Keywords
Ovid
Epic
Poetic genres
How to Cite
Abstract
Despite the presence of Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Quintilian’s canon of Latin epics (Inst. 10.1.88) the prevailing trend in contemporary criticism seems to be to regard it as a sui generis poem, that is, unclassifiable with respect to the poetic genre to which it belongs. The article draws on the reflections and testimonies presented by Oliva Neto (2013, p. 41-76) regarding a concept of epos that is broader than the Aristotelian one, which would also encompass poems classified under the category of “didactic.” I then propose a re-evaluation of the Metamorphoses' classification as an epic, hypothesizing that, despite the presence of poikilía in Ovidian hexameters, the poem is essentially a hybrid of different epic species and sub-species, and therefore, despite its innovation, is fundamentally epic. The hypothesis is tested in a brief analysis of the episode of Galatea and Polyphemus (Met. 13.738-897), the case study that Farrell (1992) uses to support his reading of the Metamorphoses as a “polyphonic poem.” In the episode in question, in addition to the mix between bucolic and warrior epos, I argue that it is possible to perceive, through allusions to both the Eclogues and the Aeneid, an oppositio in imitando to Virgil’s work as a whole.
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