# Ovid's Metamorphoses



## Hamalas (May 14, 2013)

I'm wanting to pick up a copy of Ovid's _Metamorphoses_ but I'm finding a ton of different translations out there. Does anyone have any suggestions on the best translation/edition to buy?


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## py3ak (May 14, 2013)

It depends what you're looking for. If you're looking for accuracy, the Loeb editions are usually pretty reliable, and of course have the Latin just across the page so you can check if something seems weird.

For a vivid and colloquial rendering, on the basis of his _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_, I'd suggest Stanley Lombardo.


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## NaphtaliPress (May 14, 2013)

I ditto the Loeb suggestion. I tried if possible to use those editions when Conferring to modern editions for classical references by older theologians. For instance, for Gillespie, who has numerous classical references, when he referenced Ovid, I checked Frank Justus Miller, _Metamorphoses, with and English translation,_ Loeb classical library (1916), and I think that should be online and you should be able to evaluate it for your purposes.


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## Hamalas (May 14, 2013)

Thanks for the tips. I was able to find the Loeb editions on-line for free and I'll probably reference that (especially as I try to get back into my Latin studies this year). Now I just need to find a good "poetic" translation to buy (since the Loeb is focused more on rigorous accuracy). 

To be honest Lombardo's translation doesn't look like quite my cup of tea (I'm not a big fan of the modernized versions). I'm torn between three options, the Penguin edition, the Oxford edition, or the Mandelbaum translation. Any thoughts?

Amazon.com: Metamorphoses (Penguin Classics) (9780140447897): Ovid, David Raeburn, Denis Feeney: Books

Metamorphoses (Oxford World's Classics): Ovid, A. D. Melville, E. J. Kenney: 9780199537372: Amazon.com: Books

The Metamorphoses of Ovid: Ovid, Allen Mandelbaum: 9780156001267: Amazon.com: Books


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## Hamalas (May 14, 2013)

Anyone?


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## CharlieJ (May 14, 2013)

What's a would-be classical teacher doing reading a translation?


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## Hamalas (May 14, 2013)

One must be a student before one can teach.


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## py3ak (May 14, 2013)

Ben, to be honest, I thought that way myself: but then I listened to Stanley Lombardo reading his own translations of the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_, and it worked really well. So I read his translation of Hesiod's _Theogony_ and _Works and Days_ and loved that also. Of course I don't know if he does as well with Latin translation, but I was surprised by how much enjoyment was derivable from his approach.


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## Hamalas (May 14, 2013)

Hmmm...maybe I'll have to give it a second look. I did stumble across a neat recording of him reading from the Iliad in the Ancient Greek: [video=youtube;NssnanW93fI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NssnanW93fI[/video]


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## py3ak (May 14, 2013)

Thanks for that, Ben! The translation I've enjoyed of the _Metamorphoses_ is the one by Horace Gregory.


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