94 pages 3 hours read

Ovid

Metamorphoses

Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Adult | Published in 8

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Book 11

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Book 11 Summary: “The Death of Orpheus”

A band of frenzied and rejected Thracian women kill Orpheus, angering the god Bacchus. Bacchus turns the Thracian women into trees.

Book 11 Summary: “Midas”

Bacchus grants King Midas a wish for his help. Midas asks that everything he touch turn to gold. Soon Midas regrets this gift. Ovid writes, “no plenty can relieve his hunger; thirst / burns in his throat; justly the loathsome gold / tortures him” (253). Midas prays to Bacchus for help, and Bacchus undoes the gift.

Later, Midas judges a musical contest between Apollo and the god Pan. When he sides with Pan, Apollo angrily turns Midas’ ears into donkey ears.

Book 11 Summary: “First Foundations and Destruction of Troy”

Apollo and Neptune help King Laomedon build the walls of Troy. Laomedon does not honor them, so they flood the city and threaten his daughter, although Hercules rescues her.