Metamorphoses

Metamorphoses Character List

Prometheus

Prometheus is sometimes credited with creating man by sculpting him out of clay. Other versions simply credit him with bringing man fire, an act for which he was terribly punished.

Jove

Also called Jupiter, Jove is the king of the Gods. He controls the thunderbolt and has the power to transform himself into many other things. Juno is both his sister and his wife.

Saturn

Jove's father. Jove fulfilled a prophecy by overthrowing his father to become king of the gods.

Augustus

The adopted son of Julius Caesar, Augustus becomes a Roman Emperor and oversees the greatest period of peace and prosperity in Roman history. He was the emperor throughout Ovid's life.

Lycaon

King Lycaon plots to kill Jove while he is a guest in his house, and first he attempts to trick him into consuming human flesh. Jove destroys his house with a thunderbolt and Lycaon goes mad and thinks he is a wolf.

Neptune

God of the sea, one of the most powerful gods after Jove.

Deucalion

A pious man, he and his wife are the only two to survive after Jove floods the earth.

Pyrrha

Deucalion's wife

Themis

One of the race of ancient Titans born of Gaia and Uranus, she is an ancient goddess worshipped by all believers in the immortals.

Python

A gigantic snake killed by Apollo, inspiring the Pythian games.

Apollo

Phoebus Apollo, often referred to as Phoebus; The son of Zeus and Leto and the twin brother of Artemis. Apollo is the God of Music, Medicine, Prophecy and the arts. In the Metamorphoses, Apollo is also portrayed as the sun god, but this characterization contradicts most mythology which names a distinct sun-god named Helios.

Cupid

His origins are somewhat unclear, but Ovid represents him as Venus's son. Cupid has the power to instill or destroy love with his bow and arrows.

Daphne

Daughter of the river-god Peneus, Daphne is a wood nymph who wishes to live chaste, like Diana. When she flees the love of Apollo, she prays to her father to save her and he transforms her into a Laurel tree.

Peneus

A river god, father of Daphne.

Diana

Goddess of the moon and the hunt, she foreswears all men and remains a virgin.

Inachus

A river god whose daughter, Io, is seduced by Zeus.

Io

Daughter of inachus, the river god, she is seduced by Zeus, who then turns her into a cow to protect her from Juno.

Juno

Jove's sister and wife, Queen of the gods.

Argus

A man with one hundred eyes whom Juno sets to keep guard over Io in cow form. He is killed by Mercury and Juno sets his eyes into the tail of the peacock.

Mercury

Sometimes, but not always, equated with the Greek Hermes, Mercury is the god of trade and profit.

Syrinx

A river nymph who was transformed into a reed so she might escape Pan.

Pan

A satyr, the god of shepherds, Pan invents the reed pipe and is generally pictured with it.

Epaphus

The son of Jove and Io.

Phaethon

The son of Clymene and Apollo, when Apollo offers to grant any wish to prove he is his father, Phaethon asks to drive the chariot of the sun. He is killed in the process.

Clymene

Phaethon's mother

Eridanus

A river god

Cycnus

Phaethon's friend, he mourns him for so long that he is turned into a swan, a bird which fears flying.

Callisto

One of Diana's handmaids, she is raped by Jove. When her pregnancy is discovered, she is banished. When Juno discovers their affair, she turns Callisto into a bear.

Arcas

Callisto and Jove's son. When he is fifteen he almost kills his mother, who has been transformed into a bear, and as a result he and his mother are turned into constellations.

Tethys

One of the goddesses of the Ocean, mother of all the other bodies of water.

Oceanus

God of the ocean.

Coronis

Apollo's lover and mother of his son Aesculapius. She betrays him with another before their son is even born, and when the raven tells Apollo, he kills her, but saves their son.

Athena

Also called Pallas and Minerva, Athena is the goddess of wisdom, war, the arts and justice. She is Jove's favorite daughter.

Aesculapius

Apollo's son by Coronis, he is the god of healing.

