Metamorphoses by Apuleius
E56549
Metamorphoses by Apuleius is a 2nd-century Latin novel, also known as The Golden Ass, that follows the adventures and eventual spiritual redemption of its protagonist Lucius, culminating in his initiation into the mysteries of the goddess Isis.
Observed surface forms (1)
| Surface form | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| The Golden Ass | 1 |
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Latin novel
ⓘ
ancient Roman novel ⓘ prose fiction ⓘ |
| adaptationOf | Greek ass-story tradition ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs |
Metamorphoses by Apuleius
ⓘ
surface form:
The Golden Ass
|
| author | Apuleius ⓘ |
| basedOn | lost Greek Metamorphoses by Lucius of Patrae ⓘ |
| climacticEvent | initiation of Lucius into the cult of Isis ⓘ |
| containsStory |
Amore e Psiche
ⓘ
surface form:
Cupid and Psyche
Tale of the bandits and Charite ⓘ Tale of the fullers ⓘ Tale of the miller and his wife ⓘ Tale of the priest of the Syrian goddess ⓘ Tale of the stepmother ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | Roman Empire ⓘ |
| dateWritten | 2nd century ⓘ |
| genre |
adventure fiction
ⓘ
picaresque novel ⓘ religious fiction ⓘ |
| influenced |
Don Quixote
ⓘ
European picaresque tradition ⓘ The Canterbury Tales ⓘ The Decameron ⓘ The Satyricon reception ⓘ |
| language | Latin ⓘ |
| literaryDevice |
allegory of spiritual rebirth
ⓘ
story-within-a-story ⓘ |
| literaryForm | Milesian tales framework ⓘ |
| literaryPeriod | Silver Age of Latin literature ⓘ |
| mainCharacter | Lucius ⓘ |
| narrativePerspective | first-person narrative ⓘ |
| numberOfBooks | 11 ⓘ |
| originalTitle |
Ovid’s Metamorphoses
ⓘ
surface form:
Metamorphoseon libri XI
|
| placeInApuleiusCorpus | major work ⓘ |
| plotElement |
transformation of Lucius into a donkey
ⓘ
wanderings and sufferings of Lucius as a donkey ⓘ |
| religionFeatured |
Isis
ⓘ
Osiris ⓘ |
| religiousElement | Isis mysteries ⓘ |
| setting | Roman provinces in Greece ⓘ |
| survivalStatus | only extant complete Latin novel from antiquity ⓘ |
| theme |
curiosity and its consequences
ⓘ
eroticism ⓘ magic and witchcraft ⓘ metamorphosis ⓘ religious conversion ⓘ salvation and redemption ⓘ satire of Roman society ⓘ |
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
The Golden Ass