Materiam Superabat Opus? Raw Materiality in Ovid’s Phaethon Episode (Met. 2.1-366)
By Del A. Maticic
In the ekphrasis of the Palace of the Sun in Metamorphoses 2, Ovid enumerates the precious metals, stone, and ivory that compose the palace (1-5), before transitioning to describe the image engraved by Vulcan on the palace doors (5-18) with the remark “the work transcended the material” (materiam superabat opus, 5).
Ovid’s Phaethon and Failed Cosmic Vision
By Ashley Simone
In this paper, I consider the philosophical and political implications of Phaethon’s visual responses to two artifacts made by Vulcan in Book 2 of the Metamorphoses: namely, the doors of the solar palace and his father’s divine chariot.
Locus Suspectus: Landscape and the Uncanny in Ovid’s Metamorphoses
By Miriam Kamil
Arachne’s Tapestry and the Metaphors of Ecphrasis
By Albert Bates
Nothing survives from Graeco-Roman material culture that looks quite like Arachne’s tapestry (Met. 6.103-128). While individual tableaux on the textile, such as the image of Europa sitting on the bull, are well represented in the archaeological record, no artwork survives that juxtaposes images of metamorphosed gods raping women.
Viewing and Reading the Heroides in the House of Jason in Pompeii
By Herica Valladares