between bodies after death.

Before his fatal joyride, Phaethon seeks out his divine father to prove his celestial parentage, setting the stage for his arrogant downfall. The gods continue to act on their desires as Jupiter kidnaps Europa and rapes Callisto, while Diana savagely punishes Actaeon for an accidental trespass. Tragic love stories multiply throughout the poem—Narcissus and Echo waste away, Pyramus and Thisbe die in a double suicide, and Salmacis merges with her beloved to form Hermaphroditus. Divine anger reshapes the natural world when Pluto's kidnapping of Proserpine causes worldwide famine, while Medea's scheming and Meleager's death show how human ambition and grief destroy families. The Trojan War era brings further catastrophe, from Achilles' battle with Cycnus to Hecuba's devastating losses, and the poem closes with Pythagoras teaching that transformation and flux are the fundamental nature of all existence.

The supporting myths and secondary characters who shape the world of the Metamorphoses.

Ovid invokes the gods and announces his poem will tell of transformations spanning from the world's very creation to his own era.

Tiresias, who has lived as both man and woman, sides with Jupiter in a debate with Juno, who blinds him in punishment.

Pentheus scorns the god Bacchus despite prophetic warnings, and Bacchus' frenzied followers, including his own mother, tear Pentheus apart on a mountainside.

Cadmus and his wife wander from Thebes mourning their family's many tragedies before both of them transform into snakes.

Perseus rescues the chained princess Andromeda from a sea monster and marries her, later revealing how he once beheaded Medusa.

The mortal weaver Arachne challenges Minerva to a contest, produces flawless work, and is transformed into a spider for her insolence.

Niobe boasts she surpasses the goddess Latona in worth, so Latona sends Apollo and Diana to kill every one of Niobe's children.

Medea uses her powerful magic to restore the lost youth of Jason's father Aeson by draining and refilling his blood with potion.

Pygmalion falls in love with his carved ivory statue and prays to Venus, who brings the statue to life as a real woman.

The girl Myrrha tricks her own father Cinyras into sleeping with her, then flees in shame and is transformed into the myrrh tree.

King Midas wishes for the golden touch, immediately regrets his greed when he cannot eat, and begs Bacchus to undo the curse.

Neptune transforms the assaulted girl Caenis into a man at her request, granting her the new name Caeneus and an invulnerable body.

Former Trojan queen Hecuba discovers her last son Polydorus' corpse washed ashore and gouges out his killer Polymestor's eyes in revenge.

Circe poisons Scylla's favorite bathing bay out of jealousy over the sea god Glaucus, transforming Scylla's lower half into savage dogs.

The Roman man Cipus grows horns and learns he is prophesied to become king, but selflessly chooses banishment to protect Rome.

Ovid begins by announcing his grand ambition: a poem of transformations spanning all of time from creation to his own Roman present. Early turning points involve the prophet Tiresias, whose unique experience living as both sexes earns him blinded wisdom, and the doomed king Pentheus, whose refusal to honor Bacchus leads directly to his savage death. Midway through the poem, transformations serve as acts of justice and mercy—Arachne is punished for hubris, Niobe is destroyed for pride, and Medea demonstrates terrifying magical power by restoring Aeson's lost youth. The latter books bring devastating revelations and personal reckoning: Hecuba confronts the full scope of her ruin, Midas learns the cost of greed, and Scylla is transformed into a monster through divine jealousy. The poem ends with acts of selfless virtue in Cipus and cosmic significance in Caesar's deification, affirming that transformation touches everything from ordinary Romans to the gods themselves.

The pivotal decisions, revelations, and emotional turning points across all fifteen books.