Rethinking space and considering it as a significant factor has influenced the research in the field of humanities during the last decades. In classical philology, space is now as important as time. Even if this spatial turn took place some time ago, the awareness of the relevance of space has almost become a commonplace, and numerous works have dealt with various spatial issues, the potential of such a focus is – as this study shows – still not exhausted. Cities have a strong presence and significance in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, but this phenomenon of urbanity has not yet been extensively investigated. Torben Behm is the first to examine the presentation and function of cities using a spatial-narratological method and to interpret them as literary landscapes. The book discussed below is the slightly revised version of his dissertation, which he completed in 2020.
In the introduction, the author comprehensively presents the content, focus, and approach of his study. He convincingly explains his choice of subject with the significance of cities in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, which he illustrates with a statistical analysis, and the existing research lacuna. Next, Behm briefly outlines the current state of research. The aim of the study is to examine Ovid’s cities as a literary landscape and to shed light on general questions – structure, narrative technique, and genre – about the Metamorphoses. Following Dennis Pausch[1], Behm understands literary landscape as the presentation of a city in an episode and its references to other passages in the poem, to the literary tradition, and to the environment of the readers (12).
As a theoretical-methodological basis and instrument for his analysis, Behm draws on current spatial-narratological terms and models (29): he adopts Irene de Jong’s terminology[2] by separating the spaces in the narrative into settings (Handlungsorte/Schauplätze) and frames (Hintergrundräume) and distinguishing between the thematic, mirroring, symbolic, characterising, and psychologising functions of space. He combines this with Birgit Haupt’s model[3], which, corresponding to the areas of perception seeing – acting – feeling, differentiates between viewed space (Anschauungsraum), action space (Aktionsraum), and tuned space (gestimmter Raum) of a narrative.
There are various suggestions for structuring Ovid’s Metamorphoses: Michael von Albrecht assumes a pentadic structure of the poem by main cities (Hauptstädte)[4], Ernst Schmidt, on the contrary, a symphonic structure through emerging – condensing – fading away (Anklingen – Verdichten – Verstummen) of themes[5]. Behm’s book is based on the first hypothesis (16) which is reflected in its structure: there is a chapter for each main city. The author uses a mixture of micro and macro analysis: first, all city-related passages are read closely to work out the presentation of a particular city at the level of single episodes. Subsequently, he investigates the overall picture of this city in the Metamorphoses and discusses if it can be identified as a cultural-historical stage towards Rome.
The main part begins with a chapter on the first cities of the Metamorphoses. Behm examines how cities emerged in the Ages of Man and perished again in the deluge and world conflagration. In Ovid’s cosmogony, the Golden Age is an epoch without urbanity. In later ages, cities do exist but are linked to war and have negative connotations. Already at the beginning of the poem, cities fulfil an important function but remain anonymous and topographically unspecific.
The following chapter deals with Thebes, the first main city. Behm analyses how Cadmus founds the city, King Pentheus resists the Bacchus cult there, Juno orders its destruction, and Cadmus leaves Thebes; in addition, he considers Pyramus’ and Thisbe’s flight from Babylon. The episodes feature diverse changing settings, with Phoenicia often acting as a frame. The city is not vividly described. The characters cross borders and move from the safe city to dangerous nature. Thebes is a place under constant threat. The myths refer to everyday Roman life and have a cyclical structure: Ovid’s narrative of Thebes is an anti-Aeneid – Thebes is not the final city but only an intermediate stage.
Next, Behm turns to Athens, which dominates the second third of the poem. He examines how Mercury falls in love there, Triptolemus praises the city, Athena gives it her name, Philomela is robbed from here, and Medea flees there; besides, Scylla’s betrayal of Megara is analysed. In these episodes, Athens is often just a frame for narratives located elsewhere. Main figures, instead of a geographical focus, link the myths. Only a few topographical elements of the city are mentioned, its presentation remains vague. The characters move centrifugally away from Athens and travel frequently; there is a dichotomy between the civilised Athens and a barbaric, threatening East. These myths show references to Rome and are cyclically structured as well, but Athens is portrayed more positively than Thebes. Altogether, Athens is not a predecessor or antithesis to Rome but a neutral cultural-historical intermediate stage.
The city most frequently mentioned in the Metamorphoses is Troy which, together with Rome, forms the last third of the poem. Behm observes how the city walls are built, a shipwreck tells of the city’s doom, Achilles dies outside the city, Ajax and Odysseus fight over his weapons there, Hecuba is kidnapped from the city, Aeneas flees from here, visits Delos and the false Troy. The stories always relate to Troy in terms of content, yet it is rarely the setting. Ovid adopts Homer’s topography of the Troas, but the city is barely described visually. The events are mostly directed away from Troy. Settings and frames are connected with specific atmospheres: Troy functions as a prototype of a conquered city, the sea as a place of danger. The cycle of myths is focused on the city’s downfall as a negative telos. The failed Troy is the opposite of an urbs aeterna and, at the same time, represents a preliminary stage to Rome.