Chiron

Hercules's teacher, a centaur known for his wisdom and learning, especially in medicine.

Ocyrhoe

Chiron's daughter, she has the gift of prophecy.

Battus

The shepherd that promised Mercury he would not reveal the location of the herd Mercury stole; when his lie is revealed, Mercury turns him into stone.

Herse

A beautiful maiden who is raped by Mercury and gives birth to Cephalus.

Aglauros

Herse's sister, Juno sends Envy to infect her, and she tries to prevent Mercury from gaining access to her sister. She is turned to stone.

Europa

A princess whom Jove fell in love with and successfully kidnapped by disguising himself as a beautiful, white bull.

Agenor

Europa's father

Cadmus

Europa's brother, he is banished for being unable to recover his sister. He founds a new city called Boeotia.

Actaeon

Cadmus's grandson, he accidentally stumbles upon Diana bathing, is turned into a stag, and is torn apart by his own dogs.

Semele

A beautiful girl seduced by Jove, she is tricked by Juno into asking to see him in his full glory, which kills her.

Beroe

Semele's nurse

Bacchus

God of wine and Intoxication. He is the son of Jove and Semele, and he comes to term in Jove's thigh, after Semele is killed. Worship of him inspires frenzy in groups of revelers, but many also disputed his claims to divinity.

Tiresias

A man who has also been a woman, he is blinded by Juno and given the gift of prophecy by Jove.

Liriope

Narcissus's mother

Narcissus

A beautiful young man who fell in love with his own reflection and died from the pain of being unable to be with himself.

Echo

A nymph who angered Juno by helping Jove hide his infidelities. Juno punished her by making her only able to repeat the words said by others. She falls in love with Narcissus, who ignores her until she fades away to nothing but her voice.

Pentheus

A king who scorns the power of the gods, especially Bacchus, and in punishment is torn apart by his wife and daughters.

Acoetes

A priest of Bacchus

The daughters of Minyas

A group of women that refuse to worship Bacchus and are turned into bats as a result.

Arsippe

One of the daughters of Minyas.

Pyramus

A young man who falls in love with the girl next door (Thisbe), and who runs away with her, but tragic misunderstanding leads to both of their deaths.

Thisbe

A young girl who falls in love with Pyramus, and who runs away with him, but a tragic misunderstanding leads to their deaths.

Leuconoe

One of the daughters of Minyas

Mars

God of War

Venus

Goddess of Love

Vulcan

God of fire and the forge, Venus's husband.

Leucothoe

A mortal lover of Apollo.

Clytie

Passionately in love with Apollo, she betrays Leucothoe to her father.

Alcithoe

One of the daughters of Minyas

Hermaphroditus

The son of Aphrodite and Hermes, Hermaphroditus was incredibly beautiful. Salmacis, a nymph, fell desperately in love wtih him, and one day while he was swimming, she cleaved to him and begged that the gods transform them into one person. Her wish was granted and Hermaphroditus became a person both male and female.

Salmacis

The nymph that falls in love with Hermaphroditus and brings about his transformation.

Athamos

Ino's husband and part of Cadmus's line, because of Juno he is driven mad by the furies and kills his own son.

Ino

After her husband kills her son, she takes him and jumps into the sea. At Venus's request, Neptune turns her and her child into sea-gods.

Acrisius

A man who closed his city, Argos, to Bacchus and then later refuses to acknowledge the divinity of Perseus. His city is infected with snakes that spring up from the blood of Medusa's head, after Perseus flies over the city.

Perseus

A hero who kills Medusa, saves Andromeda from sacrifice and performs a number of other impressive deeds.

Medusa

Once a beautiful girl, she is raped by Neptune in Athena's temple and Athena punishes her for desecrating her temple by turning her hair into snakes. Medusa turns people into stone when she looks at them. She is killed by Perseus.

Atlas

One of the Titans, his punishment for storming heaven was to hold up the heavens on his shoulders. Perseus turns him into stone with the head of Medusa.

