OVID'S METAMORPHOSES
The first story in Ovid's Metamorphoses is the creation of the universe by the primordial deity Chaos, the eternal abyss (seen above). Ovid takes us step by step through the creation of the Roman universe from a heap of everything in the abyss to a world fit for the race of men to live on.
THE GREAT CHAOS
Chaos was the first primordial deity to the Romans. Chaos was commonly thought of as an abyss where all things lay scattered in no order. There was no light, no day, no night, no land, no water in Chaos, only jumbled stuff until Chaos separated things and gave birth to new primordial deities: Terra (Earth), Nox (Night), Erebus (Darkness), and Tartarus (The Pit/Prison). Nox and Erebus created Hemera (Day) and Aether (Light). Terra created Ouranos (Sky), Ourea (Mountains) and Pontus (Ocean)
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What ARE Ovid's Metamorphoses?
Ovid believed that the history of the universe could be told by metamorphoses, or that every major event in history was followed by a major transformation, for instance, at the end of Pyramus and Thisbe, the snowy white pomegranates turn maroon with the blood of the two lovers. Also in Daphne and Apollo, Daphne calls on her father to help her escape Apollo's capture by transforming her body, and she transforms into a laurel tree. In my story, the first story of Ovid's Metamorphoses, the metamorphosis is the world is created from Chaos.