Product Description

Presents a selection of stories from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the most famous and influential collection of Greek and Roman myths in the world. It includes well-known stories like those of Daedalus and Icarus, Pygmalion, Narcissus and King Midas. The book is designed for those who have completed an introductory course in Latin and aims to help such users to enjoy the story-telling, character-drawing and language of one of the world’s most delightful and influential poets. The text is accompanied by full vocabulary and grammar notes, with assistance based on two widely used beginners’ courses, Reading Latin and Wheelock’s Latin. Essays at the end of each passage point up important detail and show how the logic of each story unfolds, while study sections offer questions for discussion and ways of thinking further about the passage. No other intermediate text is so carefully designed to make reading Ovid a pleasure.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #271960 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 282 pages

About the Author
Peter Jones is well known as an author, journalist, lecturer and publiciser of classics. He is the founding President of Friends of Classics and regularly contributes columns, reviews and features on classical topics in the national media in the UK. His books include Learn Latin (1998), An Intelligent Person’s Guide to Classics (2002) and (with Keith Sidwell) Reading Latin (1986).

Customer Reviews

Excellent introduction to Ovid in Latin
This is an excellent introduction to reading Ovid in the original - the selections are sometimes a little oblique, but they include vocabulary, explanatory notes and commentary. With latin texts so expensive, it's nice to see Cambridge bringing out something like this. Each segment is just long enough to test you, and there is a learning voculary to keep you on track. Perfect for 'A' level or first year undergraduates - or anyone else who wants to experience the wit, energy and sheer narrative skills of Ovid in the original. I hope we see more texts like this at an affordable price.

Perfect intermediate level text.
I found this text great for reading and interpreting Ovid. Each passage has a detailed commentary and vocabulary list. This is very important as vocabulary is a major stumbling block to the intermediate learner's enjoyment of original latin authors. There are learning vocabulary lists and difficult grammatical points are either explained or cross referenced to the 'reading latin' course by Jones. Another very useful feature is the use of symbols to indicate which words are in grammatical agreement, as in latin poetry these can often be widely seperated and difficult to spot. I would highly recommend this text to the self learner who wants to read latin poetry in the original.