There follows an extensive chapter on Rome, the last main city. In the analysed episodes, Romulus founds the city, Pythagoras predicts its future, Cipus refuses it, Asclepius is taken there, and Caesar dies here. Further, the author considers how Aeneas visits Carthage, Turnus and his city Ardea perish, Myscelus founds Croton, and Ovid assesses his work in the epilogue. Here, the entire Roman history is presented in a selection. At the end of the poem, the focus shifts from main characters to geography and the scene moves further and further to Rome. The city appears as setting and frame. The urban topography is only allusively described. The characters strive towards Rome; horizontal and vertical boundaries shape the events. The overall image of the city has negative connotations. It is presented differently from the other main cities, but at the same time its position is put into perspective: Rome is just one city among many.
In the final chapter, Behm summarises the basis, aim, and questions of his study and reflects on the method applied. Then, the individual results are combined into an overall picture: Ovid refuses a concrete, vivid description of the cities, barely mentions any topographical elements apart from walls, and rarely looks into the city’s interior; thus, the viewed space remains underdetermined. The action space is also little differentiated: the figures cross borders and move centrifugally away from the city, east-west movements represent the succession of the main cities and the transition of power to Rome. Cities are exposed to various threats, with the area inside usually being described as safe and outside as dangerous. The tuned space, which shows a high variability, often dominates the perception of a city. Behm disagrees with Albrecht’s hypothesis that the cities represent cultural-historical stages on the way to the telos Rome[6]: although Rome functions as the final setting and closing of the poem, the city is not the summit but only one of several stages in Ovid’s world history (368f.). Finally, the author uses the insights of his analysis to discuss general questions about the Metamorphoses: the city motif can serve as an argument for both a pentadic and a symphonic structure – consequently, there are several overlapping principles of arrangement (371), the poem has a polymorphic structure (374). Ovid deals with the city theme in various ways: in different myths, cities are presented and functionalised divergently. By shortening, expanding, and emphasising known material, he engages with traditional epic elements in an innovative manner – this is part of his literary technique (373).
This is followed by a comprehensive bibliography, which is a helpful starting point for further reading. The careful indices ensure that the book is very user-friendly.
The book is structured in a way that each chapter can also be read separately. The table of contents with its informative headings is very clear, not least because not all subsections are included. However, the immense number of pages dedicated to Rome (237-360) creates the misleading impression that this is the most important city of the Metamorphoses. In addition, some episodes – Pyramus and Thisbe, Scylla, Turnus, Myscellus – could have been outsourced to appendices since they just focus on minor cities. All chapters and subchapters follow the same pattern. This schematic structure ensures that the separate observations can be optimally evaluated and compared with each other. Nevertheless, the individual reading experience would have benefited from a more varied structure and a more intense arc of suspense.
The approach chosen by Behm, which he communicates transparently, proves to be useful to answer his questions. The spatial-narratological toolset is applied consistently and successfully. In addition, the frequent comparison with Vergil’s Aeneid adds profundity and persuasiveness to the analysis. The focus of the study moves from narrow to wide and shows a good balance between detail and abstraction.
Behm’s precise, distinct, and focused argumentation is coherent and easily comprehensible. Only a few detailed discussions (258-260) get out of hand, which are interesting and demonstrate the author’s philological expertise but contribute little to the big picture and could therefore have been shortened or outsourced. With his study, he deliberately ties in with current scholarly debates. He also repeatedly points to existing research lacunas – a comprehensive investigation of the generic status of the Metamorphoses (17) and a uniform, generally accepted model for studying literary spaces (26). However, he could have specified more clearly how future investigations can build on his study.
Formatting and orthography of the book are entirely correct. A few minor slips and mix-ups do not detract from the overall excellence of the work. The key terms of the study are named and defined early on; technical termini are used confidently, aptly, and in a well-balanced extent. Behm’s fine style with its precise wording makes the book pleasant to read. The German translations of Ovid, which apparently come from the author himself, are also very smart.
In sum, the book and its basic idea – interpreting the cities in Ovid’s Metamorphoses not as real-world, historical, or political but as literary landscapes – are completely convincing. Behm clearly shows that cities play a central role in the poem. This innovative topic fills a gap in research and represents a great enrichment. Especially, the contextualisation of the results in broader discourses about the Metamorphoses adds enormous value to his study. Moreover, the successful application of spatial-narratological methods demonstrates the potential of such concepts in classical philology and how important spatial aspects are for a holistic understanding of ancient texts. I strongly recommend Behm’s excellent study to anyone interested in Ovid, literary space, or narratology, and hope it will encourage similar investigations.
Notes
[1] D. Pausch, Im Katalog nach Korinth. Medeas Rundflug zu sich selbst (Ovid, Met. 7,350-393), in: Philologus 160 (2), 2016, 291.
[2] I.J.F. de Jong, Narratology and Classics. A Practical Guide, Oxford 2014, 105-131.
[3] B. Haupt, Zur Analyse des Raums, in: P. Wenzel (ed.), Einführung in die Erzähltextanalyse. Kategorien, Modelle, Probleme, Trier 2004, 70-77. The English terminology applied here follows R. Kirstein, An Introduction to the Concept of Space in Ancient Epic, in: C. Reitz / S. Finkmann (eds.), Structure of Epic Poetry 2.2: Configuration, Berlin/Boston 2019, 250.
[4] M. von Albrecht, Ovid. Eine Einführung, Reclams Universal-Bibliothek 17641, Stuttgart 2003, 165.
[5] E.A. Schmidt, Ovids poetische Menschenwelt. Die Metamorphosen als Metapher und Symphonie, SHAW 1991 (2), Heidelberg 1991, esp. 79-86; 91-95.
[6] See note 4 above.