Andromeda

When Andromeda's mother insults the Nereids, Neptune demands her sacrifice as payment. Perseus rescues her and marries her.

Pegasus

A winged horse born from the blood of Medusa when Perseus cut off her head.

Chrysaor

A giant born from the blood of Medusa when Perseus cuts off her head.

Phineus

Andromeda's uncle, whom she was originally supposed to marry.

Cepheus

Andromeda's father

the Muses

A group of nine goddesses of art and science. They are believed to inspire all artistic creation.

Pyreneus

An evil king who tried to imprison the muses, but who fell from a tower and died after they fled.

Calliope

One of the Muses

Ceres

Goddess of the harvest, Proserpine's mother.

Dis

Also called Pluto, king of the Underworld.

Proserpine

Ceres daughter, she becomes Queen of the Underworld.

Cyane

A nymph that tries to save Proserpine from being kidnapped by Dis.

Ascalaphus

One of the Argonauts, he is killed at Troy.

Arethusa

: A nymph who tells Ceres where her daughter has disappeared to, who is stuck inside a spring since she asked Diana to help her escape the unwanted advances of Alpheus.

Alpheus

The man who pursued Arethusa.

Triptolemus

A follower of Ceres.

Lyncus

King of the Scythians, he is angry when Triptolemus brings him magic seeds from Ceres, because he wants all the credit for himself.

Arachne

A girl renowned for her skill at weaving who dares to challenge Athena to a contest. Her hubris is punished by her transformation into a spider.

Leda

A girl whom Jove rapes in the form of a swan; she gives birth to the twins Castor and Pollux.

Niobe

Wife of Amphion and Queen of Thebes, she dared to suggest that she was more worthy of worship than Latona, because she had fourteen children while Latona only had two. In response, Latona had all of her children killed.

Amphion

Niobe's husband, he kills himself after his children are killed.

Manto

Tiresias's daughter, she also has the gift of prophecy.

Latona

Mother of Apollo and Diana

Marsyas

The satyr who challenges Apollo to a flute-playing contest, whom Apollo flays as punishment when the satyr loses.

Tereus of Thrace

He marries Procne, but then falls in love with her sister Philomela. He kidnaps and rapes her, and he cuts out her tongue when she threatens to betray him. Procne finds out, kills their son, and feeds him to her husband.

Pandion

King of Athens, father of Procne and Philomela, he dies when he finds out what happened to his daughters.

Procne

Daughter of Pandion and wife of Tereus.

Hymen

God of marriage.

the Three Graces

Daughters of Jove, the goddesses of beauty and charm, also known as the Three Charities.

the Eumenides

Another name for the Furies.

Philomela

Procne's sister, she is raped by Tereus and has her tongue cut out, but she still manages to get word to Procne.

Orithyia

one of Erectheus's daughters, she marries Boreas god of the North wind, without her father's consent.

King Aeetes

The father of Medea, Jason is sent to get the golden fleece from him.

Jason

At the demand of King Pelias, Jason is sent to get the Golden Fleece from King Aeetes. He succeeds only with the help of Aeetes daughter, Medea, who falls in love with him.

Medea

The daughter of King Aeetes and a powerful sorceress, Medea falls in love with Jason and helps him gain the Golden Fleece on the condition that he will marry her and take her away. When she discovers that Jason has remarried, she kills her children and his new wife.

Hecate

The goddess of the crossroads, often invoked by those doing dark magic.

Aeson

Father of Jason, his youth and health are restored by Medea's magic arts.

Pelias

The king who stole Aeson's throne; Medea tricks his daughters into thinking she will restore his youth, then kills him.

Glauce

The woman that Jason marries while Medea is fleeing punishment for Pelias's death.

Aegeus

King of Athens, he gives sanctuary to and marries Medea, until she almost kills his son, Theseus.

Theseus

Theseus is one of the victims chosen to be sacrificed to the minotaur. Princess Ariadne falls in love with him and helps him conquer the minotaur, but he abandons her at Athena's behest. He later becomes king of Athens.

