Metamorphoses

by Ovid

  Androgeos, Son of Minos, whose death in Athens he avenges, VII.656

  Andromeda, Daughter of Cepheus and Cassiope; rescued by Perseus, IV.918

  Anius, King and priest of Apollo on Delos, XIII.918

  Antaeus, A Giant, IX.274

  Antigone, Changed to a stork by Juno, VI.132

  Antiphates, King of the Laestrygonians, XIV.336

  Anubis, Dog-headed Egyptian god, IX.997

  Aphrodite, See Venus, IV.531

  Apis, Sacred ox worshiped by Egyptians, IX.999

  Apollo (aka Phoebus and Delius, the latter from his birthplace, on Delos), Son of Jove and Latona; twin brother of Diana; the sun god, I.629

  Arachne, Daughter of Idmon; rival (in weaving) of Minerva, VI.8

  Arcadia, Region in the Peloponnese, I.304

  Arcas, Son of Jupiter and Callisto, II.646

  Ardea, Rutulian city; a heron sprang from its ashes, XIV.821

  Areopagus, Site of the highest council of the Athenians, VI.99

  Arethusa, Nymph of Elis; loved by Alpheus; became a spring, V.577

  Argonauts, Band of Greek heroes, led by Jason, who set sail from Greece to Colchis in search of the Golden Fleece, VII.2

  Argos, City in the Peloponnese, I.834

  Argus, Hundred-eyed monster guarding Io; slain by Mercury, I.869

  Ariadne, Daughter of Minos; abandoned lover of Theseus, VIII.238

  Arne, Woman of Siphnos who betrayed her homeland for gold, VII.668

  Ascalaphus, Son of Acheron and Orphne who betrayed Proserpina, V.712

  Ascanius (aka Julus), Son of Aeneas and Creusa; first king of Alba Longa, XIII.912

  Astraea, Goddess of justice, I.203

  Astyanax, Son of Hector and Andromache; slain by Greeks, XIII.606

  Atalanta, (1) Participant in Calydonian boar hunt and loved by Meleager, VIII.449; (2) Boeotian maiden famous for her speed in running, X.672

  Athamas, Son of Aeolus; husband of Ino, III.728

  Athena, See Minerva, II.1145

  Athos, Mountain in Macedonia, II.289

  Atlas, A Giant; son of Iapetas; a mountain in North Africa; supported the weight of the heavens on his shoulders, I.945

  Atreus, Son of Pelops; father of Agamemnon and Menelaüs; king of Mycenae, XV.1077

  Attis, Phrygian shepherd; beloved of Cybele, X.150

  Augustus, Nephew of Julius Caesar adopted as his son; first Roman emperor; identified by Ovid with Jove, I.285

  Aulis, Boeotian harbor where the Greeks gathered before sailing to Troy, XII.14

  Aura, A fatal breeze, VII.1155

  Aurora, Wife of Tithonus; mother of Memnon; goddess of the dawn; infatuated by Cephalus, II.155

  Ausonia, Region of southern Italy or Italy itself, XIV.456

  Auster, The south wind, I.92

  Autolycus, Son of Mercury and Chione; grandfather of Ulysses; husband of Erysichthon’s daughter, VIII.1043

  Autonoe, Daughter of Cadmus; mother of Actaeon; sister of Semele; aunt of Pentheus, III.250

  Avernus, The underworld or its entrance at lake of same name in Campagna, V.714

  Bacchantes, Devotees of Bacchus, III.904

  Bacchiadae, Royal family of Corinth, V.573

  Bacchus, Son of Jove and Semele; god of wine, III.407

  Baucis, Pious old woman; wife of Philemon, VIII.890

  Belides, The fifty daughters of Danaus, forty-nine of whom murdered their husbands on their wedding nights, IV.633

  Bellona, Sister of Mars; goddess of war, V.226

  Boeotia, Region in central Greece, I.432

  Boötes, Constellation in the northern sky, II.237

  Boreas, The north wind, I.90

  Bubastis, Egyptian goddess similar to Diana, IX.998

  Busiris, Egyptian king; serial murderer of strangers; slain by Hercules, IX.271

  Byblis, Daughter of Miletus and Cyanee; twin sister of Caunis, whom she desires, IX.661

