Dangerous Beauty: The Abduction of Ganymede, Ovid, Met. 10.155-161

Content Warning: Abduction, human trafficking

It is important to note that the common denominator in abduction myths is not the victim's gender, but their beauty.

 

'Rex superum Phrygii quondam Ganymedis amore         155

arsit, et inventum est aliquid, quod Iuppiter esse,             

quam quod erat, mallet. nulla tamen alite verti  

dignatur, nisi quae posset sua fulmina ferre.       

nec mora, percusso mendacibus aere pennis      

abripit Iliaden; qui nunc quoque pocula miscet   160

invitaque Iovi nectar Iunone ministrat.

--Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.155-161

The king of the gods [Jupiter] once burned for love of Trojan Ganymede.

He transformed himself into something the youth preferred more

than Jupiter himself—an eagle!  He couldn’t transform himself

into just any random bird,

No—he needed one that could handle his lightning bolts.

Immediately Jupiter took to the air on his costume wings

And kidnapped the Trojan youth.

Now the youth serves wine to Jupiter

And Juno’s not happy about it.

 

 

OVID	MAP:
Name: Publius Ovidius Naso   Date:  43 BCE – 18 CE Works:  Ars Amatoria                Metamorphoses*               Tristia, etc.	REGION  1
BIO:	Timeline:
Ovid was one of the most famous love poets of Rome’s Golden Age. His most famous work, the Metamorphoses, provides a history of the world through a series of interwoven myths. Most of his poetry is erotic in nature; for this reason, he fell into trouble during the conservative social reforms under the reign of the emperor Augustus. In 8 CE he was banished to Bithynia, where he spent the remainder of his life pining for his native homeland.	GOLDEN AGE ROME