Eternal Glorification In Ovid's Metamorphoses

Eternal Glorification in Metamorphoses In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, there are many accounts of mortals being transformed into various things. While reading these pieces of lore it seems very obvious that there are deeper reasons for the transformations. In the stories of Lycaon, Arachne, Callisto, and Baucis and Philemon, a few questions were raised that would help find the deeper meaning behind these transformations. These questions are, which god transformed them, what are the outward reasons for the transformations, what characteristics of their human selves did they keep, and is there anything in the characters’ story that would indicate eternal glorification or punishment? These questions help the reader recognize these things respectively,

For example, Callisto, a handmaiden of Diana, was raped by Jupiter because of her beauty. Callisto, showing the shame that was forced upon her, was kicked out of Diana’s handmaidens, and in the midst of this grief Juno came down to punish Callisto by turning her into a bear. Her arms”...began to bristle with coarse black hairs, and her hands curved round, turning into crooked claws….her face...was disfigured by wide gaping jaws…” and she was deprived of speech. Everything that was once held dear to Callisto herself or Jupiter was deprived of her, everything except her mind that is. Callisto’s mind “...remained unchanged, and she declared her grief with continual lamentations, raising to the stars in heaven such hands she had…” (63). While this would seem like the end to a horrible story, it is not; Callisto, along with her son, are turned into constellations which are still looked at today, Ursa Major and Ursa

In the stories of Lycaon and Arachne it is very clear that they were impious and deserved to be punished and not glorified for their actions, and because of this they were turned into things that would always be a reminder of what they did wrong. Lycaon’s wolfishness would cause him to always crave flesh, the very thing he tried to feed to Jupiter; Arachne was turned into something that would be a reminder of how pride, without justification from the gods, causes people to fall. It makes sense for one to be able to be punished by being taken out of their original form, but how does it make sense for one to be eternally glorified when they are taken out of their original