  Cadmus, Son of Agenor; brother of Europa; husband of Harmonia; father of Semele, Autonoe, and Agave; founder of Thebes, III.6

  Caeneus, Thessalian boy; born a girl, Caenis, VIII.427

  Caenis, Thessalian girl who is turned into a boy, Caeneus, XII.280

  Caesar, Julius (aka Julius), Roman soldier and statesman who traced his origins back to Venus and Anchises; ambition to rule Rome led to his assassination in 44 B.C.E.; civil war followed, and his adopted nephew Augustus emerged as first Roman emperor, I.281

  Caïcus, River in Mysia, a country in Asia Minor, II.323

  Caiëta, Aeneas’ old nurse; the place in Italy where she is buried, XIV.625

  Calliope, Mother of Orpheus and Muse of poetry, V.503

  Callirhoë, Daughter of Acheloüs; wife of Alcmaeon, IX.602

  Callisto, Daughter of Lycaon; mother of Arcas, II.563

  Calydon, Aetolian city; home of the hero Meleager, VI.593

  Canens, Daughter of Janus and Venilia; wife of Picus, XIV.481

  Canopus, An Egyptian city, XV.1036

  Capaneus, One of the Seven against Thebes, IX.588

  Caphereus, Promontory on the Euboean coast, XIV.672

  Cassiope, Wife of Cepheus; mother of Andromeda, IV.1005

  Castalian grotto, Site of a spring on Parnassus sacred to Apollo, III.18

  Castor, Son of Tyndareus and Leda; twin brother of Pollux; one of the Gemini, XII.589

  Caunus, Son of Miletus and Cyanee; twin brother of Byblis, IX.661

  Cayster, River in Lydia, noted for its swans, II.337

  Cecrops, Founder of Athens; father of Herse, Pandrosos, and Aglauros, II.770

  Cenchreïs, Wife of Cinyras; mother of Myrrha, X.525

  Centaurs, Sons of Ixion and a Juno-shaped cloud; bimanous quadrupeds, half man and half horse, IX.146

  Cephalus, Grandson of Aeolus; husband of Procris; a prince of Athens, VI.986

  Cepheus, Ethiopian king; Andromeda’s father, IV.917

  Cephisus, River in Phocis; father of Narcissus, I.511

  Cerastae, Horned Cypriots; turned into bulls by Venus, X.288

  Cerberus, Three-headed watchdog of the underworld, IV.616

  Ceres, (aka Demeter, in Greece), Sister of Jove; mother with him of Proserpina; goddess of agriculture, V.158

  Ceryon, King of Eleusin, an Attic city, who challenged strangers to wrestle and killed the losers; slain by Theseus, VII.627

  Ceyx, King of Trachin, a city in Thessaly; husband of Alcyone, XI.385

  Chaos, Formless matter from which the cosmos was shaped, I.9

  Chariclo, Water nymph; mother of Ocyrhoë, II.886

  Charybdis, Whirlpool between Italy and Sicily, VII.99

  Chimaera, Lion-headed, goat-bodied, snake-tailed, fire-breathing monster, VI.486

  Chione, Daughter of Daedalion; loved by Apollo and Mercury; mother of Philammon and Autolycus, XI.429

  Chiron, Wisest of centaurs; raised Aesculapius, II.875

  Cinyras, Father of Myrrha and of her son, Adonis, VI.139

  Cipus, Legendary Roman praetor, XV.668

  Circe, Daughter of the Sun and the sea nymph Perse; a magician unlucky in love, IV.284

