The story of Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha is often referred to as an "archetypal" flood story. What is meant by that term? What is an archetype? Find flood stories in other traditions and compare them to the flood story in Metamorphoses.

Epic poems usually tell historical and mythical tales of war or conquest, yet Metamorphoses is considered an epic poem. Research the characteristics of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and Virgil's The Aeneid and compare them to the characteristics of Metamorphoses. What are the major similarities and differences between the works? Do you think the Metamorphoses should be referred to as an epic poem? If not, how should it be labeled?

A portion of Book 1 in the Metamorphoses is devoted to the theogony, or the heredity of the gods. Ovid drew much of his information from Hesiod's Theogony. Research Hesiod's work, and...