Theodicy = Divine Justice     Clas. 4110, Mon. Nov. 23
Ovidian Organization and Editorializing

1.1 Organization by theme. Theodicy (divine justice) stories in V-VI (muses on Helicon, Ceres and Proserpina, Arachne, Niobe, Lycian peasants, Marsyas).

1.2 Ceres and Proserpina. An Ovidian 'hymn', alluding to the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, esp. at beginning (invocation, connection to a shrine, Henna) and end (story of Triptolemus). Ovid humanizes divine figures, e.g. Proserpina as a child, Jupiter/Ceres as squabbling parents. Emphasis in Ovid's version: divine quarrel between Jupiter and Ceres, suffering of the earth for its 'guilt' [inset stories: Cyane, Arethusa] in hiding Proserpina. Homeric hymn emphasized the human suffering (famine). Aition (foundation of the mystery cult) again used to close story.

2.1 Theodicy. Ovidian gods: their nature, and relationship to humans. Historical context: philosophical schools, popular among the Roman upper classes, e.g. Epicureanism, Stoicism, were offering various answers to this question, e.g. the gods are apart and indifferent to humans, the gods enforce/embody 'fate'.

2.2 Arachne. Another artistic competition. Cf. Muses and Pierides, Bk V. Setting, Lydia, famous for textile manufacture. See Mary Wiland's lecture on murex, Fri. April 10. Historical context: cloth was women's work in the ancient world, a labour-intensive consuming most of the average lower/middle class housewife's time. Fabric decoration meant embroidery/weaving (no printed fabrics). Note emphasis on technical details: spinning the thread (spinning skills are essential to first class weaving), setting up vertical loom, tying warp threads. Appropriate subject matter for epic?

2.3 Textile as poem. Minerva's tapestry: her own victory over Poseidon in a contest of benefaction to humans. Gods pictured with dignity, proper attributes. Symmetrical insets in each corner: punishment of impiety by metamorphosis. Note: 'moral' content of subject matter, self-representation by the artist (triumphant - epic hero??), principles of composition include order, symmetry, single subject.

2.4 Arachne's tapestry: metamorphosis of gods, not humans, in order to pursue mortal women ('crimes of heaven'). Note: criticism of the gods, organization (or lack thereof...) by repetition of a theme, treatment of material Ovid has treated, e.g. Europa, 'realism' (e.g. the bull looks life-like), multiple subjects. Note emphasis on technique, an Alexandrian principle. Contrast invocation of a muse, i.e. ascribing poetic achievement to divine inspiration, rather than human effort and skill.

2.5 Judgment (by Minerva - fairness?): 'In all that work of hers Pallas could find/Envy could find, no fault' (p. 125). Criteria of artistic excellence: content, esp. moral. Cf. Telemachus, Odyssey I: premium on 'newness' in a song. Destruction of the tapestry, as censorship? Who judges poetic excellence, and should it serve the interests of an authority? Note contemporary criticism of Ovid's own work, exiled (by Augustus) for a carmen et error (poem and mistake). Cf. Epilogue to the Metamorphoses, where Ovid claims immorality through poetry.

2.6 Arachne story as an example of 'divine justice'? Set up: testing Arachne (in disguise), i.e. contextualized as a story of impiety. Punishment is destruction of the tapestry. Metamorphosis as an act of mercy.