Transformation of Creation

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer notes that humanity has searched for the means and the language to explain and comprehend the creation of the universe since its own beginnings. The writer discusses that both Hesiod and Homer responded to this need to explore the origination of the world and mankind through their respective oral and literary traditions. However, while the overarching themes of both the 'Theogony' and Ovid's "The Creation" in Book I of his 'Metamorphoses' relate to formulating such understandings of the creation of the cosmos, by the year 1 AD, the perception of the way our universe was created had evolved. The writer maintains that while Hesiod's work definitively shaped Ovid's understandings as outlined in 'Metamorphoses', the Christian influence of Ovid's era would further inform his understanding, pulling him out of the polytheistic universal view of Hesiod, and into the more centralized worldview of monotheism.

From the Paper:

"This Creator is in control of the passive elements of his earthly creations. Ovid's emphasis in this poem lies in this view of mankind and its relationship to its Creator. Furthermore, unlike Hesiod, Ovid's particular love of describing natural beauty lies in contrast to Hesiod's emphasis on the process of creation versus the beauty of the end result, of which Hesiod mentions little in the Theogony. Another crucial contrast between the two myths lies in the origin and conception of man. Hesiod does not specifically spell out where humanity is derived from, or his/her place in the inception of the world. Rather, Ovid implies that he/she arrives at the conclusion of the tale, following the stanzas describing "Goddesses and Heroes". Hesiod's account is chronological, beginning with the magnanimous and leading down, much as his "Five Ages" do, to the insignificant human being in an age of decline. The same does not hold true for Ovid. While the creation of man is fittingly elaborated at the closing of the poem, man is explicitly present, and even rumored to be of divine origin .. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Hesiod. Works & Days / Theogony. Trans. Stanley Lombardo. Indianapolis: Hackett,1993: 61-90.
• Kenney, E.J. Introduction. Metamorphoses. By Ovid. Trans. A.D. Melville. New York:Oxford UP, 1986. xii - xxix.
• Lamberton, Robert. Introduction. Hesiod. Works & Days / Theogony. Trans. Stanley Lombardo. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1993. 1 - 16.
• Metamorphoses. By Ovid. Trans. A.D. Melville. New York: Oxford UP, 1986.

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