  Cithaeron, Mountain in Boeotia, II.298

  Clymene, Mother of Phaëthon and the Heliades; wife of Ethiopian Merops, I.1048

  Clytie, Loved Apollo; changed to a flower, IV.286

  Corinth, City of Greece on the Isthmus of Corinth, II.320

  Coronae, Two boys who sprang from ashes of Orion’s daughters, XIII.1011

  Coronis, Nymph beloved of Apollo; mother of Aesculapius, II.750

  Crocus, Youth who died of love for Smilax; changed into a flower, IV.392

  Croton, Host of Hercules; man for whom the Italian city of Crotona is named, XV.23

  Cumae, Colony on coast of Campagna; home of the Sybil, XIV.150

  Cupid, Son of Venus and Mars; god of love, I.631

  Cures, Principal city of the Sabines; home of Numa, XV.11

  Cyane, Water nymph whose objections to the rape of Proserpina saw her changed into a fountain, V.577


  Cyanee, Mother of Byblis and Caunis, IX.657

  Cybele, Phrygian mother of gods; lover of Attis, X.149

  Cyclops, Race of savage one-eyed giants; employed by Vulcan in thunderbolt production; Polyphemus was one of them, I.359

  Cycnus, (1) Self-sacrificing son of Sthenelus; changed to a swan while mourning Phaëthon, II.496; (2) Petulant son of Apollo and Hyrie; changed to a swan by Apollo after leaping from a cliff, VII.521; (3) Invulnerable son of Neptune and Canace; changed to a swan by his father after being slain by Achilles, XII.106

  Cyllarus, Centaur beloved of Hylonome, XII.578

  Cyllene, Mountain in Arcadia; birthplace of Mercury, I.302

  Cynthia, See Diana, XV.626

  Cynthus, Mountain in Delos; birthplace of Diana, II.296

  Cyparissus, Youth beloved of Apollo; changed to cypress, X.167

  Cythera, Island in the Aegean sacred to Venus, IV.402

  Daedalion, Son of Lucifer; brother of Ceyx; father of Chione, XI.420

  Daedalus, Father of Icarus; uncle of Perdix; Athenian architect, VIII.219

  Danaë, Daughter of Acrisius; mother of Perseus by Jove, who came to her as a golden shower, IV.837

  Danaüs, Father of the Belides, X.58

  Daphne, Daughter of Peneus; Apollo’s first love; changed to laurel, I.628

  Daphnis, Phrygian shepherd boy, IV.384

  Daulis, City in Phocis, V.403

  Deianira, Daughter of Oeneus and Althaea; sister of Meleager; wife of Hercules, VIII.777

  Deiphobus, Son of Priam; a Trojan hero, XII.803

  Delius, See Apollo, V.485

  Delos, Island in the Cyclades that sheltered Latona when she gave birth to Apollo and Diana, III.773

  Delphi, City in Phocis; home of Apollo’s oracle, I.712

  Demeter, See Ceres, VI.160

  Dercetis, Syrian goddess; mother of Semiramis, IV.74

  Deucalion, Son of Prometheus; husband of Pyrrha; saved from Jove’s flood, I.439

  Dia, Old name for island of Naxos, VIII.243

  Diana (aka Phoebe and Cynthia), Daughter of Jove and Latona; twin brother of Apollo; goddess of chastity, hunting, childbirth, and the moon, I.671

  Diomedes, Greek hero at Troy; companion of Ulysses, XII.909

  Dis, Son of Saturn; brother of Jove and Neptune; husband of Proserpina; king of the underworld, IV.602

  Dodona, City in Epirus famed as site of Jove’s oracle and sacred oaks, VII.888

  Dolon, Trojan spy captured by Ulysses and Diomedes, XIII.141

  Doris, Daughter of Oceanus and Tethys; wife of Nereus; mother of Nereids, II.13

  Dryads, Wood nymphs, VIII.1053

  Dryope, Mother (by Apollo) of Amphissus; husband of Andraemon; changed to tree by water nymph, IX.480

  Echinades, Islands formed when Acheloüs grew angry with indifferent nymphs, VIII.846

  Echion, Husband of Agave; father of Pentheus; survivor sprung from dragon’s teeth sown by Cadmus, III.157

