The Topography of Epic Narrative in Ovid's Metamorphoses

When a geographical name enters the world of poetry, it is assimilated into the narrative milieu of a specific context. It ceases to be merely a signifier and interacts with the plot of the narrative. This chapter focuses on the literary topography¹ of geographical names in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and is divided into two parts. The first part examines the narrative dynamics of ancient etymologies and the way in which the meaning of geographical names is enmeshed with the characters and plot of a tale. The second part deals with the interplay between epic narrative and geographical setting, focusing on a number of geographical displacements in the Metamorphoses. Far from approaching literary space and geography as a decorative backdrop against which the main action takes place, I look at space as an important player in Ovid’s narrative