In corpus corpore toto

Abstract

Though Ovid presents readers of his Metamorphoses with countless episodes of lovers uniting in a temporary physical closeness, some of his characters find themselves so affected by their love that they become inseparably merged with the ones they desire. These scenarios of “merging bodies” recall Lucretius’ explanations of love in De Rerum Natura (IV.1030-1287) and Aristophanes’ speech on love from Plato’s Symposium (189c2-193d5). In this thesis, I examine specific episodes of merging bodies in the Metamorphoses and explore the verbal and conceptual parallels that intertextually connect these episodes with De Rerum Natura and the Symposium. I focus on Ovid’s stories of Narcissus (III.339-510), Pyramus and Thisbe (IV.55-166), Salmacis and Hermaphroditus (IV.276-388), and Baucis and Philemon (VIII.611-724). I also discuss Ovid’s “merging bodies” in terms of his ideas about poetic immortality. Finally, I consider whether ancient representations of Narcissus in the visual arts are indicative of Ovid’s poetic success in antiquity.