  Echo, Wood nymph deprived by Juno of power to initiate conversation; in love with Narcissus, III.470

  Egeria, Nymph; wife of Numa, XV.559

  Elis, City and region in the western Peloponnese, II.941

  Elpenor, Comrade of Ulysses, XIV.362

  Elysian Fields, Abode of the blessed in the underworld, XI.87

  Enipeus, River in Thessaly, VI.165

  Epaphus, Son of Jupiter and Io, I.1034

  Epidaurus, City in Argolis sacred to Aesculapius, III.357

  Epimetheus, Brother of Prometheus; father of Pyrrha, I.540

  Erebus, Another name for the underworld, XIV.573

  Erectheus, King of Athens; father of Orithyia and Procris, VI.982

  Erichthonius, Son of Vulcan and Mother Earth; raised by Minerva; a legendary Athenian ruler, II.766

  Erigone, Daughter of Icarus; constellated as Virgo, VI.178

  Erysichthon, Cut down the sacred tree of Ceres, VIII.1042

  Eryx, Mountain on Sicily sacred to Venus, II.296

  Etruria, Country in central Italy; home of Etruscans, XV.639

  Europa, Daughter of Agenor; taken by Jove; mother of Minos and Rhadamanthus, III.3

  Eurus, The east wind, I.84

  Eurydice, Wife of Orpheus, X.43

  Eurylochus, Companion of Ulysses, XIV.361

  Eurynome, Mother of Leucothoë, IV.290

  Evander, Founded city of Pallanteum in Latium; aided Aeneas, XIV.646

  Evippe, Wife of Pierus; mother of the Pierides, V.442

  Fates, Three sisters (Clotho, Atropos, and Lachesis), originally Greek but known to the Romans as the Parcae; said to have unlimited power over gods and men, whose destinies they inscribed on tablets of bronze, I.355

  Faunus, Deity of the woods; identified with Pan, VI.473

  Furies, Three sisters (Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera), originally Greek, but known to the Romans as the Furiae; goddesses of vengeance, who torture the guilty in the underworld and sometimes drive the living to madness and frenzy, I.335

  Galanthis, Servant of Alcmena; changed into a weasel, IX.447

  Galatea, Sea nymph; lover of Acis; pursued by Polyphemus, XIII.1070

  Ganymede, Boy beloved of Jove, X.214

  Gargraphie, Grove and spring in Boeotia sacred to Diana, III.194

  Gemini, Castor and Pollux, twin sons of Tindareus and Leda; later constellated as the Twins, VIII.526

  Geryon, Monster with three bodies; slain by Hercules, IX.275

  Giants, Race of monsters born from Mother Earth who challenged Jove and the Olympian gods; defeated by him in the course of the Gigantomachy, or fight with the Giants, they were imprisoned under the earth, often in volcanic areas, I.206

  Glaucus, Mortal changed into sea god; infatuated by Scylla, VII.334

  Gorgon, Any of three daughters of Phorcys whose gaze turned men to stone; Medusa, principally, who was slain by Perseus, IV.847

  Graces, Roman Gratiae; beautiful nymphs attendant on Venus, VI.614

  Granicus, Father of Alexiroë river and river god in Asia Minor, XI.1086

  Haemus, Thracian man changed into mountain of same name for taking name of Jove, II.293

  Harmonia, Daughter of Mars and Venus; wife of Cadmus; mentioned but not named in IV.776

  Harpies, Winged goddesses, half bird, half maiden; makers of mischief, VII.6

  Harpocrates, Egyptian god of silence, shown with finger on mouth, IX.1000

  Hebe, Fatherless daughter of Juno; Hercules’ wife in heaven, IX.581

  Hebrus, River in Thrace, II.342

  Hecate, Goddess of underworld and enchantments, VI.199

  Hector, Son of Priam and Hecuba; father of Astyanax; greatest Trojan hero, XI.1080