Minos

King of Crete; Minos's wife is infected with an unnatural passion for a bull which was supposed to be a sacrifice for Neptune. She gives birth to a minotaur, half-bull and half-man, and Minos forces the captive Daedalus to build a labyrinth for it. He demands that every nine years seven Athenian youths and girls be sent as a sacrifice to the minotaur.

Cephalus

A prince of Athens who seeks help from Aeacus, king of Aegina, in Athens' war against Crete.

Aeacus

King of Aegina, he helps Cephalus in Athens' war against Crete.

Androgeos

Minos's son; his death inspires Minos's war against Athens.

Procris

Daughter of Erechteus, married to Cephalus.

Aurora

Goddess of the Dawn

Oedipus

A tragic hero of Greek literature. Despite all attempts to avoid it, he inadvertently fulfills a prophecy that he will kill his father and marry his mother.

Laelaps

Cephalus's hound

King Nisus

King of Alcathous, Minos defeats him after his daughter Scylla betrays him.

Scylla of Alcathous

Daughter of King Nisus, she falls in love with King Minos and betrays the city to him. He rejects her, and she is transformed into a bird.

Daedalus

A famous inventor and architect, after Daedalus killed his nephew Telus, he fled to Minos's court at Crete. When he tires of working for Minos, he escapes with his son Icarus by building wings out of feathers and wax. His son Icarus is killed when he flies too close to the sun.

Minotaur

Child of Pasiphae (wife of King Minos) and a bull, the minotaur is half-man and half-bull.

Ariadne

Daughter of King Minos, she falls in love with Theseus and helps him defeat the minotaur. They flee together, but he abandons her on the journey home.

Icarus

Son of Daedalus, he dies when he flies too close to the son and the wax in his wings melt.

Telus

Daedalus's nephew who was sent to him as an apprentice. Daedalus was jealous of his talent and killed him.

King Oeneus

After he forgets to sacrifice to Diana, she sends a wild boar to ravage his land.

Malaeger

King Oeneus's son, he kills the wild boar sent by Diana, but then kills his uncles in a fight over the spoils and is murdered by his mother.

Atalanta

A Greek athlete, Atalanta wishes to stay chaste like Diana. She determines that she will only marry the man who can beat her in a race, and those who lose must be willing to lose their life as well. She is happily conquered by Hippomenes thanks to Venus's help.

Achelous

A river god who shelters Theseus during a storm.

Triton

A god of the sea.

Baucis

A pious women; she and her husband are the only two to take in Jove and Mercury when they wander the earth disguised as lonely travelers.

Philemon

Baucis's husband.

Proteus

A sea god with the power to change his shape as well as the power of prophecy.

Mestra

Daughter of Erysichthon, she as the power to change her shape. Her father uses this ability to satisfy his insatiable hunger.

Famine

The personification of hunger.

Deianira

A woman that Achelous and Hercules fought over. Hercules won and married her.

Nessus

A centaur who is killed by Hercules when he tries to run off with his wife, Deianira.

Alcmena

Hercules' mother.

Iole

The woman Hercules marries to his son, Hyllus.

Hyllus

Hercules' son.

Lucina

The goddess of childbirth.

Galanthis

One of Alcmena's maidservants, she tricks Lucina and allows her mistress to give birth.

Dryope

Iole's half-sister; she is turned into a tree after accidentally picking flowers from a tree that was actually a nymph.

Iolaus

Hercules nephew, he is brought back to life by Hebe, Hercules' wife.

Hebe

The goddess of youth, she becomes Hercules' wife after he becomes a god.

Byblis

Caunus's twin sister, she feels an unnatural passion for her brother, and eventually she is turned into a fountain.

Caunus

Byblis's twin brother; he rejects her strange advances.

Ligdus

The man who tells his pregnant wife that is she has a daughter, she must put her to death.

