Ovid, mythography, and the translation of myth.

Abstract

Under the Roman Empire, knowledge of Greek myth was essential for members of the upper class. The need to acquire this knowledge led to numerous collections of Greek myth in both Greek and Latin, which all represent different views on the relationship between Greece and Rome. Focusing on four of these collections, this dissertation examines what it meant to collect and write Greek myth in the Roman Empire, using as a foundation contemporary translation and postcolonial studies to frame issues of writing Greek myth for Romans or even in Latin. Apollodorus' <italic>Bibliotheca</italic> is the most famous collection of Greek myth, and constructs (or at least codifies) an elaborate system of genealogies that connects the Greeks with the rest of the Mediterranean world. Missing from this formulation, however, are the Romans, though there are numerous occasions for Apollodorus to connect them and he is living in the time of Rome's greatest power. Hyginus' <italic>Fabulae</italic> is the closest Latin equivalent of the <italic>Bibliotheca</italic>, but its composition in Latin means that translation (in the broadest sense) is constantly an issue, especially in myths where language is central, as in the case of etymologies. Parthenius' <italic>Erotica Pathemata</italic> is a collection of myths dedicated to the Roman poet, Gallus, to use in his poems, and is therefore based on the idea that these myths will translate. Accordingly, Parthenius presents these myths in such a way that the parts that caused Hyginus such trouble in translating are generally omitted. The result is that these narratives focus more on the loves of the characters, making these episodes more like stories than myths, thereby facilitating their translation, but also perhaps undermining their status as cultural property. Ovid's <italic>Metamorphoses</italic> is the only work of verse included in this discussion, though it, too, is an extended collection of Greek (and Roman) myth. Like Hyginus, Ovid must constantly translate, but he approaches the project differently, often trying to replace the original, Greek significance of a myth with a new, Roman one; he effectively de-Greeks myth, Romanizing it to an unprecedented degree. In this way, Ovid changes Greek myth in a fundamental way, and one that paves the way for the general reception of myth in the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and beyond.