  Hecuba, Wife of Priam; mother of Hector, Polyxena, and Polydorus, XI.1083

  Helen, Daughter of Leda and Jove (or Tindareus); cause of Trojan War, VII.504

  Helenus, Prophetically gifted son of Priam, XIII.141

  Heliades, Daughters of the Sun and Clymene, whose grief for their brother Phaëthon sees them changed into poplars, their tears into amber, II.454

  Helicon, Mountain in Boeotia sacred to the Muses, II.293

  Hercules, Son of Jove (or Amphitryon) and Alcmena; husband of Deianira and Hebe; father of Tlepolemus; greatest of Greek heroes; granted immortality by Jove, VII.509

  Hermes, See Mercury, IV.531

  Herse, Daughter of Cecrops; beloved of Mercury, II.774

  Hersilia, Wife of Romulus; became Hora after her apotheosis, XIV.1211

  Hesperides, Daughters of Night (or of Atlas and Hesperis); guardians of a tree of golden apples, XI.163

  Hesperus, Evening star, V.611

  Hippodame, Wife of Pirithoüs, XII.314

  Hippolytus, Son of Theseus and the Amazon Hippolyte; dies and is reborn as Virbius, XV.566

  Hippomenes, Son of Megareus; the youth who outraced Atalanta and wed her; changed into a lion by Cybele, X.682

  Hora, See Hersilia, XIV.1242

  Hyacinthus, Spartan youth; loved by Apollo, X.220
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  Hydra, Water serpent, a dragon-like monster, II.907

  Hyllus, Son of Hercules and Deianira; husband of Iole, IX.412

  Hylonome, She-centaur; beloved of Cyllarus, XII.596

  Hymenaeus, God of marriage, VI.614

  Hymettus, Mountain in Attica, VII.1001

  Hypaepa, Town in Lydia; home of Arachne, VI.20

  Hyperion, One of the Titans; father of the sun god or the Sun himself, IV.267

  Hyrie, Lake in Boeotia, named for mother of petulant Cycnus, VII.520

  Iacchus, Another name for Bacchus; the ritual cry of his worshipers, IV.24

  Ianthe, Betrothed of Iphis, IX.1033

  Iapetas, One of the Titans; father of Atlas and Prometheus, IV.863

  Icarus, (1) Son of Daedalus, VIII.269; (2) Father of Erigone; constellated as Boötes, X.542

  Ida, Mountain near Troy, II.291

  Idmon, Father of Arachne, VI.13

  Ilium, Another name for Troy, XIII.288

  Inachus, Father of Io; Thessalian river and river god, I.806

  Indiges, See Aeneas, XIV.871

  Indigetes, A term used for local gods and heroes, XV.1087

  Ino, Daughter of Cadmus; wife of Athamas; foster mother of Bacchus; aunt of Pentheus; deified as Leucothoë, III.403

  Io, daughter of Inachus; raped by Jove; changed to a heifer; worshiped in Egypt as Isis, I.809

  Iolaüs, Nephew of Hercules; restored to youth by Hebe, VIII.436

  Iole, Maiden loved by Hercules; wed by his son Hyllus, IX.210

  Iphigenia, Daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra; sacrificed by her father at Aulis or saved by Diana, XII.44

  Iphis, (1) Daughter of Ligdus and Telethusa; changed to young man by Isis, IX.964; (2) Cypriot youth who loves Anaxaretes, XIV.1014

  Iris, Goddess of the rainbow; messenger of Juno, I.374

  Isis, An Egyptian deity, the deified Io, IX.1112

  Ithaca, Island in the Ionian Sea; home of Ulysses, XIII.745

  Itys, Son of Tereus and Procne, VI.628

  Ixion, Lapith king; father of Pirithoüs and the centaurs; punished in underworld for attempted rape of Juno, IV.631

  Janus, Two-faced Roman god of entrances, bridges, and archways, XIV.476

  Jason, Son of Aeson; lover of Medea; leader of the Argonauts, VII.9

  Jove (aka Jupiter), Son of Saturn; husband of Juno; ruler of heaven, I.147

  Julus, See Ascanius, XIV.836

  Julius, See Caesar (Julius), XV.512