Telethusa

Ligdus's wife

Iphis

Ligdus and Telethusa's daughter who is disguised as a son and eventually turns into a boy.

Ianthe

The woman Iphis loves and marries.

Orpheus

A skilled poet and singer, especially sacred to Bacchus, he becomes heartbroken after his wife is killed by a snakebite.

Eurydice

Orpheus's wife

Ganymede

June's cup-bearer, whom Jove steals away.

Hyacinthus

Apollo's lover, he is accidentally killed by a discus thrown by Apollo.

Pygmalion

A talented sculptor who became disgusted by women and spent all his time working on an ivory statue of a woman. During a festival to Venus, he prayed that the statue would come to life and it did.

Cinyras

Myrrha's father

Myrrha

Myrrha falls in love with her own father and tricks him into sleeping with her. When he discovers what happened, she flees, and eventually she is turned into a Myrrh tree. Her son, Adonis, is born from the tree.

Adonis

Myrrha's son by her father, grows up to be a beautiful youth. Venus falls in love with him, but he is killed by a wild boar.

Hippomenes

Hippomenes wins Atalanta with Venus's help and three golden apples.

Silenus

Bacchus's foster-father.

King Midas

He returns Silenus, accidentally taken hostage, to Bacchus and is rewarded with one wish. He asks that everything he touch turn into gold, but soon after he must beg to have the wish taken back.

King Tmolus

A mountain god, he judges who is the better musician, Apollo or Pan.

Laomedon

The dishonest king who founds Troy.

Hesione

Neptune demands her sacrifice but she is saved by Hercules, who marries her to his companion, Telamon.

Telamon

Hercules companion, he marries Hesione.

Peleus

Telamon's brother, he is married to Thetis.

Achilles

The son of the mortal Peleus and the Nereid Thetis, when he is born, Thetis uses fire to burn the humanity out of him, but she is prevented from finishing. Achilles heel is still vulnerable to wound. He is a Greek hero, and he fights valiantly in the Trojan war, before Paris kills him by shooting an arrow into his heel.

Ceyx

King of Thessaly, he perishes at sea, but his body is returned to his wife, and when she receives it they are both turned into birds.

Phocus

Phocus is killed by his brothers, Peleus and Telamon.

Daedalion

He is so sad when his daughter Chione is killed, he throws himself off a cliff; his death is prevented when Apollo changes him into an eagle.

Chione

Chione is seduced by both Apollo and Mercury, and she gives birth to twins, each child fathered by a different god. She is too proud and compares herself favorably to Diana, who kills her.

Onetor

One of Peleus's men.

Psamathe

Phocus's mother.

Alcyone

Ceyx's wife.

Morpheus

One of the gods of sleep.

Aesacus

one of Hector's brothers; he is turned into a bird.

Hector

The eldest son of Priam and Hecuba, he is the mightiest warrior on the side of the Trojans in the Trojan war.

Priam

King of Troy, father of Hector and Paris.

Paris

The youngest son of Hecuba and Priam, he steals Helen and starts the Trojan war.

Helen

The daughter of Jove and Leda, when Helen was married to Menelaus, all her other suitors became his allies. When Paris stole Helen and took her to Troy, all these cities came together to fight and get her back.

Agamemnon

The brother of Menelaus, he agreed to sacrifice his daughter to Diana in order to gain a favorable wind to sail to Troy.

Iphigenia

Agamemnon's daughter who he is supposed to sacrifice, many versions of the myth state that at the last minute, Diana switched her with a calf.

Rmour

The personification of rumor or gossip.

Nestor

A wise Greek general in the Trojan war.

Caenis

A victim of Neptune's lust, he grants her a wish and she wishes to be made a man. He throws in invincibility, but Caenis is eventually killed or at least destroyed in a fight with a number of centaurs.

Tlepolemus

A Greek who fights in the Trojan war.

Ulysses

One of the Greek Generals, Ulysses is considered the wisest and wiliest of all the fighters. He is the hero of the Greek epic, the Odyssey.

