Love

Cambridge Latin Anthology – Baucis et Philemon

In this course, Professor Sharon Marshall (University of Exeter) explores the story of Baucis and Philemon as told in Book 8 of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. It will be particularly useful for those reading the ‘Baucis and Philemon’ set text for OCR Latin GCSE (J282). In the first lecture, we think about the story of Baucis and Philemon as a love story, focusing in particular on the kind of marriage that Baucis and Philemon seem to have. In the second lecture, we think about the representation of the gods in the story. Are they really as concerned with rewarding exemplary human behaviour as they seem to be at first glance?

Love

In this lecture, we think about the story of Baucis and Philemon as a love story, focusing in particular on: (i) the representation of love in Ovid’s other works: the Amores, the Heroides and the Ars Amatoria; (ii) the representation of love in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, including the concept of love as a wound or disease; (iii) the story of Apollo and Daphne in Ovid’s Metamorphoses; (iv) the story of Baucis and Philemon as a celebrating of martial love; (v) the extent to which the marriage of Baucis and Philemon might be seen in a negative light; (vi) the lack of amor (erotic love) in the story of Baucis and Philemon, and the question of whether this is a good or bad thing; and (vii) the extent to which Augustus’ moral reforms might impact the way we read the story of Baucis and Philemon.