M.A. offers a stimulating and detailed discussion of the apotheosis motif in Ovid's Metamorphoses, with emphasis, as indicated by the title, on structure, mythologisation and ‘reading’. He sets out first to demonstrate the structural relation between the creation of man and deification and then to analyse the workings of this structural relationship. The analysis of the issues raised is the result of a thorough intertextual and intratextual examination of the passages of apotheosis from the Metamorphoses. The monograph is divided into two main parts that explore different aspects of apotheosis and its contexts in several chapters. Each part ends with a conclusion, which draws attention to an insightful and detailed argumentation.
The monograph opens with an introduction that offers a comprehensive study of the most important scholarly perspectives regarding apotheosis in the Ovidian work. Apotheosis, as is suggested, is integrated into the work a positive manner (p. 17). The discussion of the traditional categorisation of apotheosis in the Metamorphoses leads to an intertextual reading of deification as a result of a character's virtus (p. 18), which demonstrates its importance for Roman apotheosis (p. 25: ‘en tiempos de Ovidio la idea de la virtus política estaba completamente establecida como condición para la referencia a la apoteosis romana’).
Part 1, ‘La apoteosis en la estructura de las Metamorfosis’, is divided into two chapters. Chapter 1, ‘Creación del hombre y apoteosis’, offers first an intratextual and then an intertextual discussion of the creation of the sanctius animal (Met. 1.76–88), with emphasis on its philosophical connotations. M.A. draws attention to the fact that the characterisation of man as sanctius animal can be justified only in relation to the apotheosis (p. 60). Chapter 2, ‘Modelos poéticos’, treats the Hesiodic model for the Metamorphoses, with a particular emphasis on the Theogony and the Works and Days, suggesting that this poetic affiliation, with its structural impact, influences all the examples of apotheosis (p. 90). Chapter 2 includes the discussion of the Virgilian model for the Metamorphoses and specifically the song of Silenus in Eclogue 6, which references the first model. M.A. concludes that both models invite readers of the work to study it as ‘la ficcionalización de un carmen sobre una historia universal que culmina en la apoteosis del poeta’ (pp. 90–1).
Part 2, ‘Valor semántico de las apoteosis’, is divided into seven chapters. This part begins with an introduction that sets the theoretical framework of the discussion, explaining comparatively the concepts of structure and reading (pp. 96–100), irony and mythologisation (pp. 101–12), politicians and philosophers versus the poet of mythologisation (pp. 112–15). Chapter 1, ‘Ino, Cadmo y Harmonía en el contexto de la estirpe tebana’, analyses initially the figure of Ino in the context of the Theban cycle and then focuses on the apotheosis itself within the episode, as well as the transformation in the Cadmus and Harmonia episode. In examining these episodes, M.A. addresses their intratextual relationship within the narrative complexity of the Theban cycle (p. 152).
Chapter 2, ‘Hercules mythicus: Del sanctius animal a la apoteosis y a Roma’, explores, through mythical conformation and mythologisation, the transformation of Hercules of the preceding tradition to Hercules Ovidianus. M.A. draws attention to the fact that this is the first example of transition from the sanctius animal to apotheosis (p. 192). Chapter 3, ‘Eneas, Virgilio y el motivo de la apoteosis en la “Eneida-Odisea” ovidiana’, offers an intertextual and intratextual reading of Aeneas Romanus and his apotheosis within the context of the Ovidian Aeneid–Odyssey (pp. 215–45). M.A. suggests that Ovid's construction of these Roman passages already illustrates his poetic self-consciousness, which is important for the end of the work (p. 246). Furthermore, he invites the reader to revise the scholarly tendency for a negative interpretation of these passages as the anti-Aeneid, as he argues that the references to Virgil and the Aeneas Romanus highlight the continuity and value of apotheosis in the work, established in the sequence of the preceding deifications (p. 246). Chapter 4, ‘“Mitologización” y “lectura” en el pasaje de Rómulo y Hersilia’, discusses the Romulus passage as a mythologisation of history and offers a comparative reading of the apotheosis of Hersilia. In his examination of the Romulus passage in particular, M.A. reveals a significant difference to the Aeneas passage: ‘la alusión misma a la historia está emparentada con la “mitologización” en la medida en que la historia aparece como juego textual’ (p. 280).
Chapter 5, ‘Pitágoras y la “apoteosis” de Roma (Metamorfosis 15, 418–452)’, puts forth the claim that the Pythagoras episode functions as a celebration of Rome incorporated within the structure of the apotheosis (p. 281). This chapter also includes a brief discussion of the poetic function attributed to Helenos, Pythagoras and Ovid in connection with the apotheosis of Rome (pp. 290–4). Chapter 6, ‘Las apoteosis de César y Augusto y el final de las Metamorfosis de Ovidio’, discusses literary ‘Augustanism’ as it is represented in the apotheosis of Caesar and Augustus. The examination focuses on the function of irony in the passage (pp. 299–306), mythologisation as a key for the representation of history (pp. 306–24) and the importance of apotheosis at the end of the work, as indicated by the scholar's reading approach, which underlines the relationship between the political deifications and the apotheosis of the poet (pp. 324–35).
Chapter 7, ‘La apoteosis en la sphragís ovidiana: la virtus del poeta, el sanctius animal y Roma’, studies the motif of virtus within the context of the apotheosis in the sphragis of the work, suggesting that the attribution of a heroic virtus to previous deifications should be read as foreshadowing its semantic importance at the end of the work (p. 344). The final chapter also suggests that mythologisation becomes the means to integrate the Roman passages into a mythical dynamic; the appropriation of Roman and universal history as well as the subordination of this representation of history within a poetic work invites the reader to interpret mythologisation as a transformation (p. 351). The conclusion offers a concise summary of the argument of the aforementioned chapters.
Many qualities of this volume deserve to be highlighted. First, M.A. engages in each part in a critical discussion of existing scholarly views and approaches. Amongst the virtues of this work are detailed presentation of the argument, coherent structure and clear concluding remarks. The objectives are clearly set out in the introduction and in the subsequent chapters, followed by a rich bibliography, an index of passages discussed and a general index. The terminology used, for instance, ‘mythologisation’ and ‘reading’, is carefully explained.
Specific highlights include the discussion of the Ovidian invention of the apotheosis of Hersilia, which suggests that ‘la naturaleza de la obra es mítica y que aun los relatos de apoteosis pueden contribuir a ella’ (p. 259). M.A. could have benefited from E. Stafford's Herakles. Gods and Heroes of the Ancient World (2012). Additionally, more details, such as individual chapter numbers, would have been welcomed.
M.A. offers an elaborate analysis of the apotheosis motif in the Metamorphoses, with a text-based argumentation and a constructive incorporation of current scholarship. Furthermore, the intertextual and intratextual reading of the Ovidian passages draws attention to the structural, narrative and semantic complexity of the work. I recommend this book to Classicists. M.A.’s book forms a welcome scholarly contribution to the field of Ovidian studies.