Cassandra

A daughter of Hecuba and Priam, she has the gift of prophecy. She is taken by Agamemnon as a hostage after the war.

Polydorus

Priam and Hecuba's son, he was sent to Polymestor during the Trojan War, but Polymestor kills him.

Polymestor

Kills Polydorus for a cache of gold and is torn apart by Hecuba's women.

Polyxena

Hecuba and Priam's son, she is sacrificed by Agamemnon to Achilles.

Memnon

Aurora's son, he is killed during the Trojan war.

Aeneas

Son of Anchises and Venus, he survives the Trojan war and found the country of Italy after a long and dangerous journey.

Anchises

Aeneas's father

Helenus

A Trojan seer

Scylla

Once a beautiful girl, Circe turned her into a monster out of jealousy. Now she is an ocean obstacle that sailors must pass, including Ulysses and Aeneas.

Charybdis

A whirlpool near Scylla that makes that area of the ocean particularly dangerous.

Galatea

A Nereid who falls in love with the handsome Acis, but is tormented by the love of the Cyclops Polyphemus. He kills Acis, but she is able to turn him into a river-god.

Acis

A young man whom Galatea loves.

Polyphemus

A Cyclops who fights with Ulysses and loses an eye. He also falls in love with the nymph Galatea.

Glaucus

A fisherman who becomes a sea-god, falls in love with Scylla and inadvertently causes her to be turned into a monster.

Circe

A powerful sorceress who is most famous for turning men into animals. She has a love affair with Ulysses.

Queen Dido

Queen of Carthage, she falls in love with Aeneas and kills herself when he leaves her.

Acestes

Aeneas's half-brother

Sibyl at Cumae

One of Apollo's seers; when the Sibyl was young and beautiful, Apollo loved her and granted her a wish. She wished to live as long as their were grains of dust in a pile, but she forgot to wish for eternal youth.

Macareus

One of Ulysses companions, he settles at Cumae.

Achaemenides

A Greek whom Ulysses abandons to Polyphemus and who is rescued by Aeneas.

Aeolus

God of the winds.

Laestrygonians

man-eaters

Picus

A son of Saturn, he is turned into a woodpecker by Circe when he rejects her.

Canens

Picus's beloved wife; after he disappears, she cries until she melts into a puddle.

Lavinia

The woman that Aeneas marries when he finds the land for his new city.

Turnus

The man whom Lavinia was supposed to marry, he engages Aeneas in a long and bloody war.

Julus

Aeneas's son, he becomes the first king of Latium.

Pomona

A nymph who excels at gardening, she wishes to remain unmarried and locks herself away from men.

Vertumnus

A man who falls in love with Pomona and manages to woo her successfully.

Poor Iphis

A poor man who falls in love with the noble Anaxarete and kills himself when he can no longer take her rejection.

Anaxarete

A cold and noble woman who turns to stone, after she fails to feel any pity for Iphis, who kills himself for love of her.

Romulus

The founder of Rome, he is deified by Jove after Tatius's death.

Tatius

The Sabine leader who shares the throne with Romulus.

Hersilia

Romulus's wife.

Iris

Goddess of the rainbow and the messenger of the gods, especially Juno.

Numa

He becomes King of Rome after Romulus's death.

Myscelus

Founder of the city Crotona, on Hercules's orders.

Pythagoras

A Greek philosopher.

Egeria

Numa's wife

Hippolytus

Theseus's son, banished after his step-mother Phaedra attempts to seduce him and then accuses him of the same crime. He is then thrown from his chariot and killed. Even after Aesculapius restores his life, he is not able to return to civilization, for fear that too many would be jealous of his second chance.

Cipus

The praetor who sprouts horns from his head and convinces the Roman Senators to banish him from the city so he does not become a tyrant.

Julius Caesar

A great Roman leader who, before he can become emperor, is killed by his own Senate. Augustus, his adopted son, inherits the empery.

Tiberius

Augustus's son and Emperor after his death.