Ovid’s Metamorphoses: the Tale of Narcissus and Echo

The Metamorphoses was the most famous work of the Roman poet Ovid. The Metamorphoses is Ovid’s attempt to tell the history of the world, from Creation to the deification of the murdered Roman Emperor Julius Caesar.  The Metamorphoses retells 250 myths. In his retellings, Ovid often departs from traditional accounts. Yet his poem was the largest compendium of Roman and Greek mythology, and it had enormous influence on Western culture, particularly during th Renaissance.

Jupiter was the king of the gods, and Juno was his queen. Jupiter was promiscuous, and his queen was jealous. Juno realized that a nymph named Echo was helping Jupiter hide his infidelities by engaging her in conversation, while another nymph escaped.  Echo’s punishment was the loss of her ability to speak her mind. All she could do was repeat the last few words that someone else had said.

Narcissus was a young hunter who was so handsome that practically everyone who laid eyes on him fell in love with him.  Echo caught sight of him and pined away for him until there was nothing left of her but her voice, which could do nothing but repeat what someone else had just said. Nemesis, who is the spirit of divine vengeance, lured Narcissus to a pool, where he caught sight of his own reflection. There, he wasted away, unable to embrace himself yet unable to tear himself away from his own reflection.

Metamorphoses (Kline) 3, the Ovid Collection, Univ. of Virginia E-Text Center