News Archive: Ovid's Metamorphoses VIII

A talk by Professor Matthew Leigh

This term, the Wycombe Abbey Classics Society and Classics students from RGS and Wycombe High were fortunate enough to hear Professor Matthew Leigh from Oxford University speak about the current AS set text, Ovid's Metamorphoses VIII.

The evening proved to be both stimulating and thoroughly enjoyable. Professor Leigh introduced us to the problem of defining the genre of the Metamorphoses. He explained that it contains elements of epic, tragedy and love poetry, amongst other genres. We looked particularly at the story of Scylla, who fell in love with the enemy king and was driven by her infatuation to betraying her father and country.

Professor Leigh compared Ovid's work with selected extracts from Virgil, Callimachus and Euripides to highlight the diversity of the Metamorphoses. We saw how Scylla's lament, after realising the extent of crime, is very similar to that of Medea, in Euripides' tragedy after she too has been abandoned.

Many thanks to Miss Lui and the Classics department for organising such an enjoyable evening. We all learnt a lot, particularly current Latin AS students!