The Serpent's Teeth

by Ovid

In a world of gods and monsters, nothing is as it seems.When a deadly serpent's teeth are sown in the ground, warriors spring from the bloody soil. Only a great man can tame them and fulfil his destiny. Far away, Medusa, snakes writhing in her hair, meets her nemesis; the princess Andromeda is chained to a rock; people are transformed into owls, frogs, even mountains; a boy falls tragically in love with his own reflection.Enter a universe where love is cruel, men are destroyed by the gods and treachery is paid for in blood ...

Genres: Classics, Poetry, Fiction, Greek Mythology, Epic

ebook

First published January 1, 8

About the author

Publius Ovidius Naso (20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horatius, with whom he is often ranked as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature. The Imperial scholar Quintilian considered him the last of the Latin love elegists. Although Ovid enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime, the emperor Augustus exiled him to Tomis, the capital of the newly-organised province of Moesia, on the Black Sea, where he remained for the last nine or ten years of his life. Ovid himself attributed his banishment to a "poem and a mistake", but his reluctance to disclose specifics has resulted in much speculation among scholars.
Ovid is most famous for the Metamorphoses, a continuous mythological narrative in fifteen books written in dactylic hexameters. He is also known for works in elegiac couplets such as Ars Amatoria ("The Art of Love") and Fasti. His poetry was much imitated during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and greatly influenced Western art and literature. The Metamorphoses remains one of the most important sources of classical mythology today.

Reviews

[Nicolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every now and then I take a break from reading graphic novels and seek solace in a little prose. It's been 41 graphic novels and comics since I've enjoyed a prose book, and I decided it must be a classic. You can't get any more classic with Ovid's The Metamorphoses. I've always wondered why it was named as such, until I read, it has people transforming into animals, plants and other objects of matter. It is a book of legends on how stuff came to be.

This is a nice handy edition of Ovid's epic. It renders the original poetry into prose, though there are some parts where a poetic cadence is maintained and a heavy use of personification makes reading a trudge from one part to the next. But overall it is an easy and light read for me. Though it would have been useful if a character guide is included to help sort out all the characters that appears in this book.

[Gabri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This translation of Ovid reads very nicely because it's the perfect balance between writing a free translation and completely sticking to the original text. As for the stories itself, lots of them are quite harsh and perverse. Of course, that's what the Greeks and the Romans were good at - making up cruel stories and describing every gross detail - but I prefer the stories that are somewhat milder (Echo & Narcissus, Pyramus & Thisbe, Arachne) which unfortunately were a minority in this edition. Nevertheless, I must say that I've started to appreciate Latin and Greek history/mythology more since I graduated in high school and I hope to read more from the Classical era soon!

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book consists of Books III, IV, V and VI of of Ovid's Metamorphosis. It's a very readable translation, but still a bit hard to keep up with so many people and places. I was familiar with most of the stories individually but the way they were tied one into another made things confusing for me. It's a story inside a story inside another story, so by the end of the third one you barely remember what was happening on the first one.

[Allen Simpson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Die storie in die boek is oor die twee duisend jaar oud en is gebaseer op Ovid se Lang gedig ‘The Metamorphoses”. The Serpent’s Teeth is ‘n verwerking van Boek III, IV, V en VI van die gedig The Metamorphoses

Die boek gaan oor die Griekse legendes en mites. Lank voor die Grieke geweet het daar bestaan iets soos ‘n Jood, en lank voor die filosoof Jesus en die Christendom begin is het mense soos die Grieke en ons voorouers die Kelte en Vikings in ander Gode geglo. Daar was nie ‘n Jesus en Christendom nie. Die boek vertel Griekse legendes en is nogal baie boeiend.

Klasiek, manjefiek en boeiend

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very exciting account of Greek myths. Gritty, unforgiving, relentless-all showcasing the baseline cruelty of the Greek Gods, and how the mortals dealt with the Gods' whims. Plenty of bad. unjust and plain cruel things happen to regular people who happen to be talented, or happen to be attractive, or happen to be well liked. The stories can serve as a commentary on deities, or on the nature of envy (evolved into 21st century hating.) No sanitized version of the myths here. Make no mistake, the Greek Gods were a piece of work.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the tales featured in this were familiar to me, but I know all the gods and heroes under their Greek names, so reading versions with the Latin/Roman names was a little odd. It's always fun reading these stories though, in whatever guise they come in.

[Adam Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Taken from his Metamorphoses. Ovid is presented here in simple prose. These are some of the great tales of Greco-Roman mythology, but these gods and goddesses are some of the whiniest characters you'll ever find!

[Drew · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Ovid’s Metamorphoses but didn’t enjoy this particular translation of a few parts of the complete work. See Charles Martin’s version for my favorite.

[Panda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read.